The box office has a new apex predator, and it’s a real fire-breather.
How to Train Your Dragon soared to the top spot on both the domestic and global charts this weekend, with a fiery $83.7 million (domestic) and $197.8 million (global) debut, per Comscore. That pales in comparison to the year’s biggest premiere haul, A Minecraft Movie, which raked in a record-breaking $157 million back in April, and to Lilo & Stitch, which opened to $145.5 million over Memorial Day weekend.
But the live-action remake of the 2010 animated classic did trounce the live-action remake of Disney’s original 2002 film this weekend, finally unseating it from its three-week reign atop the box office. Now in its fourth week of release, Lilo & Stitch added $15.5 million for a $366.3 million domestic gross and $46.8 million worldwide for a staggering $858.3 million global gross so far. The Hawaiian family saga has officially cracked the top 100 highest-grossing films of all time, and is likely to leapfrog over its close competitors, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which have been out of theaters for several years.
Adjusting for scale, the performance of the No. 3 film at the weekend box office is just as impressive as How to Train Your Dragon’s $83 million coup.
Celine Song’s new matchmaking dramedy, Materialists, scored $12 million at the domestic box office in its opening weekend. With an estimated budget of $20 million (compares to Dragon’s estimated $150 million budget), the Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans movie becomes one of the big indie successes of the year thus far. The film also broke through at the global box office — rare for a romance from an indie outfit like A24 — securing spot No. 5 with a $15.5 million haul.
Spots 4 and 5 on the domestic leaderboard, and 3 and 4 on the global leaderboard, were occupied this weekend by Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Ballerina, respectively. The explosive conclusion of Tom Cruise’s eight-film action franchise scored $10.3 million domestically in its fourth week of release, for a $166.3 million overall gross, and $31.3 million globally for $506.8 million overall. Ana de Armas’ John Wick spinoff, meanwhile, took in $9.4 million domestically in its second week ($41.8 million overall), and $22.9 million globally ($91.5 million).
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The remaining spots on this weekend’s domestic charts are taken up by returning titles. Of particular note are Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, another small-scale drama targeting the indie-inclined audience that’s managing to make splash, with a $3 million take in its third week of release for a $12.7 overall domestic haul.
Sinners, Ryan Coogler’s unstoppable period thriller, was knocked down to the 10th spot on the domestic charts this weekend, but continues to fight the good fight. Now in its ninth week of release, Sinners has proven to have the strongest legs of any film released this year, taking in an additional $1.4 million for a $275.4 million domestic gross.
In any other new release landscape, you’d be able to bank on How to Train Your Dragon laying up for a week 2 holdover on the top spot. But next week’s slate of premieres pose a serious threat to its dominance.
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