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Finishing second is Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie, which is one of the few times I haven't cursed the colon in a movie title. This one takes cojones, as at the title level, studios usually don't promise a franchise. The good captain earned about $650,000 from Thursday previews, a solid score considering some kids had to go to school on Friday. The Thursday preview/Friday gross came in at a very healthy $8 million, putting the animated film on the right track for a strong start. Over the weekend, The First Epic Movie earned a very solid $23.5 million from 3,434 venues – which is an excellent start for a smaller animated film.

When DreamWorks Animation restructured in 2015, the studio decided to make Captain Underpants outside of the traditional DWA system (in Canada!!!). They were able to keep costs down to only a reported $38 million, which means the film is going to likely provide a small windfall for DWA and Fox. IMDb does not currently list a large international rollout, but given the domestic opening and 70 million Captain Underpants books being sold worldwide, Fox might change their strategy. For now, it looks like Fox and DWA may have that title right, as if it can get to $150 million worldwide, you can expect a sequel.

Pirates of the Caribbean takes another nail in the coffin this weekend, as this ship is going down fast. On Friday, Dead Men Tell No Tales earned only $6.26 million, which means it was off 73% compared to opening day score of $23.6 million. Over the weekend, the Johnny Depp blockbuster earned only $21.6 million, off 66% from its $63 million opening frame. The $230 million dollar flick is cratering domestically, but currently sits with $387 million overseas. It will likely need $650-$700 million worldwide in order to work for the studio theatrically. Domestically, Pirates 5 has earned only $114.6 million.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 earned another $9.7 million in its fifth weekend. It fell 53% from its $20.9 million frame last weekend and brings its domestic tally up to $355.5 million. The Marvel release is also approaching $500 million overseas, which tells us this franchise is about as healthy as it comes.

Baywatch sees a similar fate to that of Pirates, as bad follows bad down the toilet. The Friday-to-Friday drop for Baywatch was 54%, as it opened on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, taking some of the pain away from the Friday drop. In its second weekend, Baywatch earned only $8.5 million, dropping 53% compared to the $18.5 million opening frame. Baywatch cost about $70 million to make, and is best just forgotten.

Alien: Covenant is another film seeing a tough ride downward. The Ridley Scott release earned only $4 million, giving it a decline of 62% after it fell 70% last weekend. The domestic total has reached $67.2 million, and the overseas total has squeaked over the $100 million mark. Unfortunately, Covenant cost Fox almost $100 million to make, so it still has a long way to go.

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