After nearly seven years off the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but record-breaking crowds to theaters around the world this weekend.
‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ‘ box office performance
According to studio estimates on Sunday, ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ earned $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 US theaters. and Canada. By the end of the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, it will have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million worldwide.
‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ vs ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’
It beat opening weekend expectations for the film, the follow-up to the Disney+ series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also at the bottom of Disney’s Star Wars debuts, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which earned $103 million in the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While ‘Solo’ was considered a disaster, the metrics surrounding ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ are a little different.“Solo” had a production budget of $300 million, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” made significantly less – a reported $165 million, excluding marketing and promotional costs. A trip to profitability is likely, especially given the positive audience scores. Although the film received mixed reviews (it currently holds a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers gave it an A- CinemaScore.
About ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’
The Jon Favreau-directed film stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and pits him and his little green friend on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White.‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ could also be graded on a bit of a curve due to the streaming component, both because it started as a series and will eventually end up as a Disney+ value add, which was only about a month old when the Star Wars film, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’, premiered in December 2019.
‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ is ready for release
The question in the industry is whether the audience’s interest in Star Wars on the big screen has cooled somewhat, and whether next year’s ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ starring Ryan Gosling will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will fuel the excitement generated by word of mouth in the coming weeks.
“Obsession” sees good growth
Word of mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s horror film ‘Obsession’ beat its usual run at the box office and do better business in its second weekend. Focus Features posted an astonishing 30% increase in box office sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters.The studio, which acquired the micro-budget film for $15 million, expects to earn $28.2 million by Monday’s close, bringing its total to $58.5 million.
‘Obsession’ features ‘Michael’ and ‘the traveler ‘
While “Obsession” took second place, “Michael” stayed in third place with USD 20 million over the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.“Obsession” did better than new horror film “Passenger,” Paramount Pictures’ debut with Melissa Leo, which grossed $8.7 million at 2,534 locations. It is expected to earn USD 10.5 million in the first four days. The film received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).Boots Riley’s colorful shoplifting meets the surreal social satire “I Love Boosters” also opened this weekend with US$3.7 million. Neon Note stars Keke Palmer and Demi Moore.
Memorial Day weekend box office record
This year’s mix of movies didn’t hold a candle to last year’s Memorial Day weekend record, led by Disney’s live-action ‘Lilo & Stitch’ and ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.’ This year’s overall four-day frame will pull in about $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous Memorial Day weekend box office of 2024, a 30-year low, when ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ opened.
Top 10 movies at the domestic box office
With the latest domestic figures released Tuesday, this list takes into account the estimated Friday through Sunday ticket sales at theaters in the U.S. and Canada, according to Comscore:1. ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ – 82 million USD.2. “Obsession” – USD 22.4 million.3. ‘Michael’ – USD 20 million.4. ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ – US$12.6 million.5. ‘The Sheep Detectives’ – USD 9 million.6. “Passenger” – 8.7 million USD.7. ‘Mortal Kombat II’ – US$6.2 million.8. ‘I Love Boosters’ – US$3.7 million.9. ‘Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ – USD 3.2 million.10. “Hail Mary Project” – 2.7 million USD.
