Box Office Weekend – ‘Aladdin’ Opens Up A Whole New World

Box Office
This weekend at the box office, Aladdin managed to defy expectations to reach a four-day opening weekend well above $100M. Meanwhile, Avengers: Endgame crossed $800M domestically as it continues to chase down the all-time worldwide box office record established by Avatar.

 

Aladdin clearly remained one step ahead of complaints over complaints over underwhelming commercials, unintentionally-creepy CGI for the Genie, complaints about the visual presentation of the film itself, and mixed reviews. With an “A” CinemaScore from audiences and scored an opening weekend that rose above expectations, Aladdin is a clear win for Disney as they continue to remake a large portion of their animated catalog in live-action. Also seeing a bump this weekend is the year’s earlier live-action remake with Dumbo, which while nowhere near as successful, will likely hit the break-even point. Next up is The Lion King, which is tracking for an opening that could exceed $200M, and after that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, which was originally slated for next year but moved forward a few months.

 

The weekend’s other newcomers, Brightburn and Booksmart, weren’t able to break out in a similar fashion to Aladdin, although Brightburn is low-budget enough at $6M that it will be just fine. The same isn’t entirely clear for Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart, which had a disappointing opening relative to the glowing reviews it got from film critics; no budget has been listed for that film, so its overall financial prospects can’t be determined at this time. In an age of event cinema, this is the kind of movie that should have been released with a streaming service like Netflix or Amazon Prime, or it should have opened in a less competitive window like the Summer.

 

In yet another update for Avengers: Endgame, the movie is now a little over $100M away from topping Avatar for the title of #1 movie of all time at the box office. It will need to make roughly $40M domestically and $60M abroad to get there, which is still doable, but will likely take months. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the movie has ended its run in China at just under $630M. Disney may need to make a big push for the movie ahead of Sony’s release of Spider-Man: Far From Home (a film that is very much tied to the events of Avengers: Endgame, and will likely see some boost from that), and a re-release to get out a few extra million would be a smart move regardless of whether or not the movie tops Avatar in its initial run. Even if Endgame is unable to top Avatar, Disney still win in that they own all three of the huge IPs in the Top Five of all time (with the third being Star Wars) thanks to a series of prescient purchases.

 

In other news, the second weekend for John Wick‘s third outing topped the opening weekend of the original film, and when counting Memorial Day, it also topped the opening weekend of the second movie. Holiday weekend boosts in attendance aside, this is a clear sign that Lionsgate and the people involved are doing something right with this IP and are keeping engaged with their audience. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu also showed a strong hold over the holiday period, and should prove to be a good start to a franchise that can prove that video game adaptations, when done correctly, can be financially-viable.

 

The Top Twelve box office performances for the three-day weekend can be summarized as follows (bolded titles are new releases):

  1. Aladdin (Disney) – $86.1M Weekend.
  2. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Lionsgate Entertainment) – $24.35M Weekend/$100.988M Total; 57.1% Drop.
  3. Avengers: Endgame (Disney/Marvel Studios) – $16.841M Weekend/$798.172M Total; 43.8% Drop.
  4. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures) – $13.3M Weekend/$116.122M Total; 47% Drop.
  5. Brightburn (Sony Pictures) – $7.535M Weekend.
  6. Booksmart (United Artists Releasing) – $6.512M Weekend.
  7. A Dog’s Journey (Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment) – $4.09M Weekend/$14.92M Total; 49.1% Drop.
  8. The Hustle (United Artists Releasing/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) – $3.812M Weekend/$29.837M Total; 37.9% Drop.
  9. The Intruder (Sony Pictures/Screen Gems) – $2.265M Weekend/$31.93M Total; 43.6% Drop.
  10. Long Shot (Lionsgate Entertainment) – $1.565M Weekend/$28.693M Total; 53.2% Drop.
  11. Dumbo (Disney) – $1.046M Weekend/$112.701M Total; 238.2% Rise.
  12. The Sun Is Also a Star (Warner Bros./Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) – $775K Weekend/$4.261M Total; 69.1% Drop.

The Top Twelve box office performances for the four-day weekend can be summarized as follows (bolded titles are new releases):

  1. Aladdin (Disney) – $112.7M Weekend.
  2. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Lionsgate Entertainment) – $31M Weekend/$107.638M Total; 45.4% Drop.
  3. Avengers: Endgame (Disney/Marvel Studios) – $22.3M Weekend/$803.631M Total; 25.6% Drop.
  4. Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures) – $17.275M Weekend/$120.097M Total; 31.2% Drop.
  5. Brightburn (Sony Pictures) – $9.5M Weekend.
  6. Booksmart (United Artists Releasing) – $8.69M Weekend.
  7. A Dog’s Journey (Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment) – $5.52M Weekend/$16.35M Total; 31.3% Drop.
  8. The Hustle (United Artists Releasing/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) – $4.787M Weekend/$30.812M Total; 22% Drop.
  9. The Intruder (Sony Pictures/Screen Gems) – $2.925M Weekend/$32.59M Total; 27.2% Drop.
  10. Long Shot (Lionsgate Entertainment) – $2.1M Weekend/$29.228M Total; 37.2% Drop.
  11. Dumbo (Disney) – $1.332M Weekend/$112.987M Total; 330.6% Rise.
  12. The Sun Is Also a Star (Warner Bros./Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) – $1.03M Weekend/$4.516M Total; 59% Drop.

DumboAvengers: Endgame, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and Aladdin are now playing in theaters.