By Ben Fritz 

Executives at Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. breathed perhaps the biggest sigh heard in Hollywood this summer as a costly movie about a World War II battle little known outside Western Europe opened successfully.

"Dunkirk," writer-director Christopher Nolan's retelling of a dramatic escape by British troops from advancing Nazi forces in 1940, collected an estimated $50.5 million on its first weekend in theaters in the U.S. and Canada.

The comedy "Girls Trip" also had a healthy start, with $30.4 million.

But the science-fiction film "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets," the most expensive independent movie ever made, flopped, debuting to just $17 million.

Though "Dunkirk's" opening wasn't massive, it beat some of this summer's most-hyped sequels and reboots, including "Transformers: The Last Knight, " "Alien: Covenant" and "The Mummy."

It was even bigger than Mr. Nolan's last movie, 2014's "Interstellar," which had a major star in Matthew McConaughey and opened to $47.5 million. "Dunkirk" has no similarly popular stars and Warner, at Mr. Nolan's request, didn't highlight in advertising that music star Harry Styles, from the band One Direction, plays a supporting role.

The film's healthy start demonstrates the growing power of good reviews, particularly as scores from review aggregation websites like Rotten Tomatoes spread on social media. "Dunkirk," which cost close to $100 million to make, received overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Mr. Nolan is one of the handful of directors in Hollywood who is a popular brand himself, drawing fan attention just as franchises like Marvel and "Fast & Furious" do.

"We were able to position the movie as an epic action thriller that connected with audiences because of him," said Warner's president of domestic distribution, Jeff Goldstein.

Mr. Nolan shot about three-quarters of the movie using large-format cameras from IMAX Corp. and its theaters accounted for 23% of the domestic opening weekend, despite representing 11% of the total locations playing it.

"Dunkirk" also had a strong start overseas, where it grossed a total of $55.4 million in 46 markets. For obvious reasons it performed best in the United Kingdom, where its $12.4 million opening was bigger than even Mr. Nolan's "Inception," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which opened to $9 million there and $62.8 million in the U.S. in 2010.

"Dunkirk" also performed particularly well in South Korea, opening to $10.3 million. "Dunkirk" has yet to debut in a few major markets, including China, where it is set to open Sept. 1.

The well-reviewed "Girls Trip" had the biggest opening for any comedy this year, relieving Hollywood anxiety that a recent string of flops indicated audiences were losing interest in going to theaters to laugh.

With an average audience grade of A+ according to market research firm CinemaScore, compared with an A- for "Dunkirk," the raunchy R-rated "Girls Trip" should benefit from excellent word-of-mouth in the coming weeks. According to exit polls, 79% of the audience for the comedy, which stars four women, was female.

With a budget of $180 million, "Valerian" represented a big bet by France's EuropaCorp that it could compete with the event movies coming out of Hollywood this summer. Based on a comic book series popular in France but not elsewhere, it failed to find a sizable audience in the U.S., where it was released by independent studio STX Entertainment.

EuropaCorp, founded by "Valerian" director Luc Besson, sold much of the international rights to the film to limit its financial exposure. The U.S. represented the riskiest portions of its global release.

It has yet to open in most foreign markets, including France, where expectations are particularly high.

Write to Ben Fritz at ben.fritz@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 23, 2017 13:56 ET (17:56 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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