‘Puss In Boots’ On Course To Surpass Its Predecessor At The Domestic Box Office

Universal Pictures release Puss in Boots: The Last Wish continued its phenomenal theatrical run at home and abroad over the weekend.

After a $10.6 million domestic weekend, down just 10% from the previous week, Dreamworks’ Puss in Boots: The Last Wish now sits just $8.4 million behind its 2011 predecessor Puss in Boots, which ended its domestic run at $149.2 million. The Last Wish’s domestic gross now sits at $140.8 million after six weeks.

Despite being dropped from another 159 theaters and being available digitally, The Last Wish’s domestic box office numbers were strong enough to hold onto second place behind Avatar: The Way of Water.

While The Last Wish will surely pass the first Puss in Boots film this week domestically, its current global haul of $334.1 million seems unlikely to ever catch up to the previous film’s $555 million take, even with releases in major markets like the U.K. and Japan forthcoming.  Globally, PiB fell out of the top five over the weekend despite grossing an impressive $30 million in its sixth week.

Chinese franchise feature Boonie Bears: Guardian Code, the ninth film from the IP, grossed $43.7 million in its second weekend and has now grossed $136.4 million over its first eight days. Despite only being available in China, it finished fifth at the global box office over the weekend.

The impressive-looking Deep Sea similarly landed in the top 10 worldwide despite only being available in China. It managed to pull in $21.5 million over the three-day frame and has now grossed $66.6 million over its first eight days.

Deep Sea may have received more praise for its ambitious and appealing aesthetic than the latest Boonie Bears flick, but that hasn’t proved enough to overcome the power of a popular IP at Chinese theaters. Deep Sea has, however, caught the eye of the festival scene, and will make its international debut at next month’s Berlinale in the Generation Kplus section.