Diverse Dinosaur Films Compete in Box Office Weekend

This weekend, two contrasting dinosaur-themed movies secured their place in the North American box office. They could not dethrone “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” from its top position or surpass “The Odyssey” for second place. “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie,” aimed at young children, and “The End of Oak Street,” a PG-13 action film, contended for third place during their debut weekend. Studio estimates on Sunday showed a tight race, with the movie starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor slightly ahead, earning $21 million compared to the animated adventures’ $20.5 million.

In the lead, “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” continued its successful run three weekends after release. The Sony Pictures film grossed another $70 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, bringing its domestic total to an impressive $785.8 million. With international earnings of $118.7 million, it crossed $2 billion globally, joining an elite group of eight movies reaching this milestone. It achieved this feat in 18 days, with “Avengers: Endgame” doing so quicker in 11 days back in 2019.

Now in its fifth weekend, “The Odyssey” maintained its second position with $23.2 million earned, taking its domestic total to $504.7 million. Internationally, the film collected $98 million, fueled by a strong opening in China with $36.6 million, bringing its global earnings to over $1.2 billion.

“The End of Oak Street” exceeded expectations, taking in $21 million from 3,446 theaters. It also earned $26 million abroad, totaling $47 million globally against its $80 million production budget. This film, directed and written by David Robert Mitchell, features McGregor and Hathaway as 1982 suburban parents whose neighborhood unexpectedly shifts to prehistoric times. Though well-received by critics, scoring 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences provided a B CinemaScore. Initial PostTrak exit polls indicated that just over half of viewers would recommend the film to friends.

Family audiences supported “Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie,” shown in 3,545 theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Released by Paramount Pictures, this PG movie marks the third Paw Patrol film since 2021. It received an A CinemaScore from viewers and achieved a global total of $69 million.

The documentary “Katseye: Wild Hearts” completed the top five with $4 million from 724 screens. Other new entries included “Six: The Musical Live,” ranking sixth with $3 million, and “The Brink of War,” earning $2.7 million. The Tamil-language film “Vishwanath & Sons” grossed $1.6 million for tenth place.

Matthew McConaughey’s thriller “The Rivals of Amziah King” opened outside the top 10, earning just over $1 million from 632 theaters. The Anthony Bourdain biopic “Tony,” in its second weekend, collected $706,676 across 37 theaters. This A24 release is set to widen its distribution in the upcoming weeks.

Summer box office performance remains strong with more than $4.2 billion in ticket sales, outpacing the pre-pandemic summer of 2019 by 5.7%. Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian remarked that this total is only about $130 million short of the summer 2013 record, buoyed by “Iron Man 3” and “Despicable Me 2.”

This year’s summer might not outdo 2013, but Dergarabedian predicts it will rank among the top five summers ever.

The year’s box office total approaches $6.9 billion.