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Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is fourth, and if there is a disappointment this weekend, this is it. Luc Besson's much hyped and hoped for independent science fiction release did not have a breakout weekend and was not the vision that many hoped for. Besson's $200 million plus film had a North American opening of $17 million – a number whose expectations only went lower as opening weekend approached. Had the film itself been better (it is currently 54% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes), I think it would have opened to more. It also might have performed better if it had a bigger star attached to it, like Bruce Willis in Fifth Element.

I have never quite understood Dane DeHaan as a leading man – he's more Luke Skywalker than Han Solo. Cara Delevingne I get - she has presence; he does not. North American audiences were cool on it (B- Cinemascore), so It will be interesting to see how Valerian does overseas. Still, my feeling is that Luc Besson cashed out on it early, selling the distribution rights like a Lionsgate release and reducing the impact if it nosedived. STX ends up wearing it in North America, given it likely had to cough up the marketing budget stateside. I am sure that there will be much more on the fate and finances of Valerian over the weeks to come.

Despicable Me 3 is sixth and continues to be another Universal cash cow, as the studio is having a banner year, releasing Fate of the Furious, Get Out, Split, and Fifty Shades Darker this year. In its fourth weekend, Despicable Me 3 earned another $12.7 million and dropped a decent 34%. It has picked up $213.33 million domestically, and has passed the half-billion mark overseas, against that tight budget of $80 million.

Baby Driver and The Big Sick continue to thrive this weekend, earning $6 million and $5 million respectively. Baby Driver brings its total up to $84.2 million, and The Big Sick moves up to $24.5 million.

Wonder Woman continues its big ride despite being out for eight weekends of release. The Warner Bros./DC film of the summer picked up another $4.6 million and declined a small 32%. Wonder Woman has now hit $389 million on the North American side and continues with equal amounts overseas.

Wish Upon is tenth. The discarded horror flick earned only $2.5 million and fell 55%. The $12 million Broad Green release has now earned $10.5 million.

Overall, the top 12 films earned a fairly healthy $174.2 million, but the box office still struggles to gain any hold on last year, as the 2016 top 12 pulled in $183.6 million. Next weekend should be fun, as Charlize Theron goes all John Wick in Atomic Blonde, and Sony releases The Emoji Movie, which is just another sign I am getting old.

Top Ten for Weekend of July 21-23, 2017
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross (millions)	Weekly Change	Running Total (millions)
1	Dunkirk	Warner Bros.	50.5	New	50.5
2	Girls Trip	Universal	30.4	New	30.4
3	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Sony	22.0	-50%	251.7
4	War for the Planet of the Apes	20th Century Fox	20.4	-64%	97.8
5	Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets	STX	17.0	New	17.0
6	Despicable Me 3	Universal	12.7	-34%	213.3
7	Baby Driver	TriStar	6.0	-31%	84.2
8	The Big Sick	Focus	5.0	-34%	24.5
9	Wonder Woman	Warner Bros.	4.6	-32%	389.0
10	Wish Upon	Broad Green	2.5	-55%	10.5
11	Cars 3	Walt Disney Co.	1.9	-38%	144.0
12	Transformers: The Last Knight	Paramount	1.1	-60%	127.6

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