'Finding Dory' is #1, but 'The Purge' wins big at the weekend box office
Small budget, big audience: that's The Purge way.
Writer/director James DeMonaco has a great thing going with his action/thriller series. Where most of the big summer openings look at a $30.9 million debut weekend and worry, that estimated total amounts to great business for The Purge: Election Year.
DeMonaco keeps his budgets small, with Election Year having reportedly cost around $10 million to make. It's the third in a series that has generally opened at around $30 million and amassed a box office warchest of roughly $70 million.
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Election Year is on a similar path. Just like its predecessors, it's already profitable for Universal Pictures coming out of its opening three-day sprint.
That's why a third place July 4 weekend finish is nothing to sweat. The Purge slides in behind The Legend of Tarzan, at #2 with an estimated $38.1 million over three days, and Finding Dory, the box office winner with an estimated $41.9 million in its third weekend.
Most had expected Tarzan to fall behind Election Year, but a surprise Friday box office of $14 million left the live action adaptation from Warner Bros. in a better spot than analysts had predicted. That said, it's still going to need help -- likely from overseas audiences -- to climb past its estimated $180 million budget.
Dory claimed an easy #1 position, with its estimated three-day total of $41.9 million a record-high among animated films in their third weekend. The Pixar feature is currently looking at an estimated holiday weekend take of $50.5 million.
Puzzlingly, Disney opted to compete with itself in releasing the CG Roald Dahl adaptation The BFG just three weeks after Pixar's undersea tale. The longer holiday weekend makes The BFG's domestic opening look better on paper, but it's still a distant fourth behind The Purge with an estimated $23.6 million for the four-day weekend, and $19.6 million over three days..
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Topics Film
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
