Independence Day: Resurgence, the sequel to the 1996 film, didn’t stand a chance against the sophomore weekend of Pixar’s Finding Dory, which scored a massive $73.2 million (estimated), growing its U.S. cume to $286.6 million. Like its record-setting debut last weekend, Dory’s second-weekend gross is the best-ever for an animated feature.

Dory feeds into the larger narrative playing out at the American box office this year, which is animation’s complete dominance of the marketplace. An animated film has been the top film at the box office for three out of the first six months of this year (and depending on how you classify the The Jungle Book, then four out of six months). That figure is remarkable when one considers that there have been just a handful of major animation releases compared to dozens of live-action releases; nearly every major animation release this year has been a hit.

It’s virtually guaranteed that an animated film will top the charts again in July when Illumination releases The Secret Life of Pets and Fox releases Ice Age: Collision Course. And with Sausage Party, Kubo and the Two Strings, Storks, Trolls, Moana, and Sing yet to come, it’s very likely that by year’s end, animation will have had its biggest year ever at the American box office.

Now, back to Finding Dory, it’s not just the film’s second-weekend gross that was amazing, but also its mid-week grosses, which looked more like weekend figures: Monday ($19.6m), Tuesday ($23.2m), Wednesday ($18.1m), and Thursday ($17.4m). Dory’s only real competition this week will come from her parent company, Disney, which will release Steve Spielberg’s The BFG on Friday.

Dory picked up an additional $37m from foreign dates for a $110.3m total abroad. The film is receiving a staggered rollout abroad, and hasn’t yet launched in many key markets, including Brazil, Korea, Mexico, U.K., Japan, and Germany. To date, the film has grossed $396.9m globally.

Meanwhile, Illumination’s The Secret Life of Pets began its international rollout this weekend, launching in the United Kingdom and Norway with a combined $15.2m. It took first place in both countries, with the U.K. launch crushing the release of Independence Day.

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Amid Amidi

Amid Amidi is Cartoon Brew's Publisher and Editor-at-large.

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