Every so often two major movies are released on the same weekend and some competition is started at the box office. While Barbenheimer resulted in huge numbers for both Barbie and Oppenheimer, we're about to get another one of these moments with the forthcoming release of both the upcoming Marvel movie Avengers: Doomsday and Denis Villeneuve's Dune: Part Three. The forthcoming theatrical event had been named Dunesday, although Marvel's Kevin Feige reportedly admitted that having another blockbuster to compete with might not have been the best plan.

What we know about Avengers: Doomsday is limited, but there's a ton of hype surrounding both that movie and Dune 3. It's unclear if they'll end up cannibalizing each other's box office performance, or if folks will simply do double features to see both titles.

Kevin Feige allegedly spoke about this at a Chinese event, with a translated quote coming to us from Weibo (via Threads). He reportedly said:

If true, this is illuminating. While I'm gonna take this translated quote with a grain of salt, it sounds like Doomsday wasn't always going to be competing with Dune. But when The Russo Brothers' movie needed more time during the editing process, that's how things shook out. And just like that, Dunesday was born.

When the next Avengers movie got moved to its December release date, some fans worried that it would suffer at the box office due to both competition and superhero fatigue. But if Doomsday's record-breaking trailer performance is any indication, that might not be the case. While superhero fatigue might be a think, folks who spent years watching the Marvel movies in order are still seemingly invested in the forthcoming crossover event.

It should be interesting to see just how much money both Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three end up making during the opening weekend. Will this competition result in both movies performing well, or will they interfere with each other's profitability? In addition to Barbenheimer being a pop culture moment, last year we were treated to Wickediator aka the release of Wicked: For Good and Gladiator 2. While they were very different movies, they were both able to make a ton of money at the box office. Only time will tell if that happens this December for Dunesday.

Both Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three will hit theaters on December 18th as part of the 2026 movie release list. No matter what happens Florence Pugh is winning, as she'll star in both of those highly anticipated blockbusters.

No R-rating nor nearly three-hour runtime could stop Matt Damon and The Odyssey from reigning over the Box Office this weekend. The crown was rightfully returned to Christopher Nolan’s head for his book-to-screen adaptation of the Homer epic. The film defied the limits of experts’ projections to earn $124.5 million in North America over its first three days, becoming the third-best premiere to hit the 2026 movie calendar.

Meanwhile, the family friendly flicks' successes continued to suggest kids (and their adult companions) are escaping the summer heat by hitting the movie theater. Moana took second-place honors, but it was too close to call between Toy Story 5 and Minions & Monsters, which earned $14.8 million apiece. They may have tied for bronze, but the Disney/Pixar product crossed one big milestone this week and is set to make franchise history in the coming days.

Let’s get into what all of the numbers mean, but first, please take a look at what those numbers are on the Box Office Top 10 list. (* denotes a new release)

Weekend Box Office: July 17-19, 2026

The Odyssey Is Christopher Nolan’s Biggest Global Debut

There are several reasons that The Odyssey earning $124.5 million this weekend (per The Numbers) is impressive — beyond the fact that high-end projections were closer to $110 million. For one, it’s the Oscar-winning director’s best three-day domestic premiere since 2012, when The Dark Knight Rises earned $160 million. Globally, it’s his best overall, adding $139.6 million internationally for a worldwide total of $264.1 million.

That massive $250 million budget isn’t looking so insurmountable now, is it? The Odyssey's $264.1 million global debut is better than that of The Dark Knight Rises ($249 million) and 2023’s Oppenheimer ($180 million).

Just how far could this colossal start take Christopher Nolan’s latest? Looking at recent history, Oppenheimer opened in second place to Barbie back in 2023 with a better-than-projected $82 million and stayed in theaters long enough to earn $975 million worldwide. So go, Odysseus, go!

The Odyssey Had The Best Live-Action Premiere Of 2026 So Far

Another impressive stat about the phenomenally cast epic is that it had the third-highest debut of the year so far, its $124.5 million trailing Toy Story 5’s $159 million and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s $131 million. That makes it 2026’s best live-action premiere yet, which is impressive because its R-rating puts an age limit on potential ticket-buyers.

While we were expecting review-bombing of The Odyssey because of the tweaks Christopher Nolan made to Homer’s classic, audience reaction was as high as you could hope.

Toy Story 5 Crosses $900 Million, With Even More Good News Coming

Minions & Monsters has been putting up a good fight since its Fourth of July release, despite lower-than-expected box office totals, even withToy Story 5 right on its tail. The Illumination product has earned $357.9 million globally so far, but it’s no match for what Jessie, Buzz and Woody have going on.

Toy Story 5 surpassed the $900M mark globally this week with a $958.4 million worldwide total. When it crosses into billion-dollar territory, it will be the franchise’s third movie to do so. Before that, though, TS5 will become the series’ highest-grossing movie domestically. Toy Story 4 currently holds that honor, having picked up $434 million during its time in North American theaters, but with the fifth movie standing at $430.9 million, a new leader seems mere days away.

Audiences Accepted The Invite For A Big Second Weekend In Wide Release

The buzz surrounding Olivia Wilde’s latest dramedy The Invite — including surprisingly great reviews for Seth Rogen movie — definitely is working to its advantage. The movie added to an additional 500 screens, allowing it a minimal 34% drop in its second weekend in wide release.

Last week’s new releases didn’t fare so well, with Moana falling 56% and Evil Dead Burn dropping 64%.

With Backrooms Out Of The Top 10, Is This The End Of Horror Summer?

The box office is in full swing (pun intended), as we prepare for Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31, and movie lovers are basking in a new Christopher Nolan flick, with plenty of child-approved options to fill their summer break. Is it the end of our horror-filled summer dominated by YouTubers?

Backrooms dropped out of the Top 10 this week after 52 days in release, but Obsession remains the little horror movie that could. Despite being released to stream with a Peacock subscription and now available to rent or buy, Obsession still has people choosing the big-screen experience. The $2.5 million Curry Barker's film made this weekend alone — its 10th in theaters — is more than three times what it cost to make the movie.

Genre fans need not worry, though. Slashers may not be dominating the charts right now, but there are plenty of upcoming horror movies still to come this summer.

No Major Releases Next Week Ahead Of Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Next weekend we can expect The Odyssey to make easy work of the box office again, as no major releases have been scheduled between that and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. So just how much is the upcoming MCU project expected to make? Box Office Theory predicts Spider-Man: Brand New Day to earn between $212 million and $228 million in the US and Canada over its first three days. Projections have been as high as $250 million in recent weeks.

Hopefully Zendaya can keep Tom Holland from spoiling the ending until then. I hope you’ll take this next week to see something at the theater you may have missed, and then I’ll be back with you next Sunday to look all the numbers.

Moana sailed to Box Office gold this weekend, with the live-action remake earning $43 million in its first three days on the big screen. That’s way below projections, as the Disney flick competed with the 2026 movie calendar’s other family-friendly fare — Minions & Monsters and Toy Story 5. If we want to talk big wins, we've got to look at a flick that fell out of the Top 10 weeks ago, because this weekend belonged to Michael.

The Michael Jackson biopic starring the King of Pop’s nephew Jaafar Jackson has continued to bring in the bucks — especially overseas — to cross the 10-digit mark with a global box office total of $1,001,691,000, becoming the first biopic ever to surpass $1 billion.

Check out the weekend’s Top 10 movies below, per The Numbers, then we’ll get into what is all means, and of course, Michael’s huge milestone. (* denotes a new release)

Weekend Box Office: July 10-12

Moana’s Opening Is Second-Worst Of Disney’s Live-Action Remakes — And Barely

Estimates for the live-action remake of Moana — starring Catherine Laga'aia and Dwayne Johnson — were in the $60 million range, with low-end projections around $57 million. The reality is much bleaker at $43 million, and it didn’t get much help from the rest of the world, adding just $52 million for a global three-day total of $95 million.

That’s especially rough considering its hefty $250 million budget, which doesn’t include marketing costs. In fact, it’s the second-worst debut for a Disney live-action remake (and just barely) behind Snow White’s $42 million.

While many fans have expressed that they’re sick of these remakes, the House of Mouse has seen quite a bit of success, with 2016’s The Jungle Book possibly the best of the bunch. Let’s see how Moana’s opening weekend compares with some of the others:

• Moana (2026): $43 million
• Lilo & Stitch (2025): $146 million
• Snow White (2025): $42.2 million
• The Little Mermaid (2023): $95.6 million
• The Lion King (2019): $191.8 million
• Aladdin (2019): $91.5 million
• Beauty and the Beast (2017): $174.8 million
• The Jungle Book (2016): $103.3 million
• Cinderella (2015): $67.9 million

Evil Dead Burn Also Misses The Mark

Like Moana, Evil Dead Burn’s $13.7 million was far lower than projections, which had the movie making around $28 million. That’s somewhat surprising, given that horror has been so popular at the theater this summer, and the sixth offering in the Evil Dead franchise offered counterprogramming for all of the family-friendly fare.

However, critics were split, as some missed the signature Evil Dead humor that made the series so popular decades ago. Did Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore audiences agree with critics for this weekend's new movies?

Moana saw a shocking disparity between its reviews and audience opinion, so I guess viewers didn't find the live-action remake as "unnecessary" as the critics.

The Invite Climbs Upon Wide Release

While it doesn’t technically count as new, Olivia Wilde’s The Invite drew in $5.7 million in its first weekend in wide release (after two weekends of limited viewing), jumping from No. 10 to No. 6. Critics praised The Invite with a 96% RT score, and audiences seem to agree, giving it 89%.

Michael Crosses $1 Billion After 12 Weekends

Michael may have fallen out of the Box Office Top 10 in the U.S. and Canada back in June, but it’s continued to see plenty of ticket sales overseas — particularly in Japan, where Michael Jackson was super popular and where Michael saw a later release date of June 12. So, 12 weekends after its initial opening, the film has crossed the $1 billion milestone.

It is just the second movie to break into 10 figures this year, following The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and it’s Lionsgate’s first-ever billion-dollar title. This comes weeks after Michael surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody ($911 million) as the highest-grossing music biopic ever and outgained Oppenheimer ($975.8 million) as the overall highest-grossing biopic.

Toy Story 5 Continues Its Climb Toward $1 Billion. Will Minions & Monsters Make It?

From everything we’ve seen and talked about above, it’s hard to argue that families are dominating the theaters right now, with the Top 3 movies all catering to the young ones. After Minions & Monsters’ less-than-ideal opening weekend, it dropped just 45% weekend over weekend, and when you add in its international numbers, it’s earned $280 million so far. It may not be the most successful of the franchise, but with an $85 million budget, nobody’s worried about this title.

The banana-loving blobs can’t seem to shake Toy Story 5, though. Despite the Pixar sequel being released nearly two weeks earlier, it remains on the Minions’ tail, with just $2 million separating the two in the weekend numbers. The global picture isn’t as close, with TS5 well on its way to $1 billion with $879 million worldwide.

Summer Blockbuster On Deck: The Odyssey

The time has finally come for The Odyssey — Christopher Nolan’s epic follow-up to Oppenheimer — featuring an all-star cast led by Matt Damon’s “insane” abs. OK, OK, I know the man is more than his chiseled midsection. The book-to-screen adaptation is projected to make between $100 million and $110 million, according to Box Office Pro, but after a few weekends of low numbers, I’m wary of the nine digits.

I’m trusting the experts, though, so snatch up your tickets if you’re so inclined, and then check back in with me next Sunday so we can crunch those numbers.

