The Boss Baby: Family Business and The Forever Purge Tie During Opening Night at Box Office

This weekend, Universal is putting not one, but two major movies into theaters around the country. The Forever Purge made its debut in theaters on Thursday night, as did The Boss Baby: Family Business. Both films are part of popular franchises for Universal, releasing just one week after Universal's biggest film of the year, F9. Surprisingly, both Boss Baby and Purge fared well on Thursday night, delivering a near-tie as they opened and setting up a solid July 4th weekend.

According to Deadline, The Boss Baby: Family Business delivering $1.31 million on Thursday night, while The Forever Purge grossed $1.33. Those numbers may not be reminiscent of the box office takes from before the pandemic, but they're fairly impressive given the state of things as we return to some semblance of rhythm and normalcy.

While The Forever Purge took a slight edge on Thursday night, Boss Baby is actually expected to take in a bigger total over the course of the weekend. Boss Baby 2 opened in 2,700 theaters on Thursday but will expand to 3,640 on Friday. The Forever Purge started with 2,550 theaters and is moving in to a total of 3,051 around the country.

Family films usually produce better in theaters than R-rated horror flicks, mainly because entire families head to the theater together to see them. It shouldn't be entirely surprising to see Boss Baby 2 come out on top this weekend. That said, it's interesting to see the film's theatrical success given that it also has a simultaneous streaming debut. The Boss Baby: Family Business was released on the Peacock streaming service on Friday alongside its theatrical debut, meaning that families can watch it at home with a subscription to one of the most affordable streaming services on the market.

Like Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat — Warner Bros. films that were released in theaters and on HBO Max simultaneously — The Boss Baby: Family Business is helping to prove the strength of movie theaters as the industry starts to pick back up again. Folks are excited to see things on the big screen even when they have a much more affordable option at home.

Which movie do you think will win the box office this weekend? Are you heading out to theaters to see either of them? Let us know in the comments!