Box Office: 6 Hot Takes From an Uneventful $115 Million Weekend
What movies earned how much money theatrically, stateside and worldwide, over the last three days is undoubtedly the most crucial story in California at the moment.
Yes, I am aware that penning a weekend box office column under the circumstances might be akin to “bread and/or circuses,” but them’s the breaks in our zero-sum capitalist hellscape. Well, this is also for those who want a momentary distraction and/or have some skin in the game. Onward and upward, the show must go on, etc.
This weekend’s domestic total came out to around $115 million, representing a modest 9% increase from this weekend last year. That’s arguably within the margin of error, especially considering the top-grossing newbie — Ballerina — earned less than half of Bad Boys: Ride or Die’s $56 million debut at this time last year. Okay, so it’s a bit below the $214 million earned on this weekend in 2022, but $145 million of that total came from Jurassic World: Dominion.
This should be typical in terms of the ebbs and flows of the *healthy* weekly box office. In such a pre-COVID scenario, weekends where you have a big-deal flick opening, that’s reflected accordingly. But if not, then there is still enough product to keep the ecosystem afloat. As “not half-bad” as this past May turned out to be in raw domestic grosses, there’s a decent chance that this June could end up below that of last year merely because Disney’s mega-movie opened in June in 2024 (Inside Out 2) but in May (Lilo & Stitch) this year.
Last year’s $105 million cume and this weekend’s $115 million are the two lowest (sans inflation) domestic weekend cumes for this weekend, not counting 2020 and 2021, since 2002. To further my “ebbs and flows” point, the next-lowest such weekend was in 2018 (amid a record-high $11.9 million domestic year) with $120 million. Seven years ago, Ocean’s Eight topped with $42 million and that weekend was followed by the one-two punch of Incredibles 2 ($182 million) and Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom ($148 million).
Notably, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom would likely have opened on this very weekend had it not been for the complications related to its staggered global release amid the World Cup. Likewise, at least two of the “biggies” this month, Ballerina and Elio, were initially scheduled to open in 2024. Two of last month’s biggest grossers (Lilo & Stitch and Final Destination: Bloodlines) were initially intended to be straight-to-streaming flicks.
Heck, going further “Butterfly Effect,” Pixar’s Elio is considered a do-or-die release for non-sequel Disney toons, while WBD’s Superman carries the fate of all non-Batman DC Comics flicks on its superheroic shoulders. Why? Because exactly five years ago, WB’s Wonder Woman 1984 and Disney’s Soul did not open to top-tier fortune and glory but instead became cannon fodder in a self-defeating streaming war. And with that…