--- description: Christopher Nolan's World War II epic Dunkirk maintained its grip on the top spot of the box office Sunday. title: 'Dunkirk' Survives 'Emoji Movie' to Stay Box Office Winner image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec882366fa03e636/6988d62d096a94a6f869ecf0/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 'Dunkirk' Survives 'The Emoji Movie' to Stay Number 1 at Box Office by [Aric Jenkins](/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2017 5:03 PM CUT  Dunkirk, out July 21, is director Christopher Nolan's tenth feature Dunkirk, out July 21, is director Christopher Nolan's tenth featureWarner Bros by [Aric Jenkins](/author/aric-jenkins/) ## Aric Jenkins Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 30, 2017 5:03 PM CUT Christopher Nolan’s World War II thriller[_Dunkirk_](http://time.com/4865358/dunkirk-history-christopher-nolan-film/ "undefined") maintained its grip on the top spot of the box office this weekend despite a challenge from _The_ _Emoji Movie,_ a film on the opposite side of the cinematic spectrum. The two movies were close in the early stages of the weekend, but Dunkirk definitively pulled ahead early Sunday with a haul of $28.1 million by that morning, [according to Deadline.](http://deadline.com/2017/07/atomic-blonde-dunkirk-emoji-movie-weekend-box-office-openings-1202138047/ "undefined") _The Emoji Movie_ raked in $25.6 million in its opening weekend. Despite its family-friendly appeal, _The Emoji Movie_ holds a score of just 8% on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes. The critical reception might have impacted its box office performance. _Dunkirk_, meanwhile, holds an impressive 93% rating since following its release on July 21. Another opener, _Atomic Blonde_, pulled in $18.6 million by Sunday morning, a decent showing for the [Charlize Theron-starring spy mystery.](http://time.com/4874478/charlize-theron-atomic-blonde/ "undefined") Raunchy comedy _Girls Trip_ [continued to impress](http://time.com/4864477/girls-trip-review/ "undefined") with another $20 million in its second weekend, bringing its total up to $65.5 million. Next weekend will see the nationwide release of Kathryn Bigelow’s historical drama, _Detroit_, which features _Star Wars_‘ John Boyega as well as John Krasinski and Anthony Mackie. It will compete with Stephen King adaption _The Dark Tower_, starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4879919/dunkirk-emoji-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4879919/dunkirk-emoji-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan/"},"headline":"'Dunkirk' Survives 'The Emoji Movie' to Stay Number 1 at Box Office","datePublished":"2017-07-30T17:03:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T16:47:29.887Z","description":"Christopher Nolan's World War II thriller continues to perform","url":"https://time.com/4879919/dunkirk-emoji-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan/","keywords":["movies","Box-office","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec882366fa03e636/6988d62d096a94a6f869ecf0/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Aric Jenkins","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/aric-jenkins/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltec882366fa03e636/6988d62d096a94a6f869ecf0/dunkirk-christopher-nolan-2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"dunkirk-christopher-nolan-2","caption":"dunkirk-christopher-nolan-2","creditText":"Warner Bros","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4879919/dunkirk-emoji-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan/","name":"'Dunkirk' Survives 'The Emoji Movie' to Stay Number 1 at Box Office"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Charlize Theron Plays Tough in \"Atomic Blonde\"","description":"Actress Charlize Theron says she cracked three teeth while training for her new film, \"Atomic Blonde.\"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/hSiP6tzK/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-26T14:27:49.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/hSiP6tzK.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4879919/dunkirk-emoji-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan/","duration":"PT1M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4879919/dunkirk-emoji-movie-box-office-christopher-nolan/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```