The box office conversation around Supergirl has gone from disappointing to downright grim. The Milly Alcock-led new DC movie opened soft, and its second weekend did not bring the kind of hold that might have calmed down the “is this a bomb?” discourse. If anything, the numbers made the conversation louder. Let’s break down how the second weekend drop compares to other superhero flicks.

Early weekend estimates put Supergirl’s second-weekend drop around 73% to 74%, which was already bad enough. AP reported the film made just under $10 million in weekend two, calling it a steep 74% drop from its opening. Current Box Office Mojo daily totals are even rougher: $3.6 million on Friday, $2.5 million on Saturday, and about $2.5 million on Sunday. Against its $37.1 million opening weekend, that adds up to roughly $8.6 million for weekend two, or about a 76.8% drop.

That is not just a bad fall. That is comic book movie danger-zone stuff. A r/boxoffice post that tracked 190 comic book movies by second-weekend drop gives the whole thing some useful context. The post was originally built around Joker: Folie à Deux and its 81.4% second-weekend collapse, but the table is a handy measuring stick for where Supergirl now sits.

In that analysis, only 10 comic book movies had dropped 70% or more in their second weekends. That group included Dylan Dog: Dead of Night at 87.4%, Joker: Folie à Deux at 81.4%, The Marvels at 78.1%, Steel at 78%, Morbius at 73.8%, The Flash at 72.5%, Dark Phoenix at 71.5% and The Suicide Squad at 71.5%.

So where does Supergirl land? If you use the earlier 73%-74% estimate, it basically ends up in the same neighborhood as Morbius and The Flash. That alone is not where a major new superhero release wants to be. Those titles became shorthand for very different kinds of comicbook fan disappointment: one was memed back into theaters only to bomb a second time, and the other arrived with massive expectations, legacy Batman nostalgia and a marketing push that could be seen from space.

If you use the current Box Office Mojo math, though, it's even worse for Supergirl than it initially looked. A drop around 76.8% would put it just below The Marvels and Steel, and just above Morbius. That is a brutal cluster. It means Supergirl would not merely be somewhere on the comic-book box-office flop chart. It would be near the top.

Now, second-weekend drops are not always a perfect indicator of quality. The Suicide Squad is on that 70%-plus list, and plenty of people love that movie. Hellboy II: The Golden Army dropped 70.7%, and that film has a strong fan base, too. Sometimes, release timing, streaming availability, competition or front-loaded fan interest can make a movie look worse in weekend two than audience feeling alone might suggest.

But with Supergirl, the drop matters because the opening was already below expectations. A huge debut followed by a big fall is one thing. Spider-Man: No Way Home dropped 67.5% in its second weekend, but it opened to more than $260 million. Nobody was crying into their web shooters over that. When a movie opens at $37.1 million and then falls off a cliff, the math gets pretty ugly, fast.

That is the hard part for DC. Milly Alcock has had defenders, including original big-screen Supergirl star Helen Slater, and some viewers clearly connected with her version of Kara. But the box office is telling a different story. The die-hards showed up. The casual crowd did not appear to follow in meaningful numbers.

So, whether you use the 74% estimate or the roughly 76.8% final drop, the takeaway is the same: Supergirl is now flying alongside some of the roughest comic book movie second weekends ever recorded. That is not the company Kara wanted, and in my estimation, it is not the company Alcock deserves either.

Anyone who wants to make up their own mind can still catch Supergirl in theaters as part of the 2026 movie calendar. Other DC movies are also available to stream with an HBO Max subscription.

It’s not a huge surprise that Minions & Monsters took the top spot at the box office for Fourth of July weekend, but the mischief-makers certainly didn’t set off the expected amount of fireworks. Toy Story 5’s $31 million in its third weekend on the 2026 movie calendar was a little too close for comfort to Minions & Monsters’ $36.4 million three-day domestic opening, so what happened?

I’ll get into some of the potential speedbumps the banana-loving yellow blobs had to overcome, but the Fourth of July falling on a Saturday might have been partially to blame. According to Rentrack (via Variety) this year’s overall ticket sales in North America topped out at around $121 million Friday and Saturday, when theaters usually take in between $150 million and $200 million over the Independence Day weekend.

Let’s break down what's going on, but first, please enjoy this offering of your Top 10 movies for the three-day weekend, per The Numbers. (* denotes a new release)

Weekend Box Office: July 3-5

Minions & Monsters Boosted By International Numbers

It’s hard to be too concerned for the Despicable Me spinoff, which seems practically guaranteed to approach $1 billion — if not surpass it — by the end of its run. Minions & Monsters hit theaters on Wednesday, earning a five-day domestic total of $61.4 million, which was on the low end of projections. International numbers, however, exceeded the expected $90 million, bringing in $98.4 million for a combined opening weekend of $159.8 million.

With an estimated budget of $85 million, making back that cash isn’t a concern for Illumination and Universal Pictures, but it’s a bit worrisome that the seventh movie in the franchise has recorded the worst opening, despite many reviews calling it the best Despicable Me movie yet. Take a look at how this latest venture compares the rest of the franchise’s domestic debuts, according to Box Office Pro:

So what happened? As I mentioned above, families may have had Saturday reserved for other things, with World Cup matches also throwing a wrench in some movie-going plans. However, Toy Story 5 is a formidable foe, clearly taking some of Minions & Monsters’ audience to earn nearly as much as the new release in its third weekend.

We also can’t overlook that this is the seventh movie in the Despicable Me series, and it’s possible that kids and/or their adult supervision have simply had their fill.

Young Washington Benefits From Its Fourth Of July Release

Moviegoers may be wanting fewer Minions in their lives, but Young Washington is seeing the exact opposite reaction. The under-the-radar George Washington biopic stars William Franklyn-Miller as the future OG POTUS, along with an impressive supporting cast of Mary-Louise Parker, Kelsey Grammer, Andy Serkis and Ben Kingsley. Its $20.8 million opening beat out all other non-animated movies for No. 3 this week and scored the highest live-action debut for Angel Studios.

In fact, the historical war drama had the second-best opening of any Angel product, behind 2025’s animated David ($22 million). Young Washington focuses on George Washington’s command in the French and Indian War between 1753 and 1755, and due to its success, a sequel based around 1776 has already been ordered.

How Critics Rated This Week’s New Releases

Positive feedback can lead to good word-of-mouth advertising, which could drive new audiences to theaters in subsequent weeks, so how did things look on Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore?

Young Washington likely got a boost from its Fourth of July debut, but high scores from those patriotic ticket-buyers — who enjoyed the film much more than critics — might help it next week. As for Minions & Monsters, I feel pretty confident that those who were either busy for Fourth of July or taking in Toy Story 5 will make it out and help avoid a sophomore-weekend crash.

Supergirl Takes A Dive On Second Weekend

Speaking of sophomore dips, Supergirl fell a devastating 74% from weekend to weekend, earning just $9.6 million for a domestic total of $58.5 million 10 days after the DC Studios product’s disappointing opening. With an additional $48 million from international markets, it’s skirted into nine-digit territory with $100.4 million overall.

We’ve put some thought into what’s going on with all the Supergirl hate, and for those of us who have seen the movie, we don't think it deserves the viral lambasting it’s gotten. However, unless things take a drastic turn for the DCU’s second feature, which reportedly cost $170 million to make (not including marketing and promotion), Supergirl is projected to lose at least $100 million, Variety reports.

Obsession Crosses A Big Milestone As It Finally Falls From Top 5

Obsession had basically set up shop in the box office Top 3 since its May 15 release, but for the first time, it dropped this week — its eighth weekend — to No. 6. But let me be clear — that’s not a bad thing, and there’s actually a good reason. Obsession is now available to rent or buy digitally. Now people can experience Obsession’s horror (and comedy!) from the discomfort of their own homes.

Not everybody chose to do so, however, and its continued ticket sales at the theater were enough to push it past the $400 million mark worldwide, earning $245.3 million domestically and $157.8 million overseas for a combined $403.1 million.

The Invite Hits The Top 10 Ahead Of Wide Release

The buzz is building for The Invite, and despite only showing in 28 theaters this week, it’s already taken a place in the Top 10. With Olivia Wilde’s new comedy drawing Rotten Tomatoes scores in the 90th percentile (from both critics and audience), I can’t wait to see how far it can climb when it goes wide July 10. The movie stars Wilde along with Seth Rogen, Edward Norton and Penélope Cruz, and critics are calling it a “2026 highlight.”

What To Expect From Moana And Evil Dead Burn

The live-action remake of Moana is the big one to keep your eye on next weekend, with Box Office Theory projections looking at a three-day domestic premiere of $62 million (with $57 million and $72 million being the low and high ends).

The upcoming horror flick Evil Dead Burn, meanwhile, is expected to see around $28 million.

Be sure to grab your tickets to a movie this week, then meet me back here next Sunday to break down all the highlights.

It seems we’ve reached the animation domination portion of the summer movie season, as the 2026 movie schedule has or will be ushering in the releases of big animated flicks. One of the latest titles to fit that bill is Disney and Pixar’s Toy Story 5, which opened in cinemas nearly two weeks ago. The legacy sequel smashed records in its box office debut and, now, it’s Minions & Monsters’ turn up at bat. Early tracking numbers are in and, while the totals aren’t as big as TS5’s, the folks at Illumination may have reason to celebrate.

What’s The Box Office Forecast For Minions & Monsters This Upcoming Weekend?

Right now, it’s being predicted that Minions & Monsters – the third installment in the Despicable Me spinoff series – is heading for an $80 million domestic haul amid the five-day 4th of July holiday weekend. Deadline also reports, though, that exhibitors are predicting the film will earn between $60 and $90 million here in the United States. As for the international numbers, the sequel is reportedly poised to $90 million alone overseas. So, if the North American number pans out, the film could make $170 million worldwide.

Those figures are nothing to throw a banana at, and I’m not surprised that this threequel is tracking this way. After all, the diminutive, yellow henchmen have been delighting audiences for years now but, on a less anecdotal note, the Despicable Me franchise has historically performed with July releases. Minions opened on July 10, 2015 and finished its run with over $1.1 billion globally against a $74 million budget. Its 2022 sequel, The Rise of Gru, opened on July 1 and made $940 million worldwide against an $80-$100 million budget.

Minions & Monsters follows the titular characters in 1927 during the age of Old Hollywood, as the attempt to make a monster movie. What results is pure chaos and hilarity and, so far, the mind-blowing critical reactions to the film indicate that Illumination has another well-received flick on its hands. Of course, the numbers above shouldn’t be taken as the gospel. However, between those numbers and the positive reviews – which, as of this writing, amount to an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score – there’s reason for execs to be hopeful.

How Much Has Toy Story 5 Made So Far, And What Could It Do Amid 4th Of July?

It would be an understatement to say that Toy Story 5 smashed the box office during its debut weekend. The Andrew Stanton-directed film earned $160 million domestically, which marked the highest sum that any installment in the Pixar franchise had earned in its first three days of release. Also, that benchmark serves as the biggest domestic release of the year thus far. At the same time, the film also made $152 million internationally, which brought its worldwide total to $312 million. (For context, the film was made on a $250 million budget.)

The momentum carried into the second weekend as well, as the legacy sequel lassoed another massive haul of $70 million domestically, marking only a 56% drop. As it stands, the film has earned over $597 million globally. As for this weekend, Deadline reports that Jessie, Woody, Buzz and the gang will land $35 million here in the states during its third weekend.

