Box Office: ‘Dunkirk’ Conquers Competition With $50.5M Debut; ‘Valerian’ Bombs

Warner Bros.’ ‘Dunkirk’ isn’t the only win of the weekend as Universal’s female-centric ‘Girls Trip’ breaks the R-rated comedy curse, opening to $30.4 million.

Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk stormed the box office with a better-than-expected $50.5 million domestic debut, the best opening in recent memory for a World War II film and a testament to the Nolan brand.

Overseas, the critically acclaimed film also impressed, earning $55.4 million from its first 46 markets and placing No. 1 everywhere for a global assault of $105.9 million. The U.K., where Nolan is from, led with $12.4 million, followed by South Korea with $10.3 million.

Still, Dunkirk will need sizeable staying power in order to recoup a net production budget of $100 million and a major marketing spend. Nolan made the movie for Warner Bros., his longtime partner and home of his blockbuster Dark Knight trilogy. Dunkirk, playing in 3,720 locations, no doubt benefited from a major push in Imax theaters, which delivered $11.7 million, or 23 percent of the total gross. Dunkirk also played in on a number of retrofitted 70mm screens.

Heading into the weekend, many box-office pundits predicted that Dunkirk would have trouble crossing $40 million, considering its subject matter. They readily admit they were wrong. In addition to strong reviews, Dunkirk earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences. It skewed heavily male (60 percent), while 76 percent of all ticket buyers were over the age of 25.

It was a bold move to open a war drama in summer, when more commercial fare is the norm, including Nolan’s two Dark Knight tentpoles. “There is something special about this late July and August playtime. We really have nothing in front of us,” says Warner Bros. domestic distribution president Jeff Goldstein. “Chris Nolan has pedigree. His audience is always anticipating his next movie. We’re proud to be part of that.”

Dunkirk opened on par with Nolan’s last film, Interstellar, which launched to nearly $50 million over the long Thanksgiving holiday in 2014, including $47.5 million for the three-day weekend. The Dark Knight Rises (2012) was his biggest opening ($160.9 million), followed by 2008′s The Dark Knight ($158.4 million), 2005′s Batman Begins ($73 million, including a three-day weekend of $48.7 million) and 2010′s Inception ($62.8 million).

Recounting one of World War II’s most famous battles, Dunkirk stars Fionn Whitehead, Mark Rylance, Kenneth Branagh, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Jack Lowden and One Direction’s Harry Styles, who makes his acting debut in the movie, much to the delight of fans, who made their presence known at the film’s London and New York premieres.

Among other relatively recent World War II films, Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken debuted to $30.6 million in December 2014, while Fury launched to $23.7 million in November of that same year. Last year, Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge bowed to $15.2 million.

Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) remains the top-grossing World War II movie of all time domestically, earning $216.5 million (or $404.4 million when adjusting for inflation). The film opened to $31 million (or $57.6 million when accounting for inflation).

Elsewhere at the North American box office, Universal’s Girls Trip broke the R-rated comedy curse in debuting to $30.4 million from 2,591 theaters. That’s the best showing in two years for the genre and helps to make up for summer flops Rough Night and The House. Like Dunkirk, Girls Trip came in ahead of expectations.

The comedy — which nabbed a coveted A+ CinemaScore and placed a strong No. 2 — stars Regina Hall, Tiffany Haddish, Jada Pinkett Smith and Queen Latifah as lifelong friends who go to New Orleans for a raunchy weekend of fun. Malcolm D. Lee directed and produced alongside producer Will Packer.

Girls Trip was made for roughly $20 million, a modest amount compared to the budgets for Dunkirk and the weekend’s third new nationwide release, French filmmaker Luc Besson’s Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets.

Valerian, a sci-fi epic costing $180 million, crash-landed in the U.S. with a $17 million bow from 3,553 theaters. STX Entertainment is releasing the movie domestically via its partnership with Besson’s EuropaCorp, but doesn’t have any money in the film. Nor did STX pay for marketing, according to insiders.

Valerian, which received a B- CinemaScore, is based on the French graphic novel series and stars Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne as celestial cops who must travel through space and time in order to save the universe.

The ambitious film hopes to make up ground overseas, where it grossed $6.5 million from its first 16 markets Germany was the only major territory.

In North America, Besson’s pic came in No. 5 behind Dunkirk, Girls Trip and holdovers Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes. Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man pic took in an estimated $22 million in its third outing for a domestic total of $252 million. Matt Reeves’ Planet of the Apes threequel tumbled 64 percent in its second weekend to $20.4 million for a 10-day total of $97.8 million for 20th Century Fox.

