Legend of Tarzan Posts $20.6M, Nabs Second Spot Ahead of Dory, and Passes John Carter’s Total with $81.4M Cum to Date

Toldja.  The predictions of $15M for Legend of Tarzan’s second weekend lie smoldering in ruins, while the Tarzan Files’ fearless prediction of $20M looks pretty much right on target, as Legend of Tarzan has once again outperformed expectations, coming in second behind Secret Life of Pets (yes, that means it sneaked past Finding Dory too.)   Here is Box Office Mojo’s update:

Coming in second with a solid sophomore hold is WB’s The Legend of Tarzan, dropping only 46% for an estimated $20.6 million. Considering it was coming off a holiday opening, expectation heading into the weekend was for a 50+% drop proving the film’s “A-” CinemaScore is no fluke as some good word of mouth appears to be spreading for the film. Unfortunately, the monster $180 million production budget still puts the film at a disadvantage from a financial perspective as attention turns toward its international prospects where it grossed $27 million this weekend from 47 markets, bringing its international total to $54 million and its global cume to $135.4 million so far. Openings in Italy (Jul 14), China (Jul 19), Brazil (Jul 21) and Spain (Jul 22) are on the horizon.

The second place finish for Tarzan means Disney and Pixar’s Finding Dory will have to settle for third after three weeks atop the box office. The film, however, has something to celebrate as its $20.3 million weekend pushes its domestic cume to $422.5 million, making it the highest grossing domestic release of 2016 and the third highest grossing animated release of all-time, less than $19 million shy of topping Shrek 2 ($441.2m).

The cum total of $81,412,712 means that sometime last night Legend of Tarzan passed John Carter’s domestic total of $73M, doing so on its 9th day in release.

Overall — not bad.  Clearly the film is getting some respect, but again and again, every time they report, they mention the budget of $180M and cite that as reason to not get too excited.

Okay, we won’t get too excited.

But given the degree to which ERB fans are a long-suffering lot, the combination of getting a movie that actually resembles the Tazan books, and  that has at least a fighting chance of earning a sequel, is enough for the moment.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATE from Deadline.

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN
In its second swing through international, Warner Bros/Village Roadshow’s update on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic creation added $27M in 46 total markets. The David Yates-directed spin now has a $54M cume overseas. Among opening plays were the UK, Mexico, Australia and France. The UK looks to be coming in at No. 2 with $4.7M including previews on 740 screens. That’s behind the 3rd frame at No. 1 for The Secret Life Of Pets which is estimated at $4.8M. Mexico is also a No. 1 start with $4.6M on 2,110. Australia took $3.3M on 334 for the No. 2 slot behind Dory. In France, Euro Cup action remains in full swing and will crescendo tonight with the host country in the final against Portugal right now. WB reports Alexander Skarsgard and Margot Robbie’s jungle romance picked up $2.4M on 535 screens there including previews in this debut frame.

After bowing at No. 1 in Russia last week, Tarzan had a clear second week in the market with no like openings. It held the top spot again with another $1.8M from 1,873 screens for a cume of $6.3M. Korea, where Tarzan is being outmuscled by local pics and the arrival of Finding Dory, now has a cume of $5.9M. Italy bows this coming weekend with China hitting on the following Tuesday. Brazil and Spain come a touch later.