Considering the early positive reviews Toy Story 5 has received and the hype around Taylor Swift performing a song for it, it definitely tracks that people would be eager to revisit these characters. I’m particularly interested in seeing what the film’s final total will be by the time its theatrical run ends. Of course, I’ll also be keeping a close eye on the Minions threequel to see if it can notch another box office win for animation.

Minions & Monsters is now playing in theaters nationwide alongside Toy Story 5.

Scary Movie -- the sixth installment in the parody-fueled film series -- probably won't win an Oscar, to put it lightly. Since its release, critics have panned the latest movie from the Wayans, and they haven't held back those thoughts. However, the legacy sequel seems to have quietly made quite a bit of money, thanks to approving audience members who hit up their local cinemas. With that, I don't really question whether Paramount will pursue future installments.

It can't be understated just how financially successful Scary Movie has been since its release. BoxOfficeMojo reports that the movie has earned a total of $103,523,756 domestically after 24 days in theaters. And, as it stands, the film has a worldwide cume of $215,323,756. Sure, the reviews weren't glowing, and it ranked among one of the worst movies of the franchise. However, it's clear that there's a disconnect between general audiences and critics weren't. So let's talk out what the future might hold.

Will Scary Movie 7 Happen?

While CinemaBlend can't report with certainty that Scary Movie 7 is a sure thing, the box office numbers are strong and point toward Paramount green-lighting a sequel. There are also reports of the Wayans already being inspired by new films on the 2026 movie schedule and even talking to @CritixTV about wanting to parody the acclaimed Backrooms and Obsession.

Clearly, ideas are being conceived, so I'd have to imagine the Wayans have some indication that Paramount is receptive to the idea of a follow-up. I'd be intrigued if that project were to materialize. And, who knows, maybe next time around, marketing execs will figure out how to get that wild popcorn bucket actually sold in theaters, though I'm not holding my breath.

Will This Spark A Comeback For Parody Movies?

The financial success of Scary Movie 6 also has me wondering if we'll see more movies from the parody genre in general. Maybe someone can ask Meet the Spartans alum Carmen Electra if she'd be up for a sequel, or maybe we could get a follow-up the most bizarre sketch movie of all time, Movie 43. (Admittedly, that second thought could be serious pipe dream.)

It feels like nothing is ever guaranteed in Hollywood, except for the fact that money talks. Should any other studio tests the waters with a parody movie that isn't part of the Scary Movie umbrella and it's a hit, one has to imagine other studios will follow suit.

Of course, the question here has to be whether Scary Movie 6 is a hit because audiences genuinely enjoy the return, or because nostalgia played a massive factor in its success. I wouldn't discount just how many people showed up mainly because Anna Faris, Regina Hall, and others were involved in this movie. Plus, it'd been 13 years since the last installment, so people have been waiting on this for a while.

All this to say, I wonder if a theoretical Scary Movie 7 would have the same success in theaters. I guess it all depends on the fans, and if they continue to enjoy the concepts that the Wayans come up with even amid disdain from critics.

Scary Movie is still playing in theaters, and I'd tell fans to keep their eyes peeled for potential sequel news at this point.. CinemaBlend will continue to track updates in the meantime. Also, the first five installments in the franchise are available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription.

Movie lovers came out to play this weekend, but unfortunately for the new releases — Supergirl and Jackass: Best and Last — it was the toys everybody was talking about. Toy Story 5 reigned supreme at the box office again, falling just 56% from its record-breaking opening to rope in another $70 million domestically. Supergirl, meanwhile, hit the 2026 movie release calendar to the tune of $38 million in the U.S. and Canada, but is there hope for the DCU’s sophomore feature?

I’ll break that down, as well as what happened to the final Jackass movie, which along with Disclosure Day, fell below — surprise, surprise — Obsession, which maintained its No. 3 spot this weekend after 45 days in theaters.

First, however, let's take a look at the Top 10 chart. (Any * denotes a new release.)

Weekend Box Office: June 26-28

Supergirl’s Opening Falls Below Expectations

There was reason for concern going into this weekend for Supergirl, with Milly Alcock even admitting a flop was one of her biggest fears just days ahead of its release. Projections started to look comparable to The Marvels, and that’s not a good thing. The 2023 MCU film debuted to $47 million, which was the lowest opener for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. Supergirl didn’t even reach that, drawing $38 million (though on an admittedly smaller budget).

Domestic expectations for the Milly Alcock flick ranged from $39 million up to $55 million, which even if it had landed on the higher end would have been a tepid start for a summer tentpole. Supergirl didn’t get much help overseas, either, earning just $30 million more, per The Numbers, for a global total of $68 million. With a reported budget of around $175 million, it will need to gross between $315 million and $375 million to break even.

How Critics Rated This Week’s New Releases

Reviews for Supergirl didn’t exactly help to hype the movie up, though they weren’t all as bad as one critic’s viral thrashing. Sometimes a good Rotten Tomatoes’ audience rating or high CinemaScore grade can indicate that word-of-mouth advertising will lead to longer legs in the box office. Take a look at how this week’s new releases were graded:

Moviegoers were slightly kinder to Supergirl than the critics. It will be interesting to see what the slow start means for upcoming DCU movies, especially those based on lesser-known characters like Clayface, which stars Tom Rhys Harries and hits the big screen in October.

Meanwhile, critics and audiences alike seemed to approve of Jackass: Best and Last. However, reviews of the Jackass swan song didn’t help it much with ticket sales.

Jackass: Last And Best Sees Franchise-Worst Opening

The final chapter of the quarter-century-old stunt show was both the highest-rated on Rotten Tomatoes and lowest-earning of the franchise. Jackass: Best and Last’s 88% on RT is slightly higher than Jackass Forever’s 86%, but the box office debut numbers tell a much sadder story. In order of best to worst opening weekends are:

• Jackass 3D (2010): $50.4 million
• Jackass: Number Two (2006): $29 million
• Jackass Forever (2022): $23.2 million
• Jackass: The Movie (2002): $22.8 million
• Jackass: Best and Last (2026): $8.4 million

Jackass: Best and Last does feature new stunts, but those are mixed in with plenty of old clips. Also, Johnny Knoxville’s past concussions and brain injuries — namely his “catastrophic” run-in with a bull — require that he not be hit in the head anymore, meaning that he wasn’t able to partake in the more extreme events of the latest film.

I’m not sure if those factors played into low turnout in theaters, but with the movie seeing such high praise, maybe there’s hope for future weeks. Either way, the movie only cost a reported $10 million to make, so this isn’t in any way a disaster.

BLEACH Anime Event Nabs A Top 10 Spot

Anime fans have a reason to celebrate this week’s box office, as their combined forces put BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War — The Calamity into the Top 10. Fathom released the first three episodes of the series’ final season in theaters before they hit streaming, where the compliation earned $1 million on opening night Thursday and an additional $1.95 million Friday through Sunday.

The special release was a limited four-day event (June 25-29) that included behind-the-scenes content and an exclusive interview with creator Tite Kubo. BLEACH is a series that’s perfect for first-time anime watchers and can be streamed with a Hulu subscription.

Will Minions & Monsters Mean Trouble For Toy Story 5?

Speaking of disasters, those chaos-causing yellow blobs are returning to the big screen with Minions & Monsters being released Wednesday, July 1. The midweek debut corresponds with the opening of the new Universal Kids Resort theme park in Texas (which my pre-teen loved, despite the park being geared toward younger kiddos).

I'm not sure there's anything that could stop a Despicable Me spinoff from doing gangbusters at the box office, but it certainly won't hurt that reviews for Minions & Monsters are calling it the best of the whole franchise. How do you like them bananas?

According to Coming Soon, the new Illumination animated offering is projected to bring in between $75 million and $85 million next Friday through Saturday — and up to $115 million over the five-day holiday weekend. That’s more than enough to knock Toy Story 5 from the top spot, and with what I’d imagine is a pretty big overlap in audience, I'm curious as to just how far Buzz, Jessie, Woody and the gang will fall.

We’ll find out next week, so make sure to hit up your local theater and then join me back here next Sunday to look at how the box office plays out!

We’re gearing up for Supergirl on June 26. Jason Momoa’s been hitting red carpets on his motorcycle. Milly Alcock’s been bringing back the casual carpet fit. The whole thing has screamed “fun.” Which is why I was a little surprised to see box office estimates going the way of The Marvels. If you can remember back to 2023, this is not a good thing.

Here’s what’s happening. Supergirl’s tracking has been a little up and down. Box Office Pro, which spends considerable time on long range forecasting, has the movie opening at $45-$55 million domestically. However, a new report over at World of Reel estimates the movie might only make in the $40 million+ range, which is garnering it comparisons to other superhero films that were ultimately considered to be box office disappointments.

Yes, I’m talking about The Marvels, which made about $47 million opening weekend. It was a No. 1 stunner opening weekend, but it didn’t linger there. Disney ultimately stopped tracking the movie’s grosses before it had even made back its budget globally.

The Marvels’ budget was a little bloated at around $250 million. Supergirl, on the other hand, was reportedly made for around $175 million and would only need $315+ million in grosses to break even, given theaters and studios split ticket sales. Yet, if the movie only kicks off with $40 million, it will be a slog to get there.

This is a shame, because the movie is very different then The Marvels or like Morbius, another heroes-property movie with a notoriously low opening weekend. This 2026 movie release has an already-established character in Superman, but it's the new characters who really pop.

This Is Dumb, Because Supergirl Is The Perfect Summer Movie

Outside of opening weekend box office estimates, Supergirl and The Marvels have one other thing in common: much shorter runtimes. In The Marvels’ case, I thought there was more story to be told, but in Supergirl’s case, reactions seem to indicate most of what the movie does works. There have been some mixed perspectives here, but I think the average viewers’ experience will be much, much more positive than “mixed.” As I noted, Supergirl is the perfect summer movie.

There’s still a reasonable chance box office estimates could be off base, or even very off base, and people might come out to theaters in much larger droves than is currently being expected. We’ve seen that several times this year, as movies like Obsession actually saw an increase in the percentage of ticket sales in the second week of release. We’ve also seen some established properties like The Mandalorian and Grogu falter.

In short, it’s been a weird year. Supergirl falls into an odd area as both established and brand new, with an actress who broke big on House of The Dragon and does such good work she deserves to be a household name. And yet, It really needs the core audience to come out and see it; I hope they do.

While I’m here each Sunday to break down all the fun bits about the weekend’s box office, I’m sure nobody needs to hear from me that Toy Story 5 took the No. 1 spot upon hitting the 2026 movie release calendar. Of course it did, and of course it broke records along the way. For instance, its $160 million is the most any movie in the franchise has made in its first three days, and by a large margin.

For me, though, the biggest mystery coming into today was how last week’s winner Disclosure Day would fare in its second weekend in release — and if it could hold off the trio of horror movies that have taken possession of the Top 5 for so long that Backrooms’ Kane Parsons has even turned 21 since then. He was 20 years old.

Take a look at the Top 10 below, per The Numbers, then we’ll get into just how monumental Toy Story 5’s debut was and if Steven Spielberg’s aliens have a long-term chance against the One Wish Willow, the liminal spaces below Clark’s furniture store and the Wayans Brothers.

Weekend Box Office: June 19-21, 2026

* denotes new release

Toy Story 5 Is The Biggest Domestic Release Of The Year So Far

So just how good is that $160 million? For one thing, it knocks The Super Mario Galaxy Movie out of the top spot for having 2026’s biggest premiere weekend. The Universal video game sequel opened to $131.7 million back in April.

