Weekend Box Office Recap: F1 Surprises, M3GAN 2.0 Disappoints

This weekend proved to be a great one for Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski, with F1 disproving naysayers and racing its way to the top of the domestic box office. A few months ago, many box office pundits worried the movie would flop, given that Formula One isn’t nearly as popular in North America as it is in the rest of the world. There were also concerns that Apple Original Films—who have yet to score a major theatrical hit—had poured a ton of money into a film with questionable prospects. Yet, the movie’s quality and star power, boosted by excellent word-of-mouth (it earned a terrific A CinemaScore), propelled it to a $55.6 million domestic debut (according to Comscore), making it the second-biggest opening of Brad Pitt’s career after World War Z. That’s about $5 million more than we predicted earlier this week.

While that’s a very respectable number, F1 was an even bigger hit overseas, grossing another $88.4 million and bringing its international opening to over $144 million. Those are blockbuster numbers, and the thinking is that F1 should hold up well over the 4th of July weekend, especially as it’s proving popular with family audiences. Speaking of families, they continued to turn out in droves for the How to Train Your Dragon remake, which brought in $19.4 million and surged past the $200 million domestic mark. Meanwhile, Pixar’s Elio—which flopped last weekend—didn’t have a strong hold, dropping 49% to $10.7 million and bringing its domestic total to $42 million. It likely won’t have the legs Disney was no doubt hoping for.

Next up are two huge disappointments, proving that while horror fans will turn out when the movie is good, they don’t appreciate being misled. How else to explain the dismal opening for M3GAN 2.0, which earned just $10.5 million, only about a third of what the original opened with? Once word got out that it was more of a sci-fi action-adventure than a horror flick, that audience stayed away. Mixed reactions from horror fans also seem to be hurting 28 Years Later, which fell a massive 68% in its second weekend to $9.7 million. A $50 million domestic total isn’t bad, and overseas it’s already passed $100 million, but there’s no doubt Sony will be watching closely to see how the follow-up, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, performs before greenlighting the third and final film in the trilogy.

Meanwhile, Lilo & Stitch blasted past the $400 million mark this weekend with another $6.9 million. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning continued to inch toward the $200 million mark with a $4.15 million weekend, bringing its domestic total to around $185 million (internationally, it’s made more than double that). Materialists also seems to be heading toward a more modest run than expected, falling another 49% to $2.99 million and a domestic total just over $30 million. That’s solid business for its home studio A24, but not the breakout hit many had predicted.

Another underperformer is Ballerina: From the World of John Wick, which is wrapping up its run with $2.1 million this weekend and a $55 million total. Ironically, it remains Lionsgate’s highest-grossing film since their last Hunger Games installment, highlighting just how rough a patch the studio is going through. Another failed franchise relaunch is Karate Kid: Legends, which brought in just $1 million this weekend, for a mediocre $51 million total. One lesson Hollywood needs to learn is that these franchise reboots often don’t work, a trend we dig into right HERE.

Next weekend is a holiday and sees the release of Jurassic World: Rebirth. Will it break $100 million in its first weekend? Let us know in the comments!