'Dunkirk' rules the weekend box office while 'Valerian' bombs

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Dunkirk 3 Warner Bros final

Warner Bros.

"Dunkirk."

Warner Bros. is having one heck of a summer.

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Its latest movie from the DC Comics Extended Universe franchise, "Wonder Woman," has surpassed Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" for the top-grossing title of the summer, and now Christopher Nolan's latest ambitious film for the studio, "Dunkirk," has won this weekend's box office - and exceeded all expectations in the process.

Taking on an estimated $50.5 million domestically, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the intimate war epic proves that dramatic titles catered for the 30-year-old and older crowd can earn coin within the blockbuster-filled summer slate.

Playing on over 3,700 screens, and fueled by the constant recommendation through social media to see the movie on IMAX (which assisted in $11.7 million of the movie's opening weekend), "Dunkirk" ($150 million budget) opened with a strong $19.7 million on opening day. And the movie continued to find audiences as the weekend continued.

This opening weekend surpassed Nolan's previous movie, the ambitious $165 million-budgeted sci-fi drama "Interstellar," which opened at $47.5 million.

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Now we'll watch if Warner Bros. will make a push for the movie to find award season glory later this year, especially a best director campaign for Nolan, who has never received a nomination.

cara delevingne dane dehaan valerian

STX Films

"Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets."

Coming in second place was the Universal comedy "Girls Trip," starring Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah, and Regina Hall. Proving the female comedy is still alive and well, the raunchy, R-rated romp took in $30.4 million.

Luc Besson's passion project, "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," completely bombed with only a $17 million opening. STX Entertainment thought it had a title that summer movie audiences would flock to as it had "The Fifth Element" director making a movie based on the comic he grew up on back in France, but that didn't happen.

Though "Valerian" is visually stunning, its over-two-hour running time and lack of chemistry between its leads, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, led to a 54% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a very poor turnout at the over 3,500 screens for the $200 million sci-fi spectacle.

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