7:35 AM PDT 7/10/2016 by Pamela McClintock Pamela McClintock

Elsewhere, Zac Efron and Adam Devine’s ‘Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates’ likewise beats expectations with a $16.6 million domestic opening.
Audiences can’t seem to get enough of animated family films about animals.
Illumination Entertainment and Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets debuted to a bigger-than-expected $103.2 million from 4,370 theaters at the North American box office — eclipsing Inside Out ($90.4 million) to score the best start ever for an original animated property, not accounting for inflation. It’s also the No. 6 opening ever for any animated film, and Illumination’s second-biggest start after last summer’s Minions ($115.7 million).
Pets easily placed No. 1, but Pixar and Disney’s Finding Dory was no slouch in its fourth weekend.
Dory, which had topped the box-office chart for three consecutive weekends, came in No. 2 with roughly $21 million from 4,085 locations. On Friday, the animated tentpole passed up fellow Disney title Captain America: Civil War ($406 million) to become the summer’s top-grossing film to date in North America, finishing Sunday with an estimated total of $421 million. Globally, Dory has paddled past the $600 million mark.

Earlier this year, Disney Animation Studios’ Zootopia launched to $75 million domestically on its way to earning a dazzling $1.02 billion worldwide. Finding Dory, which landed the biggest animated opening of all time earlier this summer with $135.6 million, and Pets continue the animal-themed craze.
The Illumination and Universal film, revealing what pets of all shapes and sizes do after their owners leave the house, boasts a voice cast that includes Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet and Kevin Hart (it’s the first time the three have worked on an animated movie), Jenny Slate, Ellie Kemper, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, Steve Coogan and Albert Brooks.
Chris Renaud (Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2) directed the $75 million film, which earned an A- CinemaScore.
Elsewhere, Fox’s raunchy comedy Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, starring Zac Efron and Adam Devine, also beat expectations in grossing $16.6 million from 2,982 locations.
Outside of the Neighbors franchise, the $33 million, R-rated comedy marks one of Efron’s better recent openings and helps soothe the sting of box-office bomb We Are Your Friends.

Directed by Jake Szymanski, Mike and Dave follows two hedonistic brothers who are tasked with finding respectable dates for their sister’s wedding. They put an ad on Craigslist and end up taking two best friends (Anna Kendrick and Aubrey Plaza) who are actually bigger troublemakers than they are. Chernin Entertainment produced the film.
Among holdovers, Legend of Tarzan placed No. 3 in its second weekend, grossing $20.6 million from 3,591 theaters for a domestic total of $81.4 million.
The big-budget Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow movie will need to do huge business overseas in order to land in the black, although it’s in better shape than Steven Spielberg and Disney’s family film The BFG, which tumbled 57 percent in its second outing to an estimated $8 million from 3,392 theaters for a domestic cume in the $39 million range. (In terms of its position on the chart, The BFG fell to No. 7.)
The Purge: Election Year rounded out the top five with $11.7 million from 2,821 theaters in its second weekend for a domestic tally of $58.1 million. The horror pic, costing just $10 million to make, is another win for Blumhouse, Platinum Dunes and Universal.
And Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart’s, Central Intelligence, has jumped the $100 million mark, earning $8.1 million in its fourth weekend for a cume of $108.3 million and placing a pleasing No. 6. The action comedy, from New Line and Universal, has enjoyed an exceptional.



Source: Hollywood Reporter – Top Story