As for worldwide debuts, however, Mario retains first place. Toy Story 5 added $152 million internationally for a global total of $312 million. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie opened to $372.5 million, but that total included more international markets than the Pixar product, as well as Wednesday and Thursday showings.

Toy Story 5’s opening already puts it in the Top 10 of the year’s highest-grossing movies — at No. 9 behind Hoppers domestically ($166 million) and No. 9 behind The Mandalorian & Grogu globally ($321.8 million). I’d say we should expect to see Tim Allen, Tom Hanks and Joan Cusack’s animated film continue to climb those ranks.

Pixar is likely extremely happy with ticket sales this weekend, as Toy Story 5 had the second-best opening for an animated movie in the U.S. and Canada after the studio’s own Incredibles 2 ($182.6 million), as well as Pixar’s best worldwide opening of all time (excluding China) behind Inside Out 2 ($384 million).

With a budget of $250 million before marketing costs, Toy Story 5 likely needs to make around $600 million to break even, and it’s well on its way after a strong first three days and lots of summer to go.

How Toy Story 5's Premiere Compares To The Rest Of The Franchise

We know that this weekend's release was the best of the franchise, but just how did the other movies fare in comparison? Below you'll find every Toy Story movie's domestic opening-weekend pull:

• Toy Story 5 (2026): $160 million
• Toy Story 4 (2019): $120.9 million
• Toy Story 3 (2010): $110.3 million
• Toy Story 2 (1999): $80.5 million*
• Toy Story (1995): $29.1 million

*Toy Story 2 ran in one theater for five days before its wide release on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving in 1999. This total reflects its earnings through that Sunday.

Leviticus Didn’t Make The Same Splash As Other Recent Horror Flicks

As for the week’s other new releases, Leviticus failed to make the same splash as other recent horror flicks — specifically the ones from YouTubers Kane Parsons and Curry Barker — despite reviews saying it gave moviegoers “goosebumps,” and The Death of Robin Hood also was a tough draw for audiences. Those premiered at No. 8 and 9 for the week, so let’s see how critics and audiences scored those:

Disclosure Day Fights Off Obsession, For Now

As we can see from the chart, Emily Blunt’s highly regarded performance helped Disclosure Day drop only one spot in the box office Top 10, but it certainly wasn’t a runaway victory. Steven Spielberg’s fifth alien movie bested the year’s hottest horror movie by less than $3 million, falling 62% from its first weekend’s earnings.

That’s not a completely devastating drop, but with a budget of $115 million, it probably needs between $250 million and $300 million to break even. After 10 days in theaters, Disclosure Day has earned $160.4 worldwide, and losing that big of a chunk of audience makes me a tad nervous about its run.

Obsession Finally Falls Below Its Week 1 Earnings

It was certainly no surprise to me that following Toy Story 5 and Disclosure Day in the box office rankings that the rest of the Top 5 were populated by horror movies. Obsession has been the biggest surprise, earning $17.2 million in its first weekend before seeing that number jump for the next two consecutive weekends.

It’s simply unheard of, and now — after six weekends in release — Obsession’s three-day domestic total of $14.2 million is lower than its initial pull for the first time.

Global Milestones Have Been Hit

• Scary Movie crossed the $200 million benchmark this weekend, with international markets adding $104.4 million to its domestic total so far of $97.5 million for a worldwide $201.9 million.
• Masters of the Universe itself crossed into nine-digit territory, combining its North American earnings of $56.9 million with an overseas total of $45 million for a global sum of $101.9 million.

Next Week: It's A Bird, It's A Plane ...

No, it's not Superman, but it is his drunker, more jaded cousin Supergirl. The DCU antihero will fly into theaters with an expected debut of between $39 million and $51 million. First reactions were positive for Milly Alcock and for Jason Momoa as Lobo, so I'm excited to see where this falls in next week's Top 10.

We'll also see the premiere of Jackass: Best and Last, which should see between $12 million and $18 million.

Be sure to hit the theater sometime this week, then join me back here Sunday to see where everything lands.

Steven Spielberg’s aliens are back in the box office, as Disclosure Day took top honors this weekend following its debut on the 2026 movie calendar. However, I’d love for somebody to ask our new non-human friends if they see Michael Jackson moonwalking up there in the cosmos, because Michael has finally surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody to become the world's highest-grossing music biopic of all time.

Horror offerings also continued to impress, so let’s look at this week’s biggest box office wins and what we can expect from Disclosure Day and our spooky summer flicks as Toy Story 5 and more of the season’s blockbusters approach.

First, check out this weekend’s Top 10, then we’ll get into the highlights:

Weekend Box Office: June 12-14

* Denotes new release

How Far Will Disclosure Day Go In Theaters?

Disclosure Day’s three-day domestic opening fell in between projections, which ran from $40 million to $55 million, with its $44 million marking the fifth-best opening domestically for Steven Spielberg. It’s also his highest first-three-day total for an original title not based on previous IP, Deadline reports.

More than half of its worldwide earnings came from overseas markets, earning a combined $92.9 million globally. So what should we expect from the sci-fi flick with other big titles premiering soon, like Toy Story 5 next week, Supergirl and Spider-Man: Brand New Day? Looking back at Steven Spielberg’s other four alien movies, it’s pretty clear that when this filmmaker talks about us not being alone, people pay attention:

These numbers haven't been adjusted for inflation, so it's somewhat difficult to see how Disclosure Day compares to even one of the best movies of the 1970s (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, of course), but the totals earned by each one by the end of their times in theaters speaks volumes. I'd say Universal Pictures will have no problem making back the approximately $300 million it will need to break even on the movie's $115 million budget.

How Critics Rated This Week’s New Releases

The excitement for Disclosure Day has been obvious since we saw those over-the-top first reactions, and the praise continued when full reviews were released. However, based on the experiences of the staff here at CinemaBlend — and what we overheard during our own early screenings — we thought audiences’ overall reactions might be a little more divisive. Let’s take a peek at how critics’ opinions of this week’s new releases differed from moviegoers’:

The Furious is an English-language action film out of Hong Kong that got overwhelmingly positive buzz after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall. That was echoed in moviegoers' experience, as you can see above, earning enough to put the movie in the Top 10.

Stop! That! Train! earned less than its low-end projection of $3 million but was still able to steamroll its way into the 10 spot. (We should all know better than to try to stop any train the fabulous RuPaul is on.)

Woo! Michael Is Now The World’s Highest-Grossing Music Biopic

We’ve had our eye on this stat for a while, as Michael, the biopic starring Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson as the King of Pop, has now earned a global total of $932.2 million ($362.8 million domestic, $569.5 million international, per The Numbers), gliding past the previous record held by Bohemian Rhapsody with $910.9 million. Michael became North America’s highest-grossing biopic about a month ago after three weekends in theaters.

The movie finally premiered in Japan this weekend, and the Bad artist’s popularity there sealed the deal. The next big milestone would be to cross the $1 billion mark, which would make it just the second movie this year to do so, following The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

Scary Movies Continue Their Reign … And You Can Eat Them

Hot horror summer continued this week, as scary movies populated the three box office slots below Disclosure Day. We’re five weekends in, and Obsession has yet to drop below its Week 1 earnings. A horror movie pulling $19 million after more than a month in theaters is impressive to say the least — not to mention its domestic total was good for the No. 2 spot at the box office.

At this point there’s no doubt Curry Barker’s film is drawing repeat viewers, and I get it. I’ve wanted a rewatch basically since the credits rolled on my first viewing.

Instead, I spent my weekend box office dollars on Backrooms at the strong behest of my teenager. I definitely needed an explanation of that ending (and I agree at times I got a bit bored), but at least now I have some context for all those “You can eat them” memes she’s been sending me.

Toy Story 5 Is Coming, And Other Quick Hits To Wrap Up The Week

• Toy Story 5 is projected to earn between $150 million and $184 million when it premieres June 19, so we’ll be saying “I Knew It, I Knew You” when it takes gold in next week’s Top 10.
• I’m extremely interested to see how Leviticus fares. The upcoming horror movie stars Joe Bird (who had a pretty rough go of it in 2022’s Talk To Me) and is already Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 95% following its January premiere at Sundance. Will this be another boon for the genre?
• Lots of hoopla is being made over Masters of the Universe falling 71% in its second weekend in release. However, Amazon MGM insists it’s not a flop, and with audiences finding the movie funnier than critics did, it should continue to bring in the bucks when people can start streaming it with a Prime Video subscription.

Be sure to hit the theater this week, then come back next Sunday to see how your dollars affected the box office.

Some of the biggest movies hitting theaters thus far this year have been unique and non-franchised horror features, which certainly stands apart from the summer blockbuster season of years past. The past few weeks even stand apart from other genre-heavy years, given the the rise of profitable YouTuber filmmakers like Curry Barker and and Kane Parsons. The streaming giant actually plays into another unexpectedly huge box office success, but this one isn’t a horror movie. Not that it isn't creepy...

Alongside Backrooms’ massive theatrical wins — it’s now A24’s most successful release of all time — and Obsession’s unheard of rise in ticket sales across its first weeks, the offbeat animated world of The Amazing Digital Circus made its way into theaters thanks to Fathom Entertainment. Initially set for just a four-day release from June 4-7, the finale episode of ADC broke presale-ticket records for Fathom, and its expectation-bucking earnings were big enough to keep it in theaters for a massive Week 2 expansion.

The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act's First Weekend Box Office

The Amazing Digital Circus has been a viral sensation since its pilot installment was released in October 2023, evidenced by its shift from YouTube exclusive to streaming via Netflix subscription, as well as the aforementioned theatrical bow. Younger audiences are all over the chaotic characters stuck within the vibrant virtual circus, from the nerve-addled jester-dressed Pomni to the purple rabbit Jax.

That fanbase has been quite rabid about the ninth and final episode, to the point where it went from a planned release in 900 theaters to an expansion that put it on more than 2,200 screens in the U.S. alone. Which means the initial $10 million weekend expectations were eclipsed by its actual numbers. Here are the day-by-day stats:

Given that ADC: The Last Act was so successful on the same weekend that the Wayans brothers' franchise-best release for their Scary Movie requel, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pomni, Gangle, Caine and others getting parodied in whatever the seventh spoof movie will be.

At this point, BoxOfficeMojo doesn't have a full rundown of the finale's numbers around the world, only noting sales in Portugal in Norway that totaled over $400,000 when added together. Chances are high that it's pulling in similar numbers in other countries as well, as it was also released in Japan, Latin America and various European countries.

For those who haven't yet had the pleasure, here's the trailer for The Last Act:

Find The Amazing Digital Circus in theaters until Sunday, June 14. Just don't find yourself walking across those checkerboard floors, or you might never get out of there.

The Wayans Brothers ensured that the horror genre continues to dominate the summer box office, as their return to the Scary Movie franchise after a quarter-century earned $55 million on its opening weekend. That’s not all though — Backrooms set another record after its shocking debut, and Obsession crossed a big milestone of its own.

This success in the horror realm unfortunately meant that Masters of the Universe saw disappointing numbers on opening weekend, earning just $29.3 million over its first three days, as blockbusters like Disclosure Day and Toy Story 5 draw nearer on the 2026 movie release schedule.

Take a look at the Top 10 chart below, per The Numbers, and then we’ll get into some context:

Weekend Box Office: June 5-7, 2026

* denotes new release

Scary Movie 6 Gets International Bump As It Sets Franchise Record

The amount earned by Scary Movie in North America got some help from international markets, nearly doubling for a global total of $105.5 million in three days. That’s great news for Miramax, who financed the movie for $30 million.

