Christopher Nolan continues to prove to be one of the most talented and bankable directors working today. His ability to craft original visions into films that please intellectuals and popcorn gobblers resulted in Interstellar, Inception, and The Dark Knight trilogy, and it seems that he has once again left an imprint.
His most recent effort, the war movie Dunkirk, had an impressive $50.5 million dollar debut in a summer filled with spaceships and superheroes. The movie was produced for an announced $100 million dollar budget and it’s assured to be another huge money earner for Warner Bros, following the blockbuster success of Wonder Woman.
The biggest surprise hit of the weekend was the R-rated romp, Girls Trip. The mid-summer time period has proven to be fertile ground for adult, raunchy comedies with past successes, such as The Hangover and Bridesmaids, serving as a template. Girls Trip made an estimated $31.2 million dollar against an announced $19 million dollar budget. This makes the Queen Latifah and Jada Pinkett-Smith vehicle an instant blockbuster and yet another hit movie with a cast predominantly of color.
One of the most interesting developments for Marvel, Sony, and superhero fans, has been the shaky performance of Spider-Man: Homecoming. The movie had a dominant $117 million dollar opening before having a dramatic drop in its second week. However it seems that the movie has steadied in its third weekend by losing less than 50% of its audience with an estimated $22.1 million dollar weekend. The movie’s domestic total crossed the $250 million dollar mark and looks to remain relevant through August. Regardless, there is an entire universe of Spider-Man goodness coming down the pipeline.
Fourth place belonged to War for the Planet of the Apes, which had a steep drop in its second weekend. The final film in the new trilogy made an estimated $20.8 million dollars in week number two, falling almost 63%. The movie has yet to cross the $100 million dollar mark domestically and its release has surely underwhelmed the studio. It’s likely that the movie will have a strong run on home release due to strong word of mouth, which could make up the difference and dictate how fast the next installment is put into motion.
Rounding out the top five spots was Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which opened up to an estimated $17 million dollars over the weekend. The movie has an announced budget of over $177 million dollars, a lot of which was funded by director Luc Besson himself, so this is an unfortunate release on many levels.
Here is the complete box-office breakdown for the weekend of July 21st-23rd, 2017.
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Dunkirk | WB | $50,513,488 | – | 3,720 | – | $13,579 | $50,513,488 | $100 | 1 |
| 2 | N | Girls Trip | Uni. | $31,201,920 | – | 2,591 | – | $12,042 | $31,201,920 | $19 | 1 |
| 3 | 2 | Spider-Man: Homecoming | Sony | $22,150,085 | -49.9% | 4,130 | -218 | $5,363 | $251,851,666 | $175 | 3 |
| 4 | 1 | War for the Planet of the Apes | Fox | $20,884,223 | -62.9% | 4,100 | +78 | $5,094 | $98,235,137 | $150 | 2 |
| 5 | N | Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets | STX | $17,007,624 | – | 3,553 | – | $4,787 | $17,007,624 | $177.2 | 1 |
| 6 | 3 | Despicable Me 3 | Uni. | $13,012,050 | -32.8% | 3,525 | -630 | $3,691 | $213,620,275 | $80 | 4 |
| 7 | 4 | Baby Driver | TriS | $6,070,912 | -30.3% | 2,503 | -540 | $2,425 | $84,304,851 | $34 | 4 |
| 8 | 5 | The Big Sick | LGF | $5,008,143 | -33.8% | 2,597 | – | $1,928 | $24,547,521 | – | 5 |
| 9 | 6 | Wonder Woman | WB | $4,608,028 | -32.3% | 1,971 | -773 | $2,338 | $389,011,307 | $149 | 8 |
| 10 | 7 | Wish Upon | BG | $2,475,013 | -54.7% | 2,154 | -96 | $1,149 | $10,519,278 | $12 | 2 |
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Source: Box Office Mojo