Box Office Report: One Jump Ahead of the Competition

Memorial Day Weekend is a big time for your family blockbusters, but this year there was really only one film dominating that spot. Of course it was Disney. Aladdin opened to mixed reviews but audiences were very into this. This weekend, it grossed around $86.1m and is set for a $100m four day weekend. It’s already grossed over $200m worldwide, so that rumoured $183m budget (!!!) has been made back. That will be a relief for Disney given that this was something of a risk for them and it wasn’t a critically beloved film. I liked it!

So why did this succeed where Dumbo did not? In my opinion, it’s because Aladdin is just a more nostalgically beloved property to this generation of movie-goers than that flying elephant is. Plus the songs. Seriously, I’m half convinced the reason it’s about to make $100m in four days is because, even if you hate the film and are terrified by giant blue CGI Will Smith, you’ll totally bite the bullet just to hear A Whole New World on the big screen. That bodes well for The Lion King. There did seem to be some spillover for Dumbo, however, as the film saw a 238.2% spike from the previous week, bringing its domestic gross to $112.7m (the budget was around $170m).

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum slid to number two but has already made $100m domestically, so go Keanu! Avengers: Endgame is about $2m away from hitting $800m domestically, but it may not beat Avatar worldwide.

Other new releases this week include Brightburn, the ‘What if Superman but too much’ horror, which took in $7.5m and debuted at number five. That’s a little soft for what was predicted but it’s also an R-rated title with a low budget so they’re not hurting. It does suck, however, to see Booksmart debut behind it at number six with $6.5m. Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut got amazing reviews and did great with women under 35, but going up against the might of Disney is always a tough feat. I hope this one finds its audience and people don’t just wait for it to go to streaming.

This coming week, the blockbusters just keep on stomping in, with Godzilla: King of the Monsters opening alongside Octavia Spencer’s Ma and Elton John biopic musical Rocketman.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.

What films did you watch this weekend? Let us know in the comments.