In fact, the ticket sales earned by Scary Movie in the U.S. and Canada alone make it the best debut for the franchise since the first movie premiered in 2000. Check out where it stands next to its counterparts' first weekends:

• Scary Movie (2000): $42.4 million
• Scary Movie 2 (2001): $20.5 million
• Scary Movie 3 (2003): $48.1 million
• Scary Movie IV (2006): $40.2 million
• Scary Movie V (2013): $14.2 million
• Scary Movie (2026): $55 million

The first movie leads the rest in overall global earnings with $277.2 million. Could the sixth installment eventually pass it? Time will tell.

Continuing the trend of seeing younger audiences — and the death of theater etiquette, in some moviegoers’ eyes — 62 percent of Scary Movie ticket buyers were under the age of 30, per THR. The majority of those checking out Backrooms and Obsession last week were under 35 years old.

Masters Of The Universe Does Not Have The Power

While the new horror movies may have skewed younger, Masters of the Universe catered to Gen X nostalgia as it revived the popular ‘80s cartoon to underwhelming success. The soft opening for the Nicholas Galitzine-led flick may not be as catastrophic as what’s happening to The Mandalorian and Grogu (which has earned just $293.6 million globally after three weekends), but its sub-$30 million debut is a rough start, considering Masters of the Universe is estimated to have cost around $200 million to make.

It’s going to need a long stay in theaters if it wants to break even, which is a tough ask with how strong the trio of horror movies is doing, along with big titles in the coming weeks like Disclosure Day and Toy Story 5 — the latter of which was bolstered by the release of the delightful new Taylor Swift single “I Knew It, I Knew You” for its soundtrack.

How Critics And Audiences Rated The New Releases

Word-of-mouth advertising can definitely help a movie’s longevity, especially if audiences enjoy a movie that was negatively reviewed by critics. After six movies, it’s come to be expected that critics are pretty harsh on the Scary Movie franchise, while Masters of the Universe also fared better in the eyes of the moviegoers. Let’s take a look at the new releases’ Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore grades:

Backrooms Sets Another Record; Obsession Crosses Big Milestone

The wins keep coming for the YouTuber-helmed Backrooms and Obsession. Despite the former’s 68% drop from opening weekend, it still earned $25.9 million domestically, and adding in international numbers, its global total stands at $195.9 million.

That means that after just 10 days in theaters, Kane Parsons’ Backrooms has become A24’s highest-grossing release worldwide, beating Marty Supreme’s $191 million.

Not to be outdone, Obsession crossed the $200 million mark globally after four weekends in release, accumulating $224.8 million. That makes it Focus Features’ highest-grossing title of all time, beating 2019’s Downton Abbey ($194.6M worldwide). And let’s remember, Obsession cost less than $1 million to make.

After increasing its weekend-over-weekend audience for the past two weeks, Curry Barker’s film finally started to backslide, but to a comically low degree. Obsession lost just 7% of its ticket sales between its third and fourth weekends, which means this week’s $25.6 million is still higher than both its first ($17.2 million) and second ($24 million) weekends in release.

What Can We Expect From Disclosure Day’s Upcoming Premiere?

Lots of people, myself included, are highly anticipating Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, which hits theaters on Friday, June 12, so how will it shake up the box office rankings? According to Box Office Theory, the sci-fi movie is projected to draw between $40 million and $55 million in its first three days.

That should be enough for the top spot, but the rest of the Top 5 could see some moves, given how close this week’s finishes were.

Next Week Could Be Michael’s Week

For the past few weeks, we’ve been watching Michael’s steady climb en route to take the title of highest-grossing music biopic in the world away from Bohemian Rhapsody, and it looks like that time has come. The film currently sits at $888 million globally and needs only $23 million more to surpass the 2018 Freddie Mercury story.

On June 12, Michael will finally premiere in Japan, and given the King of Pop’s large fanbase there, the movie is practically guaranteed to storm past Bohemian Rhapsody’s $911 million global total.

Be sure to hit the theater sometime this week to take in one of these movies, then come back next Sunday to see where everything falls in the Top 10.

The box office knives are already out for the 2026 movie calendar release, Masters of the Universe, which is probably inevitable when a big, expensive-looking He-Man movie heads into theaters with soft tracking attached. A lot of the early review chatter has framed Amazon MGM’s fantasy reboot as a likely flop before it even has a chance to lift the sword. I get the instinct, but I also think that framing misses much of what makes this release interesting and why it should be seen as less of a disaster than The Mandalorian and Grogu’s second week in theaters.

According to Boxoffice Pro’s Long Range Forecast, Masters of the Universe is tracking for a $30 million to $40 million domestic opening when it opens on June 5. That would be a muted start for a major franchise play, especially one built around a legacy toy brand with Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man, Jared Leto as Skeletor and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn. Still, a soft opening for an Amazon MGM movie does not mean the same thing as a brutal second-week drop for The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Masters Of The Universe Just Got An IMAX Boost

One curious late development is that Masters of the Universe picked up IMAX screens at the last minute. IGN reports IMAX made room for the film after The Mandalorian and Grogu opened up space earlier than expected, with tickets going on sale just one week before the movie’s release.

That is good news for fans who want to see Eternia on the biggest screen possible, and it suggests Amazon MGM is still giving this thing a real theatrical swing. Unlike Netflix, which often treats theatrical releases like a velvet rope outside a streaming premiere, Amazon is putting Masters of the Universe into theaters for an actual run.

It may not explode out of the gate, but there is value in a streamer-backed studio still treating theatrical as something worth doing.

Early Buzz Could Give Masters Of The Universe Some Muscle

The good news is that early buzz has been warmer than the “this thing is doomed” chatter might suggest. Film commentator and critic Perri Nemiroff posted on X that Masters of the Universe could be one of her biggest surprises of 2026, saying she was swept away by its “super vibrant, weird and gleeful” energy.

Critics have been saying similar things. Mashable’s Kristy Puchko admitted her expectations were low before ultimately saying she really enjoyed Travis Knight’s take on the material, while The Irish Times called the film “all solid good fun” and “a minor miracle.” That doesn’t guarantee a breakout, but it sounds, by all accounts, the movie may have more going for it than tracking alone can show.

If families, nostalgic He-Man fans and curious folks with a Prime Video subscription hear the movie actually works, Masters of the Universe may have a better shot at hanging around than the early doom cycle suggests.

Amazon’s Math Is Not Disney’s Math

Of course, Amazon would love a hit. Nobody spends this much money on producing a big-budget fantasy flick because they hope for “decent enough.” But Amazon also has Prime Video waiting in the background, which changes how the movie should be judged.

A theatrical release can bring in real money, but for Amazon, it can also act as an awareness campaign before the movie eventually becomes a Prime title. That does not make the box office irrelevant. It just means a softer opening is not automatically a flaming wreck.

The challenge is that audiences know this, too. Amazon has trained many viewers to expect its movies to stream later. Even with a full theatrical rollout, some people will look at Masters of the Universe and decide to wait for the couch.

The Mandalorian And Grogu Has Heavier Baggage

That is why the Mandalorian and Grogu box-office comparison is a bit of an "apples-to-oranges" comparison. If Masters of the Universe opens soft, it is a stumble for a franchise trying to regain theatrical relevance. If a new Star Wars movie falls hard in Week 2 and gives up premium-format space sooner than expected, that feels like a warning light on a much bigger machine.

Star Wars is not supposed to be a bonus add-on for a Disney+ subscription. It is a legacy brand that has been around for decades. It's one of the first major film franchises that, in many ways, taught Hollywood how to think about blockbusters. The Mandalorian began as a streaming phenomenon, but bringing that story to theaters was meant to prove it could return to theaters.

That is a harder ask than what Masters of the Universe is facing. He-Man has nostalgia and a passionate fan base, but it is not carrying the same burden as Star Wars. So, yes, Masters of the Universe may have a soft opening weekend, but if it gets a real theatrical run, builds awareness and becomes a splashy Prime offering later, that is not the same kind of problem as Mando and 'Baby Yoda' losing altitude after one weekend.

This weekend’s box office may be tempting you to check your calendar (and your thermostat). Because, at a time of year when we’re typically settling in for the year’s biggest superhero flicks and summer blockbusters, it’s two horror movies that are dominating the domestic box office. Kane Parsons’ Backrooms and Curry Barker’s Obsession aren’t just any horror flicks, either — they’re low-budget films directed by YouTube stars, and this weekend they broke records while putting The Mandalorian and Grogu to shame.

Backrooms premiered on the 2026 movie schedule to $81.5 million — light years ahead of projections. (honestly, don’t even look at the number I reported last week). Meanwhile, Obsession saw another unprecedented increase in audience in its third weekend.

Take a look at the chart below (per The Numbers), then we’ll break down what it all means:

Weekend Box Office: May 29-31, 2026

* denotes new release

Backrooms Sets Records In Shocking Debut

Let’s consider what a big deal Backrooms’ $81.5 million opening is. So, last week, The Mandalorian and Grogu premiered to $82 million in significantly more theaters. One of these films cost $10 million to make; the other, $165 million. Pedro Pascal’s Star Wars movie comes from one of the most popular film franchises of all time, while Backrooms is a found-footage horror that critics struggled to describe in their reviews.

That's not even to mention that The Mandalorian and Grogu took a nasty 69% dive in its second weekend.

What this means for the movie industry as a whole remains to be seen — nearly 85% of Backrooms' audience was under age 35 (RIP theater etiquette) — but some things are certain. According to Variety:

• Backrooms has A25’s largest opening weekend ever (beating Civil War’s $25.5 million in 2024.
• It is the biggest debut in history for original horror.
• It’s the best start for a first-time filmmaker on a non-franchise film.
• Kane Parsons, 20, is the youngest director to have the No. 1 film at the box office (beating Chronicle’s Josh Trank, who was 27 when the film debuted in 2012 with $22 million).

It even crossed into nine-figure global territory, as the new A24 horror movie added $36.5 million overseas, giving it a worldwide 3-day premiere of $118 million.

What In The One Wish Willow Is Going On With Obsession?

It was nearly unprecedented to see the jump that Obsession made between its first two weekends of release, so there’s absolutely no reason other than sorcery that this movie would see another increase after three weekends. And yet, here we are. The movie that has us deep-diving into Nikki theories and debating that ending has now crossed the $100 million threshold in North America after seeing a 10% increase in this weekend’s box office earnings:

Obsession is the first movie since 1982’s E.T. The Extraterrestrial to see ticket sales increase in its second and third weekends, Deadline reports. This kind of unprecedented success is very interesting for YouTube's aspiring filmmakers, especially given what Backrooms was able to accomplish and how well Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier) did earlier this year with Iron Lung.

The YouTuber self-financed Iron Lung, directed and starred in it, earning $50 million against a $3 million budget. (I saw it at the behest of my 15-year-old, and it was quite the mindbending experience. And so, so bloody.)

There’s Room For Everyone In The Horror Space

I wrote last week that I was concerned Backrooms might suffer from Obsession’s growing audience, thinking if horror fans had to choose one over the other, they might go with the super buzzy title. Wrong! Clearly Backrooms did not suffer, and neither did Obsession. Are people out there doing the Backsession double feature?

Now, I’m definitely going to have my eye on what happens next weekend with another upcoming horror movie joining the mix. Scary Movie, the sixth installment of the parody series, hits theaters this weekend, so how will horror-loving audiences split themselves this time?

