The Secret Life of Pets scores a box office win

It’s official: The Secret Life of Pets is the real deal, as the animated film delivered a better-than-anticipated $103.2 million opening. However, Disney’s ostensibly triumphant one-two punch might just be countered by Illumination Entertainment – Universal’s wholly owned in-house animation house – with the release of The Secret Life of Pets.

But while Pets was the first film in nearly a month to finish No. 1 other than Finding Dory, Pixar’s blockbuster was still a major victor. Falling just 46%, “Tarzan” retained the #2 spot with $20.6 million, giving it a domestic ten-day total of $81.4 million.

Meanwhile, Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates opened to a respectable $16.6 million, above projections and good news for Zac Efron after the lackluster performance of Neighbors 2.

The main draw, though, was likely in the simple and appealing premise: What do your pets do when you’re not around?

We finally had a new No. 1 movie at the box office this weekend. It also ranks as the highest-grossing animated film in North America, unseating “Toy Story 3”.

Universal and Illumination, the studio behind the Despicable Me series, spent at least a year marketing the film, which received playful reviews. That’s bigger than the $122 million earned by Shrek the Third’s opening, making it the biggest opening weekend ever for an animated film.

Finding Dory, which has brought in more than $422 million domestically to date, raked in an impressive $20.35 million in its fourth weekend.

Internationally, “Finding Dory” has got $220.2 million, which adds its worldwide revenue to $642.8 million. I personally saw it over the weekend and thought it was hilarious.

With Dreamworks’ fall from dominance, it’s safe to say that Illumination has taken over as the animation studio that can provide a amusing alternative to the Disney/Pixar brand.

Tarzan is likewise sluggish overseas so far in comparison to its cost, grossing another $27 million this weekend from 47 markets for a foreign total of $54 million and global tally of $135.4 million.

“The Purge: Election Year” rounded out the top five with $11.7 million. Over the past weekend at the movies, it is all about the kids with the top three earners as summer family friendly films.