“Bad Guys,” a sort of animal-eye version of “Oceans 11,” follows the exploits of a wickedly clever gang of creatures.
Produced by DreamWorks Animation, the film has a voice cast including Sam Rockwell, Craig Robinson, Awkwafina, Marc Ramon, Anthony Ramos and Lilly Singh.
Overall, this was a good weekend for family-geared films – hit harder by the Covid effect than films targeting other demographics – with Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” again placing second, at US$15.2 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period.
“Family moviegoing was certainly rocked by the pandemic, but families are returning now,” said David A Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “We’re still far from pre-pandemic levels… but this is a good start.”
Third spot went to “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” from Warner Bros., at US$14 million, a fairly sharp drop from last weekend’s US$43 million opening for the Wizarding World film.
New releases claimed the next two spots.
“The Northman” from Focus Features took in US$12 million. It tells the blood-soaked story of a Viking (played by a ripped Alexander Skarsgard) who seeks revenge on the man who killed his parents and usurped his father’s throne.
Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Bjork, Anya Taylor-Joy and Willem Dafoe round out the ensemble cast.
And in fifth was Lionsgate’s very meta film “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” at US$7.2 million. Nicolas Cage plays, none too seriously, a man named Nick Cage.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
- “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (US$5.4 million)
- “The Lost City” (US$4.4 million)
- “Father Stu” (US$3.3 million)
- “Morbius” (US$2.3 million)
- “Ambulance” (US$1.8 million)