‘DC League of Super-Pets’ sails past $2.2m in opening previews

With children’s movies mostly absent from the studios’ Summer 2022 schedule, it might seem like a forgone conclusion that any family friendly films released in-season would be a huge hit. But of the slate of major kiddie flicks released thus far, including seeming sure bet Lightyear and WTF-inducing Trolls World Tour, thus far Despicable Me spin-off Minions: The Rise of Gru is the only one that’s stood out as a hit.

But post-COVID Hollywood is seeing the season of superheroes, with The Batman, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Dr. Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all opening back-to-back to huge numbers, and Thor: Love & Thunder opening strong before word-of-mouth led to steep box office drop-off, so it’s no surprise that the animated DC League of Super-Pets would dominate the weekend box office.

While the weekend is just beginning, according to a piece in Deadline, the movie made $2.2 million in a limited Thursday evening opening, leading industry insiders to speculate the film could make as much as $30 million in its opening weekend. Not bad for a movie centered on DC’s Silver Age joke character Krypto the Super Dog.

Not that it comes as a huge surprise to anyone watching the signs, beginning back in mid-May when Sony pushed back the release of Brad Pitt’s action flick Bullet Train so it wouldn’t have to compete. In addition, the all-star voice cast is headlined by wrestler-turned-thesp Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has been out front pushing Super-Pets in addition to his live-action DCEU turn, Black Adam, coming late this year.

Dreamworks’ latest kids’ comedy The Bad Guys made a quarter million on an $80 million budget, making it a hit but also meaning it failed to make a greater impact. This left an opening for a kids’ cartoon to hit big. And with Dr. Strange 2 too gory for little ones, and Thor 4 disappointing Marvel maniacs, the opening exists for a superhero movie to take the whole family to. And DC, which flopped with its previous children superhero cartoon, the meta and confusingly-titled Teen Titans Go! To the Movies!, has finally figured out a more straightforward kid-friendly approach to its superhero IP.