In a surprise twist, the new movie from Pixar and Disney Light year lost fathers day weekend Jurassic World Dominion at the domestic box office.
The good news overall: This is the first time in the pandemic that three major Hollywood tentpoles have done solid to excellent business (Top Gun: Maverick is the third). As a result, overall domestic revenue was around $166 million, down just 18% from 2019 (generally, that gap has been much larger).
Light year was expected to top the charts with an opening of $70-85 million. Instead, the toy story spinoffs reached a disappointing $51 million in 4,255 theaters. While that’s a solid number for the COVID-19 era — as well as the biggest opening of the pandemic for a family-friendly animated film — Light yearThe start of is nevertheless a disappointment given that it bears the legendary Pixar logo.
Abroad, Light year took in $34.6 million in its first 43 markets for an $85.6 million global launch.
Chris Evans voices the iconic Space Ranger in the origin tale, which marks Pixar’s return to the big screen after seeing several of his family-friendly animated films head straight to Disney+ due to the COVID-19 pandemic . Light year serves as a test for the strength of the family market as the box office continues to recover.
The animated film currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 78%, which is definitely on the lower end of a Pixar offering, especially for the toy story franchise. Audiences, however, gave it an A-CinemaScore.
Universal and Amblin Jurassic World Dominion remained No. 1 with $58.7 million from 4,679 locations for a 10-day tally of $247.8 million nationally and $622.2 million worldwide (this is only the seventh title Hollywood to cross $600 million in the era of the pandemic). Internationally, it earned an additional $76.1 million to a foreign tally of $372.4 million. China’s total is now $92.8 million, making the film one of the highest-grossing Hollywood releases of the pandemic.
A sobering note: Domination dropped 60% domestically, a bigger drop than the last two dino films.
Monday is a federal holiday honoring June 19, so Monday might be more like a Saturday and Sunday in terms of box office traffic. Universal initiates believe Jurassic World 3The national total could climb up to $68 million for the four days.
Light year should also see a boost on Monday.
Paramount and Skydance Top Gun: Maverick remained a formidable force in its fourth weekend. The water cooler sensation fell just 15% to $44 million for a domestic total of $466.2 million as it flies for the $500 million mark. Overseas, it earned $39.7 million in 64 markets for a worldwide accumulation of nearly $900 million, or $885.2 million.
At the specialist box office, British comedy Brian and Charles opened at $830,000 from 279 theaters for a lukewarm per-location average of $711 despite the audience award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. Focus Features acquired the film at Sundance for a reasonable prince, according to insiders.
More soon.
June 19, 8:35 a.m. Updated with revised weekend estimates.