Mr. Wolf, Mr. Snake, Mr. Piranha, Mr. Shark and Ms. Tarantula had a great opening weekend! DreamWorks’ fast-moving sequel The Bad Guys 2 scored an estimated $22.2 million weekend at the U.S. box office from 3,852 houses. Outside the U.S., the movie brought in $16.3 million from 58 territories.
Directed Pierre Perifel, joined by his Bilby collaborator JP Sans (head of character animation on the first Bad Guys movie) as co-director, the sequel sees the reformed criminal crew (voiced by Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos and Awkwafina) dragged into a heist scheme by a new gang known as The Bad Girls (Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, Natasha Lyonne). The voice cast also boasts Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Alex Borstein and Lilly Singh.
Critics have mostly good things to say about The Bad Guys 2, which is ranking at a rosy 86% on Rotten Tomatoes (from 56 reviews) and favorable 64 points on Metacritic (20 reviews). You can read our reviews rundown here and our interview with the film’s talented creative team here. The movie also gained an A Cinemascore from audiences (children under 12 gave it a 90% positive score, and overall audiences offered a %67 definite recommend. The first Bad Guys movie, which was released on April 22, 2022, had a $23.9 million opening in 4,008 theaters. It went on to become a massive hit for DreamWorks, grossing over $250 million worldwide.
Comic-book and vfx-driven movies dominated the rest of the box office chart. Disney’s well-received Fantastic Four: First Steps took the No. 1 spot for the second week in a row with a $40 million weekend, bringing its cume to $198.4 million. Warner Bros.’ Superman continued its dynamite summer in its fourth week of release, with another $13.9 million weekend, landing at No. 4 with a total of $316.2 million overall. Universal’s Jurassic World Rebirth claimed the No.5 spot with another $8.7 million in its fifth week (cume is now $317.6 million), while Paramount’s Smurfs was only able to add another $1.77 million to its box office loot in its third week of release (cume is now $28.8 million) at No. 9. DreamWorks’ live-action How to Train Your Dragon is still hanging on tight at No. 10 with a $1.35 million weekend, bringing its grand cume to $260.4 million in its eighth week at the box office.
The final animated feature to debut in the summer of 2025 is Grand Prix of Europe on August 29. Indie outfit Viva Kids will release the German movie, which centers on a young mouse with a big passion for race car driving, and is directed by Waldemar Fast (animator on the Monster Family movies) and produced by Mack Magic, Mack Animation, Warner Bros. Germany and Timeless Films.
Sources: Deadline.com, Boxofficemojo.com, imdb.com