The Breadwinner Loses Its Bread After Bad Reviews

The horror movies may not have cannibalized each other at the box office this weekend, but they certainly didn’t do any favors to the other new releases. In The Breadwinner’s case, though, that might have been more its own fault, as reviews were tepid at best for comedian Nate Bargatze’s big-screen debut. Low-end projections had the movie making around $19 million, but it finished the weekend with an estimated $7.5 million. Let’s see how critics and audiences rated this week’s releases:

Audiences clearly found a lot more to like about The Breadwinner than critics, so maybe word-of-mouth advertising will keep it from falling too far next weekend. Pressure also got high marks, and I wouldn't be surprised to see moviegoers spending D-Day with Brendan Fraser and Andrew Scott, learning about the weather forecast that changed the world.

So what new releases will these movies be up against?

Can Scary Movie 6 Keep The Spooky Vibes Alive?

Scary Movie 6 leads the projections for next weekend, but does He-Man have the power to break up the horrorfest? Here's what Box Office Theory predicts for the upcoming releases:

• Scary Movie 6: $41 million to $52 million
• Masters of the Universe: $25 million to $35 million
• The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act: $10 million to $16 million

We're also still on Michael watch, as the Michael Jackson biopic inches closer to surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody ($911 million) for the highest-grossing music biopic of all time globally. This week we're at $846.3 million, and with Japan's premiere coming June 12, I think it's only a matter of weeks now.

Things have been pretty wild at the box office lately, and it's only going to get better with so many big releases still to come. Find me every Sunday for a look at the top 10 movies and a breakdown of the numbers.

Star Wars fans have been waiting quite a long time to see a galaxy far, far away make its return to the big screen. However, as The Mandalorian and Grogu hit the 2026 movie calendar as this year’s Memorial Day tentpole — taking the No. 1 spot with $82 million from Friday to Sunday — its achievement was somewhat overshadowed by the horror flick Obsession, which saw an increase in ticket sales over its second weekend in release.

The wish fulfillment horror flick from Curry Barker brought in $22.4 million domestically from May 22-24 after opening to $16.1 million, which itself was more than double the projections. It’s nearly unprecedented for a movie that’s already in wide release to see a 30% increase in its second weekend.

Take a look at the chart below, and then we’ll break down all of the Memorial Day weekend fun.

Weekend Box Office: May 22-24, 2026

* denotes new release

The Mandalorian And Grogu Officially Becomes Star Wars’ Lowest Debut

Pedro Pascal took his Star Wars character to the big screen, and with some help from “Baby Yoda,” The Mandalorian and Grogu opened to $81.9 million over its first three days, per The Numbers, and is projected to finish the four-day weekend at just under $100 million. This puts it on the lower end of projections and confirms fears of it having the franchise’s lowest opening weekend ever.

Solo: A Star Wars Story from 2018 previously held the record, opening to $84 million in the U.S. and Canada before finishing its run with just $393 million. Its budget, however, was in the range of $300 million, while The Mandalorian and Grogu only cost around $165 million.

I’d say Jon Favreau’s latest film has a better chance of breaking even (or at least losing less money) than Solo, but for a franchise that’s used to seeing ticket sales reach the billion-dollar point, its theatrical run is going to need to have some long legs to not be seen as a failure.

Fans Are Obsessed With Obsession

Someone needs to track down Curry Barker and see if he’s got a One Wish Willow of his own, with the sorcery that Obsession has performed on the box office.

After debuting last week at No. 3, the horror flick climbed a spot by increasing its ticket sales by an astounding 30% weekend over weekend. That’s the third-biggest second-weekend jump ever for a movie that played in more than 2,000 theaters and didn’t debut on or around Christmas. (Sound of Freedom and Mother’s Day were the others, per Scott Mendelson.)

Obsession’s domestic pull now stands at an estimated $52.8 million (with another $6K projected to come Monday). When you add the $21 million it’s gotten from international markets, Obsession has made approximately $74 million globally — a huge win for Focus Features, which reportedly paid $15 million to release the movie that was made for under $1 million.

How Critics And Audiences Ranked This Week’s New Releases

Obsession’s success proved unfortunate for this week’s new horror offering Passenger, especially with that flick’s tepid reviews. Let’s see how everyone ranked these new releases:

How Memorial Day 2026 Compares To Past Holiday Weekends

Last year was certainly one for the record books, with Lilo & Stitch combining with Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning for a four-day total of $326.7 million, per Deadline. This year put up a good number, comparatively. Let’s take a look at the four-day domestic totals of post-COVID Memorial Day four-day weekends (and the movies that led them):

• 2026: $221 million (The Mandalorian and Grogu)
• 2025: $327 million (Lilo & Stitch)
• 2024: $132 million (Furiosa)
• 2023: $204 million (The Little Mermaid)
• 2022: $224 million (Top Gun: Maverick)

Will Obsession Continue To Affect New Horror Releases?

After this week’s surprising numbers from Obsession, I have to wonder if the upcoming horror movie Backrooms might lose some of its audience to that as well. Deadline projects that the creepypasta-inspired film coming from A24 will see around $20 million, while Box Office Theory predicted earlier this month the numbers would be between $25 million and $33 million.

Comedian Nate Bargatze, meanwhile, could offer some counter programming to those who don’t like Star Wars or horror. His comedy The Breadwinner is estimated to make between $19 million and $27 million, while Brendan Fraser’s D-Day thriller Pressure is reportedly looking at something between $3.5 million and $7 million.

Other Notes To Wrap The Weekend

• Michael’s quest to overtake Bohemian Rhapsody as the biggest global music biopic of all time continues, and after four weekends, the Michael Jackson movie holds a global total of $782.4 million. Remember, the number to beat is $911 million.
• Is God Is dropped out of the Top 10 in its second weekend, earning $886,000, which is a 60% drop from its first three days.
• My family will be adding to the final Monday box office numbers. Looking for a good horror movie to see with our teen daughter, I cast my vote for Passenger, while my husband leaned more toward Obsession. I guess this week’s box office made that decision for us, and man I hate to lose.

I’m really excited to see what The Mandalorian and Grogu does in its second weekend, and your guess is as good as mine regarding Obsession’s third weekend in release. Will these two continue to dominate, or could we get a little shakeup? I’ll be back here next Sunday to talk it all out!

Well, well, well, the King of Pop is back on top of the Box Office after four weeks in theaters, putting its newer competition to shame with $26.1 million as it inches closer to becoming the world’s biggest biopic of all time. The Devil Wears Prada 2, meanwhile, continued its confident prance past another global milestone, while Mortal Kombat II watched the life drain from its health bar. One more thing — what on earth happened to Billie Eilish?

There were no big new releases from the 2026 movie schedule this weekend ahead of Memorial Day, but Obsession from Blumhouse and Focus Features certainly made its mark as one of the weekend’s best.

Let’s take a look at the Top 10 chart, then break down some highlights below.

Weekend Box Office: May 15-17, 2026

* denotes new release

Michael Jackson Biopic Continues Its Climb To History

What a “Smooth Criminal” that Michael is, sliding right past the films that battled so fiercely for the top two spots last week to steal back No. 1. Through four weekends, the Jaafar Jackson-led flick has earned $282.8 million domestically, per The Numbers, and when combined with the $421.1 million from international markets, that’s $703.9 million.

Bohemian Rhapsody better get ready, because we may soon have a new champion, my friend. The Freddie Mercury film holds the current top spot for world’s biggest music biopic, thanks to its $911 million worldwide haul, but that doesn’t seem out of reach for Michael.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 And Obsession Have Strong Showings

Michael wasn’t the only film to cross a global milestone this weekend. Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway’s quotable sequel may have dropped to second place for the first time in its theatrical run but, after three weekends, The Devil Wears Prada 2 crossed the half-billion dollar mark, with worldwide box office earnings of $546.2 million.

Last week, I wrote that new releases weren’t likely to place in the Top 3, and Obsession put me in my place with a debut of $16.1 million domestic and $7 million international for a worldwide total of $23.1 million. I will definitely be on the lookout for any cursed objects coming my way from those I may have scorned.

Part of the reason for the strong start is due to Mortal Kombat II taking a dive, but that’s not to undermine Obsession’s accomplishment — the horror flick more than doubled the $7 million projections for opening weekend. Critics had high praise for Obsession and, in fact, let’s take a look at how they and the audience scored this week’s new releases:

Obsession’s impressive opening is a good sign that word-of-mouth advertising will keep it in the Top 10 for a bit, although Billie Eilish’s new concert movie is proof that that’s not always the case.

Billie Eilish’s 3D Concert Flick Falls Hard (And Not Soft) Out Of Top 10 In Second Weekend

Billie Eilish — Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) enjoyed an opening weekend of $7.5 million in the U.S. and Canada to finish at No. 5 at the Box Office last week. However, after 10 days, the party is most certainly over, as the James Cameron-directed concert movie earned just $800,000 over the past three days — a fall of 89% all the way to 14th place.

Now, I understand that concert films are frontloaded, with the most passionate fans buying tickets on opening weekend. However, with James Cameron attached as director and his use of 3D to film the movie, I’d expect Hit Me Hard and Soft to have piqued the interest of more casual fans as well. I’d also expect — as we saw with Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Movie — for die-hard fans to make repeat trips to see the icon on the big screen.

That doesn’t seem to be the case when looking at the theatrical releases of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé’s concert movies in the first two weeks:

So yes, even Taylor Swift saw a big dip in her numbers over the second weekend, but neither hers nor Beyoncé’s with Renaissance was as drastic as Billie Eilish’s. There’s also the fact that 3D filming ain’t cheap, and these numbers don’t make me optimistic that she can make back the estimated $50 million she’d need to break even on a reported budget of $20 million plus marketing and promotion.

Who’s Ready For The Mandalorian And Grogu?

Next weekend is what a lot of Star Wars fans have been waiting for, due to the premiere of The Mandalorian and Grogu. Despite some troubling early projections for Pedro Pascal’s latest project — and divided first reactions from critics — Box Office Theory is now expecting it to bring in anywhere from $81 million to $96 million from next Friday to Sunday. Here are the average projections for all of the May 22 new releases:

• The Mandalorian and Grogu: $90 million
• Passenger: $6 million
• I Love Boosters: $4 million

A Few Other Notes To Wrap The Weekend

• Mortal Kombat II dropped from second place to fourth on its sophomore weekend, attracting 65% fewer movie lovers.
• The Sheep Detectives, meanwhile, lost only 38% of its weekend-over-weekend audience, proving that people love sheep puns.
• As for the varied opinions of CinemaBlend's writers about the book-to-screen adaptation, I thought the novel Three Bags Full was funnier and more charming. Corey Chichizola says it’s a must-watch for anyone dealing with grief, and Mack Rawden thought it was baaaaaad (but thinks you should see it anyway).

Regardless of which big-screen item you decide to see this week, let’s meet back here next week to talk about Star Wars and more.

There’s an image I can’t seem to get out of my head since checking out this weekend’s box office numbers, and that’s of Meryl Streep nut-punching Karl Urban, Mortal Kombat-style, accompanied — of course — by the video game’s “Finish him!” voiceover. The box office fight might not have gotten physical, but it was a close one, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 maintaining the top spot over the video game sequel in a battle that was nearly too close to call. We’ll have to see how those dollar amounts shake out when they become final on Monday.

Possibly more impressive, however, was the latest record broken by Michael, the hit 2026 movie schedule entry starring the King of Pop’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson.

Take a look at the Top 10 list for the past three days, then we can break down all of the numbers.

