pesowin ‘Dog Man’ has big bite at box office with $36 million opening

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Li’l Petey, voiced by Lucas Hopkins Calderon, left, and Dog Man, voiced by Peter Hastings in a scene from DreamWorks Animation’s “Dog Man.” (Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation via AP)

LOS ANGELES – DreamWorks’ “Dog Man,” an animated comedy about a police officer who becomes fused with his service dog, opened with $36 million this weekend to lead all films in North America, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

The Universal Pictures release, based on a series of graphic novels by Dav Pilkey, beat out the comic thriller “Companion,” which opened with $9.5 million, Comscore reported.

“Mufasa: The Lion King” was third with $6.1 million Friday through Sunday in its seventh week in theaters.

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Fourth place went to “One of Them Days,” which made $6 million in its third weekend, followed by  “Flight Risk,” which slipped to fifth place with $5.6 million, one week after opening in first place.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” ($3.2 million), “Moana 2” ($2.8 million), “A Complete Unknown” ($2.1 million), “The Brutalist” ($1.8 million) and “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” ($1.6 million).

netplay slot

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $85 million. The year-to-date total is $612.7 million — up 14 percent from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

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From DreamWorks Animation – creators of the blockbuster franchises “Kung Fu Panda,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The Boss Baby” – comes the canine-crime-fighting film adaptation of Dav Pilkey’s New York Times bestselling literary phenomenon: “Dog Man.”

When a faithful police dog and his human police officer owner are injured together on the job, a harebrained but life-saving surgery fuses the two of them together and Dog Man is born. Dog Man is sworn to protect and serve – and fetch, sit and roll over.

The versatile Arellano forward kept his team glued together in a swashbuckling fightback to reverse University of Perpetual Help-Dalta, 66-59, on Monday at the NCAA Season 100 men’s basketball tournament.

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“Dog Man” stars Isla Fisher as TV reporter Sarah Hatoff, Poppy Liu as Petey’s assistant, Emmy nominee Stephen Root as Grampa, Billy Boyd as Sarah’s cameraman, and Emmy and Golden Globe winner Ricky Gervais as Flippy the fish.

Dog Man is directed by Emmy winner Peter Hastings, whose credits include the groundbreaking animated series “Animaniacs” and “Pinky and the Brain.”

The film is produced by Karen Foster, who served as co-producer on DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon.” (With CNS report)

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