June Gloom hit Hollywood at the box office this weekend.
The two biggest films — Universal’s “The Secret Life of Pets 2” and 20th Century Fox’s “Dark Phoenix” — fell short of industry expectations in North America.
“Pets 2,” the sequel to 2016’s animated hit about a chatty group of animals, won the weekend with an estimated $47.1 million at the North American box office. But the film, which features the voice work of comedians Patton Oswalt and Kevin Hart, fell short of the $50 million that analysts expected.
The movie premiered earlier in some international markets, and has so far made $97 million worldwide.
The original “Secret Life of Pets” debuted to $104 million in 2016 before going on to make more than $875 million worldwide.
In second place was “Dark Phoenix,” the latest X-Men film from 20th Century Fox. The film, which centers around Jean Grey, a superhero played by “Game of Thrones” star Sophie Turner, made an estimated $33 million domestically.
Analysts projected that the film would open in the $40 million to $50 million range at the box office.
“Dark Phoenix” brought in $140 million worldwide.
The superhero film was panned by critics — it has a 22% score on the review site Rotten Tomatoes. “Dark Phoenix” also made less money in its opening weekend than any other film in the X-Men franchise. The last 11 films in the series, which includes the popular “Wolverine” and “Deadpool” movies, have made more than $5.7 billion globally since 2000, according to Comscore.
Disney acquired the X-Men franchise as part of a $71 billion deal for most of 21st Century Fox’s assets earlier this year.
Even though the weekend was a miss for Hollywood, there are still a lot of heavy hitters on the docket this summer.
Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” opens later this month. Marvel and Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” and Disney’s “The Lion King” will debut next month.
Disney’s remake of “The Lion King,” which includes voice work by Donald Glover and Beyoncé, is set to open on July 19. Some analysts believe it could be one of the highest-grossing films of the year.