Weekend Box Office: May 8-10, 2026

* denotes new release

Mortal Kombat II Loses The Battle Of The Sequels, Settling For Second Place In Its Debut

Mortal Kombat II earned $40 million in its first three days domestically, which falls on the lower end of projections. Ultimately, that wasn’t good enough to dethrone The Devil Wears Prada 2, which fell just 44% from its opening three days to finish with an estimated $43 million.

Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep’s sequel has now earned $144.8 million domestically, and international markets have added generously to that, giving the flick $433.2 million globally after 10 days. That’s good enough, per The Numbers, to surpass Hoppers for the fifth-best global release this year.

The video game adaptation, meanwhile, also got some help from outside North America, adding $23 million for a worldwide total of $63 million. Hopefully, its positive reception from audiences (more on that further down) and critics’ reviews lauding one scene-stealing performance can keep it in theaters long enough to earn back its reported $80 million budget. ScreenRant reports that after marketing and promotion costs, the sequel’s break-even point is around $200 million.

Mortal Kombat II Outperforms Its Predecessor

Johnny Cage may have been no match for the Devil, but the sequel's $43 million is close to double what 2021’s Mortal Kombat earned. That movie, also from Simon McQuoid and starring much of the same cast, earned $23.3 million, though we have to remember that people hadn’t fully returned to theaters that year, and Mortal Kombat was given a simultaneous streaming release on HBO Max.

Mortal Kombat II has a lot going for it, and it should easily surpass the $84.4 million its predecessor made worldwide by the end of its run.

New Releases Round Out The Top 5

The Sheep Detectives and Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft — The Tour were able to push The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Project Hail Mary out of the Top 5. The Hugh Jackman book-to-screen adaptation brought in $15.9 million, which was on the higher end of projections from a week ago. Billie Eilish’s 3D flick, meanwhile, was only slightly under experts’ predictions with $7.5 million.

Both got international boosts, too, with the James Cameron-directed concert film garnering $12.6 million outside of the U.S. and Canada for a global total of $20.1 million — in good shape to recoup its reported $20 million budget. The Sheep Detectives, meanwhile, got an extra $12.1 million to finish its first weekend with $28 million worldwide toward its $75 million budget.

Let’s take a look at what critics and moviegoers thought of this week’s movies:

It’s impressive to see The Sheep Detectives and Billie Eilish scoring in the 90th percentile with both critics and audiences, and Mortal Kombat II seems to be a much bigger hit with moviegoers than critics. It will definitely be interesting to see how these fare next week — especially with Karl Urban’s fantasy fighting film having a pretty good chance of trading in silver for gold.

Michael Moonwalks Past Freddy Mercury

All of the new releases aside, Michael continues its box office dominance, falling just one spot — and not by much, either — as it brought in another $36.5 million in its third weekend. That gives the Michael Jackson biopic $240.5 million, meaning it has officially surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody’s $216.7 million to become North America’s highest-grossing music biopic of all time.

Globally, Michael crossed the $500 million milestone and, while it stands as the second-best music biopic of all time on a worldwide scale, it still has a ways to go before taking that crown from Queen. The 2018 Freddy Mercury movie ended its run with $910.8 million, per Billboard, while MJ’s story so far totals $577.4 million.

Hokum Has A Decent Second Weekend, But It’s Bad News For The Other Sophomores

Hokum’s positive reception appears to have garnered it some goodwill with moviegoers, as it fell just 49% from its debut weekend. Sure, it dropped to eighth place with just $3.3 million but, so far it’s made $12.5 million, and with a reported budget of just $5 million, that’s not too shabby. It’s also got a stronger chance of more Top 10 appearances than Deep Water or Animal Farm.

Neither of these second-week releases managed to reach the million-dollar mark. Renny Harlin’s survival film dropped one spot and 63% to earn $780K, which puts it at $3.7 million after two weekends toward its $40 million budget. But even that’s not as dire as what happened to Animal Farm.

The George Orwell adaptation dropped from No. 6 to No. 10, with its $663K a whopping 80% plunge from its premiere weekend. It looks like this animated flick is stalling out at $5 million toward its $35 million budget.

What Does Next Weekend Look Like?

New movies hitting theaters May 15 don’t look like they’ll challenge for the Top 3, which makes that an interesting battle, with just $7 million separating gold from bronze this weekend. There are some highly anticipated offerings, though, including the upcoming horror movie Obsession, which holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score after thrilling and disturbing audiences at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. That’s projected to open to about $7 million, per Box Office Theory.

We’ve also got Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey and Is God Is, a thriller with an impressive cast that includes Kara Young, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Vivica A. Fox and Sterling K. Brown. Which of the above movies that we’ve discussed this week is piquing your interests? Get to the theater, then come back next Sunday to see what happens to that Top 10 list.

Anyone who checked out last week’s box office numbers, when Michael Jackson told Mario to beat it, may be shocked to see just how much the Top 10 list has changed. Five of the movies that hit the 2026 movie schedule this weekend have claimed spots, giving the list below a major overhaul, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 slaying the competition as if it were a runway on fashion week. I’ll get into some interesting reasons why this debut was so significant, especially for Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt.

Despite relinquishing their previous box office spots, Michael crossed another milestone this week after moonwalking over records in its first three days, and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie surpassed $400 million domestically after five weekends.

Check out the chart below, and then we’ll break down this week’s highlights.

Weekend Box Office: May 1-3, 2026

* denotes new release

The Devil Wears Prada 2 Makes That Box Office Crown Look Good

The Devil Wears Prada 2 didn’t need Crisco or fishing line to slide right into that No. 1 spot at the box office this weekend, earning $77 million domestically, per The Numbers, as it strutted right past the $66 million projections from last week. That gives Miranda Priestly and company the fourth-best start of 2026:

1. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: $131 million (April 1)
2. Michael: $97.5 million (May 24)
3. Project Hail Mary: $80 million (March 20)
4. The Devil Wears Prada 2: $77 million (May 1)

Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway’s reunion picked up another $156.6 million from markets outside of the U.S. and Canada to earn a worldwide total of $233.6 million. Not only did that beat out the rest of the week’s movies, but it stomped all over its 2006 predecessor.

The Devil Wears Prada: Then And Now

This weekend’s $77 million premiere for the sequel eclipsed The Devil Wears Prada’s 2006 domestic box office pull of $27.5 million. In fact, the original movie that has had us quoting Miranda Priestly, Nigel Kipling and the rest of the Runway gang for 20 years ended its global run with $326 million. With The Devil Wears Prada 2’s worldwide opening of $233.6 million, it’s already 72% of the way to earning more than the original.

The current movie does, however, have a bigger budget to make back. The first movie was reportedly made for around $40 million, while The Devil Wears Prada 2 carried a much larger price tag of $100 million (most of which, according to The New York Times, went to cast salaries). Compare them all you like, but there’s no arguing they’re both box office wins.

No Marvel? No Problem.

There’s another interesting metric when it comes to this weekend’s box office winner. This is the first time a film marketed toward women has won the first weekend of May, Deadline points out, with the summer opener typically dominated by Marvel. The MCU’s Avengers: Doomsday was originally scheduled for this weekend before being pushed to December. Here are some past examples, per Box Office Mojo:

• Thunderbolts*: $76 million (May 2, 2025)
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: $118.4 million (May 5, 2023)
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: $185 million (May 6, 2022)
• Captain America: Civil War: $179.1 million (May 6, 2016)
• Avengers: Age of Ultron: $191.2 million (May 1, 2015)
• Iron Man 3: $174.1 million (May 3, 2013)
• The Avengers: $207.4 million (May 4, 2012)
• Iron Man 2: 128.1 million (May 7, 2010)
• Iron Man: $98.6 million (May 2, 2008)

The Devil Wears Prada 2 had no problem filling those big shoes, as its global $233.6 million also reportedly served as the biggest opening weekend ever for Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt, respectively beating Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again’s $90 million from 2018, and Oppenheimer’s $176 million opening in 2023.

Michael And Mario Are Still Going Strong

Michael and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie may have dropped a spot to the almighty Devil sequel, but there’s no reason for concern. The Michael Jackson biopic earned another $54 million domestically — falling just 44% from last weekend — for a domestic total so far of $183.8. Add an additional $240.1 million internationally to cross the $400 million mark with a worldwide total of $423.9 million.

Deadline reports that by the end of Monday, May 4, Michael will become Lionsgate’s biggest domestic title post-pandemic, knocking off John Wick: Chapter 4 ($187.1 million).

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie surpassed $400 million domestically this weekend, now standing at $402.7 million and nearing the $900 million mark globally with $894.2 million.

What Critics And Audiences Thought Of This Weekend’s Other Premieres

There were several other movies that premiered this weekend, and while they might not have been as big as The Devil Wears Prada 2, they certainly mixed things up in the Top 10. Hokum may have gotten a push from positive reviews for its 5th-place finish, so let’s take a look at how all of this week’s premieres scored on Rotten Tomatoes and CinemaScore:

Other than Animal Farm — Andy Serkis’ animated book-to-screen adaptation of the George Orwell classic starring Seth Rogen — audiences seemed pleased with the weekend’s offerings. We’ll have to see which ones can hang on with summer blockbusters on the way.

What Competition Will Next Week’s Releases Offer?

So what titles are coming next weekend that might challenge The Devil Wears Prada 2 or possibly break the stronghold that Michael, Mario and Project Hail Mary have on the Top 5? Mortal Kombat II, starring The Boys’ Karl Urban is on deck, as well as another book adaptation in The Sheep Detectives, which boasts a stacked cast and bonkers trailer.

The upcoming video game adaptation is expected to make between $40 million and $50 million, per Box Office Theory, which would have it competing for the top spot. The Sheep Detectives, meanwhile, is expecting $10 million to $16 million.

Of course, we’re also already looking ahead a couple of weeks to The Mandalorian and Grogu. The Star Wars spinoff is looking at anywhere between $71 million and $100 million when it arrives in theaters on May 22, and at face value that seems like a win. However, in a franchise that’s used to films that break into the billions by the end of their runs, will The Mandalorian and Grogu be seen as a failure?

Be sure to check in every Sunday so we can break down the box office and what the numbers all mean.

As we approach the first weekend of 2026 movie releases in May, we’re officially in summer movie season now! Loking ahead to what big movies are on the horizon, there’s a lot of talk about how The Mandalorian And Grogu – the first Star Wars theatrical release in over six years – is going to do at the box office. The current narrative is suggesting it could be one of the season’s disappointments, but hold on… because there’s something kind of crazy happening when you look at it next to the recent performance of the Michael Jackson biopic.

How The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Box Office Tracking Is Looking Right Now

We’re about three weeks away from The Mandalorian And Grogu hitting theaters, and Box Office Pro is projecting that the Star Wars flick may do $100 million domestically in its first weekend while Box Office Theory is being more conservative with a $71 million prediction. Should either of those numbers happen, the movie would be one of the biggest opening weekends of 2026 very close to the other heavy hitters of the year, Michael, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Project Hail Mary. Yet somehow, it’s being talked about like Lucasfilm should be hanging their head low.

This has to do with the fact that The Mandalorian And Grogu is tracking closest to Solo: A Star Wars Story’s numbers – which has the record for the lowest grossing live-action Star Wars movie that’s gone to theaters. The movie opened in May 2018 and made $84 million domestically in its opening weekend before finishing at an underwhelming $393 million worldwide haul. It was a glaring moment for Star Wars in recent history because all other titles since The Force Awakens made at least $1 billion.

