Box Office: ‘The Purge 3’ Scares Off ‘Tarzan,’ ‘BFG’ Thursday Night

All three films began rolling out Thursday evening in advance of the long Fourth of July holiday.

Horror offering The Purge: Election Year set off early fireworks at the box office Thursday night, earning $3.6 million and easily scaring off The Legend of Tarzan and Steven Spielberg’s The BFG.

Blumhouse and Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes produced the latest Purge for a modest $10 million.

Legend of Tarzan, from Warner Bros, grossed $2.7 million Thursday evening, while Disney’s family entry The BFG earned $775,000. (Family films always tend to do less on Thursday night than genre films or all-audience offerings.)

For the long holiday weekend, none of the new films are likely to beat holdover Finding Dory, however. Tarzan and The BFG are looking at a four-day opening in the $30 million range, whileThe Purge is hoping for $25 million. However, based on Thursday night’s gross — a franchise best — Purge could easily come in higher.

Tarzan, rolling out in 3,561 theaters domestically, including Imax and other premium large-format screens, cost a hefty $180 million to make before marketing. David Yates directed the action-adventure film, which stars Alexander Skarsgard in the title role opposite Margot Robbie, Samuel L. Jackson, Djimon Hounsou, Jim Broadbent and Christoph Waltz.

Warners and Village Roadshow are hopeful that the international box office will more than make up for a potentially muted showing in North America. Tarzan launches in 19 markets this weekend, including South Korea and Russia, and it will open in a number of other major markets next week before landing in China on July 19.

Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment partnered with Disney and Walden Media on The BFG, based on Roald Dahl’s beloved book of the same name about a man-eating giant (Mark Rylance) who softens upon meeting a young orphan girl (Ruby Barnhill). The movie’s net production budget was roughly $140 million, while the late Melissa Mathison wrote the adapted script.

The BFG, playing in 3,357 theaters and garnering mostly solid reviews, made its world premiere in May at the Cannes Film Festival. It marks the first time Spielberg has directed a movie for Disney, which currently has another family film in the marketplace, Pixar’s hit sequel Finding Dory.

The Purge: Election Year, the third title in the profitable horror franchise, will be playing in 2,787 theaters.

Sequel The Purge: Anarchy debuted to $29.8 million in late July 2014 after earning $2.6 million in previews, while The Purge opened to an impressive $35.1 million in June 2013 after grossing $3.4 million Thursday night.

Source: hollywoodreporter.com