The weekend box office numbers are in, and in a welcome piece of news to exhibitors, it is the highest-grossing Memorial Day weekend of all time, with Deadline revealing it set a record with a $322 million gross. That’s a far cry from last year when George Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, bombed out of the gate with $26 million. Disney’s Lilo & Stitch remake, which was once destined for Disney+, grossed $145.5 million (not far from the $140 million we predicted earlier this week), which is the highest Memorial Day opener of all time, surpassing the $126 million grossed by Top Gun: Maverick. The number will no doubt be pushed even higher tomorrow when the four-day numbers come in.
That’s a pretty fantastic result for Disney, who has had mixed success this year with both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts falling short of the blockbuster numbers usually grossed by Marvel movies. This also had a major dud with Snow White, which will undoubtedly be the year’s biggest box office fiasco.
Otherwise, Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning managed to set a franchise record with a $63 million gross, which is higher than Mission: Impossible – Fallout’s $61 million. However, if you adjust for inflation, the number becomes a little less impressive, with the $57 million Memorial Day Weekend take of Mission: Impossible 2 equal to well over $100 million now. Even still, it’s a better number than Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, which opened with $54 million two years ago. Whether or not the film will break even depends on the foreign gross, as this franchise is usually even more powerful internationally than it is at home.
Final Destination: Bloodlines, which is coming off a massive opening weekend, fell 62% (modest for a horror film) to just under $20 million for the weekend, with an $89.7 million domestic gross. By next week, it will have easily passed $100 million, making this a monster hit for WB/ New Line. Marvel’s Thunderbolts came in fourth place with $9.16 million and a $171 million domestic gross – it seems unlikely to match the $200 million grossed by Brave New World. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners continued to rake in the dough, making $8.75 million as its gross passed the $260 million mark. Will it hit $300 million?
Angel Studios’ The Last Rodeo managed $5.26 million, which is average for a faith-based film, which is pretty close to what their last Neal McDonagh-fronted movie, Homestead, made its opening weekend ($6 million). A24’s Friendship, starring Paul Rudd and Tim Robinson, made $4.59 million in its semi-wide (1000 screens) break, with it likely to become a modest indie hit for them. WB’s juggernaut, A Minecraft Movie added another $2.2 million at the box office as it crossed the $420 million mark. Ben Affleck’s The Accountant 2 started to wrap up its run with $1.9 million for a $62 million total, not far from the final gross of its studio’s (Amazon/ MGM) hit The Beekeeper, which made $66 million. However, it will finish over $20 million shy of what the first film made.
Finally, The Weeknd’s much-mocked (including by us) vanity project, Hurry Up Tomorrow, lost a stunning 78% of its audience for a $740k weekend, with only a $491 per-screen average. Ouch.
We’ll be back tomorrow with the whole Memorial Day box office wrap-up!
