For the second week, domestic and international box office grosses were topped by movies that did not involve superheroes or lightsabers. This week, Universal’s “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.” the ABBA jukebox romantic comedy that served as both a prequel and sequel to the 2008 hit “Mama Mia” laned the top spot.
“Mamma Mia” stars Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Dominic Cooper, Cher, and Meryl Streep. The film was directed by Ol Parker, who is best known for “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2011) and its sequel “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” (2015)
On its debut weekend, “Mamma Mia” grossed $76.8M worldwide, $34.4M of which came from North American theaters according to estimates compiled by comScore. That just topped its production budget of about $75 million.
Also new in theaters this weekend was Sony’s revenge pic “Equalizer 2” which debuted at #1 in North America, where it scared up $34.4M domestically and $39.1M. Starring Denzel Washington and directed by Antoine Fuqua, the movie is a follow-up to 2014’s “The Equalizer” which are themselves a retread of a television drama from the 1980s, which featured Bob Woodward cast in the lead role.
Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” showed some longevity, adding an additional $60.9M worldwide over the weekend, as did Disney’s “Incredibles 2” which added an estimated $48.0M worldwide over the weekend.
Top 12 worldwide weekend box office estimates, listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, July 22
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – Universal – $76.8M
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation – Sony – $60.9M
Incredibles 2 – Disney – $48.0M
Equalizer 2, The – Sony – $39.1M
Skyscraper – Universal – $38.3M
Ant-Man And The Wasp – Disney – $37.7M
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Universal – $28.3M
Dying To Survive – Multiple Chinese Distributors – $25.3M
First Purge, The – Universal – $13.9M
Hidden Man – Multiple Chinese Distributors – $10.4M
Ocean’s 8 – Warner Bros. – $3.9M
Sicario: Day Of The Soldado – Multiple – $3.7M
The top 12 domestic weekend box office estimates, listed in descending order, per data collected as of Sunday, July 22
Equalizer 2, The – Sony – $35.8M
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again – Universal – $34.4M
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation – Sony – $23.1M
Ant-Man And The Wasp – Disney – $16.1M
Incredibles 2 – Disney – $11.5M
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – Universal – $11.0M
Skyscraper – Universal – $11.0M
First Purge, The – Universal – $5.0M
Unfriended: Dark Web – OTL Releasing – $3.5M
Sorry To Bother You – Annapurna Pictures – $2.8M
Sicario: Day Of The Soldado – Sony – $1.9M
Ocean’s 8 – Warner Bros. – $1.6M