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At Rotten Tomatoes, Atomic Blonde came in at 75% fresh, with 97 of 130 critics finding something to like. Top critics were only slightly higher at 78% fresh. The Cinemascore was an unfortunate B, though, and while I haven’t seen the film yet, I understand there is some challenging structure to this one, which again might make it play better in Europe. It hits the UK on August 9th, but given the domestic opening and the small budget, Atomic Blonde should do quite well.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is fifth and has a bit of a better hold than its 50% decline last weekend and the 62% drop it saw in the weekend following its $117 million opening. In its fourth frame, Spidey earned $13.5 million and fell 39%, but it brings its domestic total up to $278.4 million. Homecoming has now blown past the two Amazing Spider-Man movies, but doesn’t look like it will get past any of the Tobey Maguire versions (Spider-Man 3 is third with $336.5 million). Overseas, the Sony/Marvel release has now earned $355.4 million, making the $175 million investment (before marketing) a good one.

Sixth is War for The Planet of the Apes, which continues its freefall. After dropping 63% in its second weekend, War fell another 50% this weekend, earning $10.4 million. The domestic total is now at $118.7 million, so the overseas amount is going to have to be huge, or this $150 million production is going to lose money for Fox.

Despicable Me 3 finishes seventh this weekend, and with another fair sized drop of 41%, the third film in the series might finish as the lowest domestic earner of the franchise, but it’s going to be close. This weekend, DM3 earned another $7.7 million. That brings its domestic total up to $230.4 million – it will never catch Despicable Me 2 – as the whopper of the series earned $368 million on the domestic side (and $600 million plus overseas). The original earned $251.5 million stateside, and while the third film will likely earn slightly more, the fact that it’s even close to the original is really a sign of summer 2017 at the box office. The third Despicable Me has done well overseas, earning $588 million, easily beating the original’s $291 million and not far off the second film’s $602 million overseas take.

Eighth is Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, which after a floppy $17 million open, takes a bullet to the forehead this weekend. Valerian fell a hurtful 60%, earning only $6.8 million, which makes it a money loser with its $200 million budget, but it doesn’t set a record for the size of the second weekend drop. The total now has hit $30.6 million, and the outcome is a shame given Besson’s efforts in bringing this to the screen.

Ninth is Baby Driver, which has quietly had a great run. This weekend it earned $4.1 million, falling 33%. Since its second weekend, weekend-to-weekend declines for Baby Driver have been low: 37%, 33%, 30% and 33%. Baby Driver cost $34 million to make, and to date has earned $92 million on the domestic side, and it should hit $100 million. Overseas has been slower going, with a gross to date of $47 million.

Tenth is Wonder Woman, which continues to hold on in its ninth weekend. This time around, the Gal Gadot flick earned another $3.5 million, down 23%. The domestic total has hit $395.4 million, and the global amount has crossed the $785 million mark.

Overall, the box office is healthy overall, but in terms of totals doesn’t hold a candle to last year, as there is no big hitter, like Jason Bourne last year opening to almost $60 million. The top 12 this weekend pulled in $142.7 million, whereas a year ago the top 12 came in at $179.6 million. Next weekend brings The Dark Tower, which I don’t have a whole lot of confidence in, and Kidnap, a new thriller with Halle Berry.

Top Ten for Weekend of
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross (millions)	Weekly Change	Running Total (millions)
1	Dunkirk	Warner Bros.	28.1	-44%	102.8
2	The Emoji Movie	Sony	25.7	New	25.7
3	Girls Trip	Universal	20.1	-36%	65.5
4	Atomic Blonde	Focus	18.6	New	18.6
5	Spider-Man: Homecoming	Sony	13.5	-39%	278.4
6	War for the Planet of the Apes	20th Century Fox	10.4	-50%	118.7
7	Despicable Me 3	Universal	7.7	-41%	230.4
8	Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets	STX	6.8	-60%	30.4
9	Baby Driver	TriStar	4.1	-33%	92.0
10	Wonder Woman	Warner Bros.	3.5	-23%	395.4
11	The Big Sick	Lionsgate	3.4	-33%	30.4
12	Cars 3	Walt Disney Co.	1.0	-47%	146.5

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