Among other holdovers, Universal and Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 3 passed the $200 million mark at the domestic box office and $700 million globally, while Warner Bros.’ Wonder Woman has eclipsed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($386 million) to become the top-grossing film of summer in North America and the second-biggest title of the year to date behind Beauty and the Beast with a total of $389 million. Wonder Woman‘s global haul stands at $779.4 million.

At the specialty box office, filmmaker Gillian Robespierre’s Landline opened to muted numbers for Amazon Studios and Magnolia Pictures. The indie dramedy, which premiered in January at the Sundance Film Festival, grossed an estimated $52,000 from four theaters for a screen average of $13,000.

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Doctor Who Christmas special: First look at Peter Capaldi’s final outing

Details of Peter Capaldi’s final outing in Doctor Who have been revealed as the first trailer for the Christmas special was released online.

The one-minute clip for the episode, titled Twice Upon A Time, sees Capaldi and the First Doctor team up.

It features the return of Pearl Mackie as Bill Potts, who had seemingly left the show at the end of series 10.

The clip also showed a guest appearance from Mark Gatiss, who plays a World War One soldier called The Captain.

The release of the trailer coincided with the cast appearing at Comic-Con in San Diego on Sunday, where they talked about the upcoming episode, the last series and looked back at Capaldi’s time on the sci-fi drama.

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Gatiss described the Christmas special as being “a Christmas episode without being overtly Christmassy – it’s very happy-sad”.

He added: “[It's] a fantastic episode and we had a great time doing it. It was a lovely way out.”

It will be the third time the Sherlock actor and writer has appeared on Doctor Who, after previously starring in episodes in series three and six.

Mackie also confirmed the festive episode will be her last appearance on the show.

Analysis – Lizo Mzimba, Entertainment correspondent

Twice Upon a Time is the final episode for Peter Capaldi’s Twelfth Doctor and for outgoing showrunner Steven Moffat. Both have been huge Doctor Who fans for most of their lives, and their final story is clearly a love letter to a show that means a huge amount to both.

This first trailer begins with original footage of the First Doctor, William Hartnell, from 1966′s The Tenth Planet (episode two if you’re interested), which then mixes through to David Bradley who plays him in this story.

But it also shows a glimpse of a scene with the First Doctor and his assistant Polly from episode four – Hartnell’s final episode before Patrick Troughton took over. Sadly that episode is one of the dozens that are still missing from the BBC archives.

The minute-long teaser also makes clear that this Christmas story won’t just be accessible to long term fans. Bill will be back, after she was last seen heading off to travel the universe with student-turned-space and time traveller Heather.

The trailer also shows actor and writer Mark Gatiss making another Doctor Who appearance. In 2007 he played Professor Lazarus, and he also briefly popped up playing a different character in 2011.

Comic-Con fans were shown a three-minute goodbye video for Capaldi, thanking him for his time on the show, which led to a standing ovation.

The actor praised writer and executive producer Steven Moffat, saying: “Every shot you saw there came through his gentleman’s mind. The message of the show comes from his heart.”

• Former Doctors clash over Jodie Whittaker casting
• Doctor Who’s 13th Time Lord to be a woman
• All the Doctors, from Hartnell to Whittaker
• Comic-Con day 3 recap: Stranger Things, Westworld, Ready Player One and more

The team also addressed the casting of Jodie Whittaker as the Thirteenth Doctor and first female to take on the role.

Capaldi called it “a great choice”, adding: “I think Jodie’s going to be amazing and she’s so full of excitement and full of passion about the show.

It’s really thrilling to know it’s in the hands of somebody who cares for it so deeply and is going to do exciting things with it.”

Meanwhile, Moffat criticised the “imaginary backlash” in the media on the issue.

“There’s so many press articles about a backlash among Doctor Who fandom against the casting of a female Doctor. There has been no backlash at all,” he said.

“[Jodie has] an 80% approval rating on social media. I wish every single journalist who is writing the alternative would shut the hell up – it’s not true.”

On Saturday, Capaldi told Empire he was both sad to be leaving the series and excited for its future.

“[The Christmas special] is a wonderful episode and I couldn’t have wanted for any more.

“It’s an emotional and moving end to my time as Doctor Who.”

More from Comic-Con

• Everything Marvel unleashed at Comic-Con
• Ben Affleck denies Batman exit rumours
• Harrison Ford addresses Blade Runner replicant mystery
• Comic-Con day 2 recap: Big Bang Theory, The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and more
• Comic-Con day 1 recap: Kingsman 2, Bright, Doctor Who and more

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