'The Bad Guys' Tops The Weekend US Box Office With $24M In Ticket Sales

“The Bad Guys,” the animated feature film adaptation of Aaron Babley’s children book series, stole its way to the top of the U.S. box office this weekend with $24 million in ticket sales from 4,009 theaters.

What Happened: The premiere engagement for “The Bad Guys” was produced by DreamWorks Animation and released by Comcast Corp.’s CMCSA Universal Pictures, was joined at the top of the box office chart by another family-friendly title, Paramount’s PARAA “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” which generated $15.2 million in ticket sales from 3,809 venues for its third week on the big screen.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” last week’s top film at the box office, fell into third place with $14 million in ticket sales from 4,245 theaters. While that Warner Bros. WBD film continued to underperform in comparison to the other titles in the Harry Potter franchise, it still placed higher than the weekend’s other big office titles – the Viking revenge saga “The Northman” from Comcast’s Focus Features, with generated a disappointing $12 million from 3,234 theaters, and Lionsgate’s LGF comic action film “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent” starring Nicolas Cage, which brought in $7.1 million from 3,036 theaters.

What Comes Next: The coming week’s sole film going into nationwide release is “Memory,” which is being distributed by Open Road Films. Liam Neeson stars as an assassin whose refusal to complete an assignment turns him from predator to the prey of both a crime syndicate and the FBI.

Among the films opening in limited release are Lionsgate’s action flick “Fortress: Sniper’s Eye” starring Bruce Willis and Jesse Metcalfe; the Indian romantic adventure “Heropanti 2” from Viva Entertainment; Magnolia Pictures’ French comedy “Anais In Love,”; and Kino Lorber and Zeitgeist Films’ “Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen,” a documentary on the making of the 1971 cinematic adaptation of the Broadway musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”

What Else Happened: A long-lost blue and white gingham dress worn by Judy Garland in her role as Dorothy in the 1939 classic “The Wizard of Oz” is being auctioned in Los Angeles on May 24 as part of the “Bonhams Classic Hollywood: Film and Television” sale. The dress’ value is estimated as being between $800,000 to $1.2 million.

The dress was given to Catholic University by the Oscar-winning actress Mercedes McCambridge in 1973 when she was the school’s artist-in-residence, but it disappeared in the late 1980s and was considered lost until it was discovered at the school’s Hartke Theatre during a July 2021 renovation of the venue. The proceeds from the auction will be used to help establish a new film acting program at the school.

According to Catholic University, the public will be able to see the dress at Bonhams New York from April 23-29 and at Bonhams Los Angeles from May 20-24. 

And lest we forget what the dress looked like on Judy Garland, all we have to do follow the Yellow Brick Road…

Photo: "The Bad Guys," courtesy of DreamWorks Animation and Universal Pictures