‘The Northman’ opened with $12 million while ‘The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent’ debuted with just $7.175 million.
In a grim ”times have changed” comparison, it was less than five years ago when I was slightly disappointed that DreamWorks’ delightful Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie opened with “just” $23 million. That was well below “normal” for DreamWorks ( Trolls had opened with $46.5 million in November 2016 and The Boss Baby had opened with $50 million in March of 2017), so this was a comedown closer to Turbo ($21 million in 2013) than Monsters vs. Aliens ($59 million in 2009). However, Captain Underpants only cost $40 million (Turbo, for example, cost $135 million), making its eventual $125 million global gross a modest success. Five years later, it’s genuine cause for celebration that Universal and DreamWorks’ well-reviewed and well-received The Bad Guys ( review) has opened atop the domestic box office with $24 million. The film, concerning a crew of anthropomorphic animal robbers (Sam Rockwell, Awkwafina, Marc Maron, Anthony Ramos and Craig Robinson) who make a manufactured attempt to go straight, scored DreamWorks’ biggest opening weekend since How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World ($55 million) in early 2019. It is also their biggest non-sequel debut since The Boss Baby ($50 million) in early 2017. It’s not 2010, back when DWA’s How to Train Your Dragon would “disappoint” with a $44 million debut but leg out to $220 million domestic. It’s also not 2010, back when How to Train Your Dragon cost $165 million and the entire world wasn’t zoned out on Twitter, YouTube and Netflix. Considering the struggles, even pre-Covid, for non-sequel toons, I’ll count The Bad Guys as a relative triumph for now.
