Yahoo Lifestyle Box Office: ‘Dog Man’ Wagging Away on Top With $10.8 Million Opening Day, ‘Companion’ Sparks in Second
Who let “Dog Man” out? Universal Pictures did, and the party is nice, the party is pumpin’ for the studio, as the DreamWorks Animation caper earned $10.8 million across Friday and preview screenings. That’s the biggest opening day gross yet for this still very young year.
Playing in 3,885 locations, “Dog Man” is now fetching what’s projected to be a $35 million opening weekend. That’d handily outperform the $23 million debut for “Captain America: The First Epic Movie,” which adapted another series of graphic novels by children’s author Dav Pilkey and was released in 2017 by the now-Disney-owned 20th Century Fox.
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That’s a very good start for “Dog Man,” which already had an achievable threshold for success being produced at a $40 million budget, a much more modest investment than most studio animated features. Reviews lean positive, but audiences flipped for it, with moviegoer survey firm Cinema Score polling opening crowds to a glowing A grade. “Dog Man” is benefiting from being the first family-targeted new release since “Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” opened ahead of the Christmas holidays. And there’s very little competition for youngsters on the immediate horizon, apart from Marvel’s more mature, PG-13-rated “Captain America: Brave New World” on Feb. 14.
“Dog Man” delivers on its title, following the fused freak-of-nature composed of a fallen police officer and his canine sidekick. Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery and Isla Fisher lead the voice cast, while Peter Hastings directs (and also provides the vocal effects for the hero).
Holding its own in second place, the scary satire “Companion” earned an estimated $4 million across Friday and preview screenings playing 3,285 locations. The Warner Bros. and New Line feature was made at a lean production cost of $10 million, so it’s well-positioned to turn a profit in the weeks ahead. The film has an outside shot at opening north of $10 million and positive reviews have helped solidify some buzz. The B+ grade from Cinema Score is quite strong for a horror film too. “Companion” stars Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid and follows a woodland retreat that spirals into violence after things go awry with one guest’s fetishized cyborg.
Third place goes to “Mufasa: The Lion King,” which earned an estimated $1.3 million on Friday. Now in its seventh weekend of release, Disney’s CG-animated musical still has a firm foothold in the market, even with “Dog Man” grabbing most of the attention of family audiences. Rivals have the “Lion King” prequel dropping a slim 23% this weekend, with a shot at surpassing a $230 million domestic total through Sunday. Notably, “Mufasa” had a soft opening back in December, behind the splashier debut of Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.” But “Mufasa” has held stronger through January and now looks primed to inch ahead of the total gross of “Sonic 3,” which is also hitting $230 million domestic this weekend.
The Keke Palmer and SZA comedy “One of Them Days” is sliding to fourth. The Sony release is projected to earn another $5.8 million in its third weekend of release. Total gross will hit $34 million through Sunday.
Lionsgate’s “Flight Risk” rounds out the top five. After opening on top of the charts last weekend, the high-altitude Mark Wahlberg thriller is expected to slip 54% in this sophomore outing. The film has a good shot of getting past $20 million domestic through its first ten days.
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