'The Bad Guys' debut tops weekend box office

On an unusually crowded weekend at movie theaters that featured a pricy Viking epic and Nicolas Cage playing himself, DreamWorks Animation's "The Bad Guys" bested the field, signaling a continued resurgence for family moviegoing after a downturn during the pandemic.

"The Bad Guys," released by Universal Pictures, debuted with $24 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That came despite steep competition for families from Paramount Pictures' "Sonic The Hedgehog 2," which stayed in second place with $15.2 million its third week of release. It's grossed $145.8 million domestically thus far.

The apparent health of family moviegoing is especially good news for Hollywood as it heads into its lucrative summer season when films like Universal's own "Minions: Rise of Gru" and The Walt Disney Co.'s "Lightyear" — the first Pixar film opening in theaters in two years — hope to approach pre-pandemic levels.

"There's reason for being more than cautiously optimistic," said Jim Orr, head of distribution for Universal. "I think audiences this summer are going to be flooding into theaters."

While studios have been hesitant to program many films against each other during the pandemic, the weekend saw a rarity: three new wide releases, all of them well-received, none of them sequels or remakes.

"The Bad Guys," based on Aaron Blabey's children's graphic novel series about a gang of crooked animals with a Quentin Tarantino-for-kids tone, fared well with critics (85% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (an "A" CinemaScore). With little family competition until the release of "Lightyear" in mid-June, "The Bad Guys" should play well for weeks. Having first debuted overseas, the animated film has already grossed $63.1 million internationally.

The weekend's other new releases — Robert Eggers' "The Northman" and the Cage-starring "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent" — didn't do as well but still fared reasonably solidly in their first weekend.

The risks were greatest for Focus Features' "The Northman," which saw its budget balloon beyond $70 million, a major increase in scale for Eggers, the director of previous indie historical horrors "The Witch" and "The Lighthouse." The film's path to profitability was unlikely even before launching in theaters, but it opened on the higher side of expectations with $12 million in ticket sales. It added $6.3 million internationally in 26 territories.

"The Northman" stars Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy and Nicole Kidman in a brutal and bloody revenge saga.

Lionsgate's "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," a gonzo meta comedy starring Cage as an exaggerated version of himself, opened with an estimated $7.2 million. The film, which first launched to warm reviews out of South by Southwest, will depend on good word-of-mouth to approach netting its $30 million budget.