Jason Bourne threw a hefty left hook at the box office.
The weekend marks a win for Matt Damon, who returned to his superspy franchise after nine years with a $60 million opening weekend. Bourne beat forecasts by at least $10 million after being handed a weak 56% critical approval rating on review aggregate site RottenTomatoes.com. Audiences liked it better, giving it an A- at CinemaScore.
The strong opening "just proved that Matt Damon is one of the handful of actors that can actually still open a film when you put his face on a poster. And that’s rare these days," says Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations.
Damon launched the popular amnesia-plagued assassin in 2002's The Bourne Identity (which earned $121.7 million, according to Box Office Mojo).
The movie's opening is the second-biggest in the Bourne franchise (after The Bourne Ultimatum, which started with $69.3 million). Jason Bourne also has new bragging rights: "This also puts the Bourne movies with Damon over the billion-dollar mark worldwide," says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.
A crowd of celebrity Bad Moms proved a formidable challenger to Spock and Captain Kirk for the No. 2 spot, but Star Trek Beyond prevailed with $24 million. The latest installment in the franchise, directed by Justin Lin, dropped 59% in its second week in theaters — a steeper slide than experienced by either of the Star Trek films directed by J.J. Abrams.
"It surprised me that Star Trek didn’t hold on better," Bock says. "That was a bit of a shock, and the reviews were pretty good. So there’s something off about the course of Star Trek, and they’re going to have to fix it."
Bad Moms pulled its minivan up close, earning the No. 3 spot with $23.4 million. The R-rated comedy led by Mila Kunis scored as one of few films that targeted women this summer, says Dergarabedian, and provided perfect counterprogramming to the male-focused Bourne. The film received an A at CinemaScore, with a fresh 63% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
"For a film that cost $20 million, when you make your budget (back) opening weekend, it’s time to pop the champagne," Bock says.
"Massively, this film was embraced by female audiences," Dergarabedian says.
Coming in at No. 4 was the furry Secret Life of Pets, which neared $300 million domestically, thanks to a $18.2 million haul this weekend ($296.2 million to date).
No. 5 went to horror movie Lights Out, which made $10.8 million ($42.9 million total).
The all-female Ghostbusters crossed the $100 million mark, ranking seventh with $9.8 million for the weekend ($106.2 million total). The milestone "validates their decision to do the movie, irrespective of the controversy surrounding remaking what to some is a comedy classic," Dergarabedian says.
But Bock notes that Ghostbusters fell off almost 1,000 screens in its third weekend. "That doesn’t happen to Paul Feig’s films," he says, adding that there has been silence from Sony on a sequel. "That tells you all you need to know about where this franchise is headed."
Final numbers are expected Monday.
