Finding Dory dominates Tarzan at US box office
Finding Dory dominated the Independence Day box office, overcoming a trio of new releases to provide the weekend’s biggest fireworks.
The Pixar release swam to the top of the charts for the third consecutive weekend, picking up $41.9 million to bring its domestic total to $372.2 million. The follow-up to Finding Nemo should end the four-day holiday with another $50.5 million in receipts. It is on pace to surpass Toy Story 3 and its $415 million haul as the highest-grossing Pixar film in history.
The July 4 weekend is traditionally one of the movie business’ biggest, but this national holiday suffered from a weak crop of new releases, as costly adventures such as The Legend of Tarzan and The BFG failed to excite audiences. The influx of new releases did lift industry-wide grosses, and the weekend should be among the five biggest.
With a smaller budget, The Legend of Tarzan might rank as a hit. But Warner Bros and Village Roadshow spent lavishly to update Edgar Rice Burroughs’ jungle king stories, shelling out a reported $180 million to produce the picture and millions more to market it.
Despite the high costs, the film did better than projected, earning $38.1 million for the...