Weekend Actuals: ‘Dunkirk’ Storms the Beaches w/ $50.5M Opening, ‘Wonder Woman’ Becomes Highest Grosser of the Summer

Monday Update: Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk came in at a confirmed $50.5 million, Universal’s Girls Trip in second place at $31.2 million, and EuropaCorp’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets started in fifth place with $17.0 million. Wonder Woman finally became the highest-grossing film of the summer, almost two months after release.

The full table of weekend actuals is at bottom, after our Sunday update which featured more number and analysis.

Sunday Update: Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk “shored up” a first place debut with $50.5 million this weekend, as parent company Warner Bros. crossed the $1 billion mark domestically. Wonder Woman finally became the highest-grossing film of the summer, almost two months after release.

Meanwhile, Universal’s Girls Trip with $30.3 million broke this summer’s streak of three straight underperforming R-rated comedies. And EuropaCorp’s Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets took fifth place with $17.0 million.

Dunkirk captured first place on a weekend during the summer, a very rare feat for a drama. The ensemble film was helped by its terrific word of mouth, including a 92 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, an “A-” average CinemaScore, and currently ranking #1 on Awards Wire’s early Best Picture projections.

Compared to other non-Batman films from Nolan, Dunkirk opened 19 percent below Inception and about on par with Interstellar. (6 percent higher in pure dollars, a fraction of a percent lower when adjusted for ticket price inflation.) Marketing heavily publicized Nolan as the director, more so than even any of the Oscar nominated actors including Tom Hardy, Mark Rylance, and Kenneth Branagh.

Dunkirk opened higher than any other WWII drama from the past decade, including more than double the openings for Hacksaw Ridge, Allied, Fury, and The Monuments Men. It also opened higher than other recent modern military thrillers including Lone Survivor and Captain Phillips, though behind American Sniper. Among WWII dramas, when adjusted for ticket price inflation, Dunkirk did start 45 percent behind Pearl Harbor and 12 percent behind Saving Private Ryan.

“We were hoping to do between 35 and 40. If we could get 42 or 43 would be an overachievement,” Warner Bros. President of Domestic Distribution Jeff Goldstein tells Boxoffice in an interview. “To hit 50 on a film that takes place on an unknown beach in France? That’s a huge reach.”

Goldstein also notes that with the summer season winding down and lesser competition ahead, Dunkirk is poised to keep earning, potentially for as much as two months. “We’re feeling pretty cocky!” Goldstein laughs. “As you saw with Wonder Woman, when you have an unusual and interesting IP, audiences reward it with strong holds. Releasing in late July, you can hold for many weeks, right through September.”

The film’s success helps Warner Bros. pass the $1 billion mark this weekend, the third studio to achieve the feat this year after Disney and Universal. Warner has now reached that mark for 17 consecutive years, a longer active streak than any other studio.

[Read our standalone story on Dunkirk‘s overseas grosses here.]

Universal’s Girls Trip came in on the higher end of  expectations with a $30.3 million debut.

The R-rated comedy starring four middle-aged women may not have sounded like an instant recipe for success, especially given the genre’s track record this summer. The House, Rough Night, and Snatched were all R-rated comedies that underperformed at the box office. Yet Trip came in at more than triple the openings of The House or Rough Night, despite lacking ostensibly bigger names like Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, and Scarlett Johansson.

“Funny is funny. People like laughing. When it feels like the market is being underserved, for a variety of reason, there’s a pent-up energy to see something,” Universal’s President of Domestic Distribution Nick Carpou tells Boxoffice in an interview. “That could be true in any genre, really. Interestingly, it’s taken this far into the summer for a comedy to actually resonate.”

Carpou notes that Universal has had success in this format before. “For female-empowered comedies, Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect, Sisters, Trainwreck — we have a way with that. The characters are highly relatable.”

EuropaCorp’s science-fiction Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets came in a fifth place debut at $17.0 million. Its audience skewed male and young: 63 percent male and and 40 percent under age 24.

While that opening weekend gross was about in line with pre-release expectations, it’s bad news relative to the film’s estimated $150 million budget. Valerian will have to look to great overseas grosses to make up for a domestic total that at this rate may not surpass $40 million.

However, overseas success is hardly a sure bet for a non-sequel with a relatively small built-in for the original graphic novel. Otherwise, it may befall the same fate as The Mummy or King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, two other films this summer which relied on an overseas-heavy strategy that failed to pan out as much as hoped.

Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman officially became the highest-grossing film of the summer on its eighth weekend of release, almost two months after it was first released. With a $4.6 million gross in ninth place this weekend , the film has now earned$389.0 million total to date.

That overtakes Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with $387.2 million to date as the highest grosser of the summer. Despite opening lower than other summer titles including Guardians and Spider-Man: Homecoming, Wonder never fell further than 43 percent in a single weekend — a remarkable streak of low declines for the traditionally front-loaded superhero genre.

Wonder Woman is also the second-highest grosser of the year so far behind Beauty and the Beast. (Although upcoming releases Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Justice League are both strong contenders to overtake Wonder Woman by the end of the year.)

Overseas Update:

Dunkirk led the global weekend, with $55.4 million overseas and $105.9 million globally. It earned first place in every major market, including $12.2 million in the U.K,  $10.3 million in South Korea, and $4.9 million in France. However, it may be a bit surprising that it fall outside the top 100 openings of all time in the U.K., considering its ensemble cast is almost entirely British.

Elsewhere… Despicable Me 3 earned $47.5 million overseas and $60.2 million globally, Spider-Man: Homecoming earned $33.2 million overseas and $55.2 million globally, and War for the Planet of the Apes earned $17.2 million overseas and $37.6 million globally.

Weekend Actuals for Friday, July 21 – Sunday, July 23, 2017:

Studio Weekend Estimates for Friday, July 21 – Sunday, July 23, 2017: