Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” will take the No. 1 spot at the box office for a third weekend, earning $32.5 million and fending off Lionsgate’s “Ballerina,” which is underperforming with a $25 million start.
“Lilo & Stitch” is continuing its push to leg out to the $1 billion mark, currently standing at $335.8 million domestic and $772 million worldwide. Its legs will be challenged next weekend by the arrival of another remake: Universal/DreamWorks’ “How to Train Your Dragon.”
“Ballerina,” a “John Wick” spinoff starring Ana De Armas, is opening below projections of a $30 million start, with its $25 million opening roughly a third of the $73.8 million opening of “John Wick: Chapter 4” in 2023.
While Lionsgate says they are in line to turn a profit on the film thanks to foreign presales that allowed it to recoup a substantial portion of the film’s $80-90 million budget, “Ballerina” risks being squeezed out by the summer competition despite positive audience reception, which includes an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 76% critics and 94% audience.
Some of that competition is coming from Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” which is providing similar action-packed thrills to a predominantly male audience that overlaps with “John Wick.” The final “Mission” film earned $15 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to just shy of $150 million domestic and $450 million worldwide as it continues on the trajectory of its 2023 predecessor, “Dead Reckoning.”
Sony/Columbia’s “Karate Kid: Legends” is in fourth with $8.5 million, a second weekend drop of 58% from its $21 million opening for a lackluster $35 million 10-day total against a $45 million budget.
In a narrow race for the last spot in the top 5 are Warner Bros./New Line’s “Final Destination: Bloodlines” in its fourth weekend and the wide release opening of Focus Features’ “The Phoenician Scheme.” Currently “Bloodlines” has the edge with $6.3 million as it stands with a franchise-best domestic total of $123.5 million.
Right on its tail is “Phoenician Scheme” with $6.25 million from 1,678 theaters. The start for Wes Anderson’s latest film is below the $9 million of his 2023 predecessor, “Asteroid City,” while the film’s B- CinemaScore is below the B earned by “Asteroid” two years ago.
More to come…
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