After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend.
‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ‘ box office performance
According to studio estimates on Sunday, ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ made USD 82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned USD 102 million domestically and USD 165 million globally.
‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ vs ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’
It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series ‘The Mandalorian’, but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’, which made USD 103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While ‘Solo’ was considered a disaster, the metrics around ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ are a little different.The production budget for ‘Solo’ was in the USD 300 million range, while ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ was made for significantly less – a reported USD 165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore.
About ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’
The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, ‘The Rise of Skywalker’, debuted in December 2019.
‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ gears up for release
The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if 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 propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.
‘Obsession’ sees good growth
Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie ‘Obsession’ defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning USD 22.4 million from 2,655 theaters.The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some USD 15 million, is projecting that it will have made USD 28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to USD 58.5 million.
‘Obsession’ beats ‘Michael’ and ‘Passenger ‘
While ‘Obsession’ snagged the second-place spot, ‘Michael’ landed in third place with USD 20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned USD 782.4 million.‘Obsession’ also did better than the new horror movie ‘Passenger’, a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated USD 8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn USD 10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).Boots Riley’s colorful shoplifting caper meets surreal social satire ‘I Love Boosters’ also opened this weekend to USD 3.7 million. The Neon release stars Keke Palmer and Demi Moore.
Memorial Day weekend box office record
The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action ‘Lilo & Stitch’ and ‘Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning’. The overall four-day frame this year will net out around USD 211 million, down about 36% from last year’s USD 330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ opened.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Tuesday, this list factors in estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:1. ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu’ – USD 82 million.2. ‘Obsession’ – USD 22.4 million.3. ‘Michael’ – USD 20 million.4. ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ – USD 12.6 million.5. ‘The Sheep Detectives’ – USD 9 million.6. ‘Passenger’ – USD 8.7 million.7. ‘Mortal Kombat II’ – USD 6.2 million.8. ‘I Love Boosters’ – USD 3.7 million.9. ‘The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’ – USD 3.2 million.10. ‘Project Hail Mary’ – USD 2.7 million.
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