Weekend Box Office: 'Ghostbusters' Comes in Second

Ghostbusters wasn't able to take first place at the box office this weekend, but the high-profile remake was able to turn in a close second-place showing behind The Secret Life Of Pets. Ghostbusters' performance allayed fears that the movie could be a major bomb, but it was hardly looking like a runaway hit, either.

By early Sunday, Ghostbusters was on track to earn about $46 million for the weekend. That's ahead of its studio's conservative estimate but a little bit behind the most optimistic predictions, which claimed that the movie could pass the $50-million mark if it was lucky.

First place for the weekend went to The Secret Life of Pets, the animated family comedy from Universal that took in a massive $104 million in its debut last weekend. The film fell off by over 50% this weekend but still managed to earn about $50 million, enough to allow it to squeak past Ghostbusters and win a second weekend in a row.

Hold-overs The Legend of Tarzan and Finding Dory were locked in a tight battle for third place, with each film taking in about $11 million. The top five will be rounded out by the comeday Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates, which will earn about $7.5 million.