Box Office: Six Hot Takes From A Record $326M Memorial Day Weekend
For the 999th time since ‘A Quiet Place Part II’ proved that ‘Godzilla Vs. Kong’ was no fluke; theatrical moviegoing is as alive and well as the distributors allow it to be.
If studios release movies that audiences want to see, audiences will show up with bells on. It’s madness that we’re still having this debate or pretending to be shocked by this notion in May 2025, but here we are.
It has been four years since A Quiet Place Part II opened with $57 million over a four-day Memorial Day weekend, despite being delayed by 14 months from its intended March 2020 release and proving that Godzilla Vs. Kong was no circumstantial fluke.
It has been three years since Top Gun: Maverick shattered Memorial Day weekend records with a $162 million debut and two years after The Little Mermaid’s underwhelming overseas grosses overshadowed a bigger-than-Aladdin $119 million four-day launch.
“Millions of moviegoers this holiday weekend proved once again that going to the cinema is a true American pastime,” says Cinema United President & CEO Michael O’Leary. “Records aside, it’s clear that movie theaters are cultural and economic hubs in cities and towns of all sizes, uniting communities across the country in the singular thrill of seeing a movie on the big screen. This weekend is just the start of what will be a great summer for movie fans around the world.”
A quote like that from the organization that recently changed its name from the National Association of Theatre Owners, presumably because it did not want The Entity to think that it had the nuke launch codes, should not be necessary.
And yet, as Lilo & Stitch debuts with a record-crushing $183 million and Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning sets a franchise-best milestone, we are still in a place where we have to say, “See? Look at that; people still go to the movies, actually!”
As I noted after this year’s CinemaCon, the circumstances had changed from studios convincing theaters to prioritize their films over the competition to studios assuring theaters that they would release movies that would play in theaters.
But I digress. Whether this record-setting $326 million (pending final grosses) Fri-Mon Memorial Day holiday weekend implies a seasonal gross closer to 2023 (over $4 billion) than 2024 ($3.6 billion), the kind of films that were big business before the COVID-19 pandemic and the idiotic push to streaming remain as such today.
So, with that said, what are the key lessons and takeaways from this boffo holiday weekend?