Despite a big blitz of advertising, the new version of Ghost In The Shell couldn't manage to overcome the power of an animated infant. DreamWorks' The Boss Baby, featuring the vocal stylings of Alec Baldwin, staged a surprising win and nabbed the top spot at the American box office with $49 million, according to studio estimates.
The latest effort from the company, which has been seeing some re-organisational tremors, with projects shutting down as new management slides into place, is a healthy win and will probably spark a Boss Baby franchise, if DWA's history is anything to go by. This new arrival meant previous champ Beauty And The Beast slipped down to second place, but still earned more than $47 million, bringing its US total to $395.4 million and its global total to more than $876.2 million.
Ghost In The Shell has been rowing against a current of negative reactions to the idea, the casting and the finished film, and had to settle for third place with $19 million. That's not a great domestic start given its $110 million production budget, though worldwide the movie is on $59 million. Power Rangers fell to fourth on $14.5 million. Rounding out the top five was Kong: Skull Island, earning $8.8 million.
Logan moved down a place to sixth with $6.2 million, while Get Out continued to do good business despite slipping one place itself. The successful horror movie made $5.8 million this weekend. Sci-fi thriller Life had a bigger fall, hitting eighth on $5.6 million, while comedy CHiPs took in $4 million after dropping from seventh to ninth. Finally, The Zookeeper's Wife had a successful limited launch, opening on 541 screens and still earning $3.3 million. It'll expand its release in the coming weeks.