While I get where everyone’s heads are at, I think it’s worth noting that this is also the first Star Wars movie since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic and since Star Wars went to streaming. For the past six and a half years Star Wars fans have been encouraged to turn on their TVs with a Disney+ subscription to see the universe’s latest installments, so maybe a soft, yet healthy launch back to big screens is actually worth cheering. What will make or break this one is if fans embrace it or not, and how it does the weeks after its debut.

Let’s Talk About How It Stacks Up To Michael’s Record-Breaking Numbers

That brings me to Michael. A party was made out of the biopic last weekend when it opened at $97 million domestically because it broke records for a music biopic. But, if we negate the genre or franchise comparisons of it all – Michael was made on a large budget that’s allegedly around $200 million. The Mandalorian And Grogu has reportedly a very similar production budget (likely cheaper than Michael) of $166 million, and it’s a disappointment if it does similar to Michael opening weekend?

Obviously, it’d be better if every Star Wars movie crossed $1 billion like it was speeding at lightspeed into a galaxy far, far away, but Mandalorian And Grogu’s tracking right now is literally on par with one of the big wins of 2026.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie had a strong few weeks in the top spot of the box office, but our favorite video game plumbers proved no match for Michael Jackson. The King of Pop told Mario and Luigi to “Beat It,” as the new musical biopic Michael moonwalked its way to No. 1 this weekend — shattering box office records along the way. With $97 million in domestic ticket sales, Michael holds the best first weekend ever for a biopic.

The Jason Segel and Samara Weaving-starring comedy thriller Over Your Dead Body also had its debut, and with some big titles coming to May's theatrical releases, let’s break down what all of these numbers mean.

Check out the domestic Top 10 below:

Weekend Box Office: April 24-26, 2026

* denotes new release

Michael’s domestic earnings of $97 million (per The Numbers) beat the previous record-holder, 2015’s Straight Outta Compton, which earned $60 million in its first three days, and 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, which opened to $51 million. It was the biggest opening on the 2026 movie calendar so far behind The Super Mario Galaxy Movie ($131 million) and the best of the year for live-action flicks behind Project Hail Mary’s $80.5 million, Variety reports.

The records don’t stop outside the confines of North America, either, as Michael added $120 million in international markets for a global total of $217 million. That’s without Korea, which has pushed the opening to May 13, and Japan, which is releasing the biopic in June.

That $217 million puts Michael at No. 6 overall for 2026 worldwide releases, according to Box Office Mojo, behind Wuthering Heights’ $241.7 million — after one weekend. It was also the biggest Imax debut for a musical biopic, with $24.4 million of that worldwide total coming from the supersized screen.

This is obviously great news for Lionsgate, who split the $200 million production budget with Universal (the international distributor) and Michael Jackson’s estate, who footed the bill for reshoots of the movie’s ending due to legal restrictions. Michael is the production company’s biggest release since 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, which debuted to $102 million.

Now the Lionsgate brass are likely wondering if Michael might become its most successful title of all time. A different Hunger Games chapter currently holds that honor — Catching Fire from 2013, which earned $865 million globally by the end of its theatrical run.

A month ago, Michael was on track for a $150 million global debut, per Deadline, and despite critics taking issues with the movie’s lack of a deep dive into the artist himself, hype for the movie continued to rise, and fans apparently loved the celebration of the King of Pop’s music — especially as portrayed by Michael’s nephew Jafaar Jackson.

Rotten Tomatoes shows the disagreement between critics and fans, with Michael holding a Tomatometer score of just 38%, compared to the fans’ Popcornmeter score of 97%. CinemaScore has moviegoers grading the movie an A-. How long can the king maintain the throne?

Super Mario Bros. And Project Hail Mary Get Big Wins Despite Slip

This weekend may have meant the end of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie’s run at the top, but with $21.2 million domestic and another $36.6 internationally, it surpassed the $800 million mark globally, now holding $831 million after four weekends. Project Hail Mary tells a similar story as it drops to No. 3. After six weekends it has hit its own global milestone of $613.3 million. Amaze! Amaze! Amaze!

Things were less bright for the movies that fell below it on the chart. Over Your Dead Body debuted to a lower-than-expected No. 8 with $1.4 million. The reviews for Jason Segel and Samara Weaving’s movie of marital mayhem were generally positive — and audiences gave it 80% on RT, compared to the critics’ 69%. We’ll have to see what word-of-mouth advertising can do for Jorma Taccone’s funny, gory action-thriller.

Can The Devil Wear Prada 2 Help Mother Mary?

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy had a pretty disappointing first three days, but in its second weekend, the reimagined monster movie managed to bring in another $5.6 million, falling just 58% from its release. It’s also getting a nice boost internationally, boasting a worldwide total of $65.5 million, and with a reported budget of $22 million, that sounds like a win to me.

This was technically also Mother Mary’s second week in theaters, though this was its first in wide release. Anne Hathaway’s psychosexual pop thriller earned $1.3 million in the U.S. and Canada, which was good for 9th place, giving it $1.5 million after two weekends. With a reported budget of $20 million (before marketing), it’s not going to be easy to break even on this A24 offering. Could The Devil Wears Prada 2 possibly give it a boost?

The long-awaited sequel starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep hits theaters next weekend, reportedly on track for a $66 million debut. Is it possible moviegoers will opt for the Hathaway double feature — “Mother Prada,” if you will? “The Devil Wears Mary”? I’ll work on it.

I’m excited to see what happens next week when Michael Jackson wants to be startin' somethin' with Miranda Priestly, so meet me back here for another box office breakdown.

Actress Zoe Saldaña recently won an Oscar, and also recently celebrated another huge accomplishment. Namely that Saldaña is the highest grossing actor of all time, thanks to her roles in the Avatar franchise and the MCU (both of which are streaming with a Disney+ subscription). She recently spoke about the possibility of someone else taking on that mantle, and one thing she's especially passionate for.

Fans who spent wars watching the Marvel movies in order have seen as both Saldaña and Scarlett Johansson become the highest grossing actress ever. The Emilia Pérez star recently spoke with Time about having that title, and seems to have a good attitude about it. As she shared:

Talk about a healthy perspective. It seems like Saldaña is happy to pass on the mantle of the highest grossing actor of all time. She'd be happy to see Scarlett Johansson pass her again, although she'd be even happier to see a woman of color get that honor. After all, the 47 year-old actress knows how much harder it can be to succeed for actresses of color in particular to get these types of high-profile jobs.

Many of Zoe Saldaña's best movies include major franchises, from Pirates of the Caribbean, to Star Trek, to Guardians of the Galaxy, to the Avatar movies. And when Avengers: Endgame and Avatar duked it out to be the highest grossing movie of all time, she happened to be in both of those titles. Later in the same interview, the award-winning actress spoke more about the honor of being the most successful film actress ever, offering:

Saldaña's success story is pretty incredible, including her recent Academy Award win for Emilia Pérez. It sounds like she has a great perspective about the heights of her career, especially with her family's immigrant background. She's put in the work, and is now the most bankable movie star in the industry.

Zoe Saldaña has a number of upcoming projects coming, although it remains to be seen if more Avatar movies are coming down the line. As for Scarlett Johansson, she's got a number of big projects coming down the line including The Batman Part II.

It was no surprise that The Super Mario Galaxy Movie maintained its stronghold on the box office this weekend, bringing in another $35 million in its third weekend in theaters. However, that doesn’t mean the milestones have stopped coming, as the video game adaptation sequel has officially become the biggest movie of the year worldwide. Mario, Luigi and the gang triple-jumped their way to global earnings totaling $747.5 million, surpassing the Chinese sports flick Pegasus 3’s $641.1 million.

Meanwhile, Project Hail Mary remains stellar after a month in theaters, and Lee Cronin’s The Mummy got a nice international boost but settled for a third-place opening in the U.S. and Canada. Check out the Top 10 chart below.

Weekend Box Office: April 17-19, 2026

LW = last week’s chart position; THTRS = number of screens; * denotes new release

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Continues To Trail Its Predecessor

No new release on the 2026 movie schedule was strong enough to dethrone our favorite Italian plumbers this week, as The Super Mario Galaxy Movie continued its domination of the box office. It now has a commanding lead over the rest of the year’s global releases, according to Box Office Mojo, with $392.2 million of its $747.5 million total coming from international markets.

We’ve been tracking the week-by-week comparisons with its 2023 predecessor, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and, unsurprisingly, the sequel failed for the third week in a row to rake in as much cash as its predecessor domestically. The breakdown is as follows (per The Numbers):

The 2026 sequel may not be seeing numbers as high as the 2023 blockbuster, but its success is nothing to sneeze at, particularly since The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Project Hail Mary have combined forces to put the movie industry on track to surpass $9 billion in domestic ticket sales for the first time in nearly a decade.

That dynamic duo gives the box office a strong start with some big projects coming down the line, including upcoming Marvel movies like Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Avengers: Doomsday; a new Star Wars flick, The Mandalorian & Grogu; Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey; Dune: Part Three; and more.

Lee Cronin’s The Mummy Settles For Third

The latest of the Universal Monster remakes performed as expected with its $13.5 million opener. While this movie isn’t seeing quite as much bank as Cronin’s previous directorial effort (Evil Dead Rise opened with $23.5 million, coincidentally premiering against The Super Mario Bros. Movie in its third weekend), it saw a nice international boost.

Totaling $34 million worldwide, The Mummy is already on its way to making back its reported $22 million budget (which is calculated without marketing and distribution costs). I’m interested to see how its second weekend goes and what kind of longevity the horror flick has, particularly with its mixed reviews.

The biggest complaint about Lee Cronin’s The Mummy is that it’s not really a mummy movie, which harkens back to last year’s Wolf Man interpretation, which — as we said in CinemaBlend’s review of Wolf Man — wasn’t really a werewolf movie. That flick finished its theatrical run with $34.1 million globally, with a similarly small budget, so The Mummy has already beat that.

Week 2 News: Faces Of Death Shows No Signs Of Life, And You, Me & Tuscany Is Barely Hanging On

After a disappointing debut in fourth place, You, Me & Tuscany fell another spot to No. 5 this week, dropping 51% weekend over weekend. It’s disheartening news for the rom-com — and for the genre in general — particularly since it has a 93% score from Rotten Tomatoes’ audience. How is word-of-mouth advertising not working here? Are moviegoers too good for Regé-Jean Page’s bare chest?

At least Halle Bailey’s movie didn’t drop off as much as Faces of Death. The meta remake premiered at No. 7 last week but dropped out of the Top 10 altogether after losing 82% of its weekend-to-weekend audience. It brought in just $300,000 domestically from Friday to Sunday for just under $2.5 million over 10 days. I don’t see it making back its reported $7.4 million budget.

The Drama continues a relatively strong run, with another $4.8 million contributing to its worldwide earnings of $81.8 million after three weekends.

I’m looking forward to seeing how next week shakes out, especially with the upcoming wide release of Mother Mary, which earned $168,000 from just five theaters this weekend. Reviews for Anne Hathaway’s psychosexual pop thriller have me excited for it and, hey, speaking of (the king of) pop and “Thriller,” next week will also see the release of Michael, the upcoming musical biopic about Michael Jackson. Stay tuned to see where the new releases fall.

Every now and again a rom-com drops that has a rewatchability component that is bar none. You know what I’m talking about, the type of rom-com that you’d throw on whether you were browsing cable channels or going through a list of brand new streaming releases. The type of rom-com you’ve watched so many times you know lines like “You have a baby. In a bar.” The type of releases that make best all-time rom-com lists. I wanted You, Me & Tuscany to be that rom-com. Indeed, it was delightful when I saw it during release week, but I'm getting very concerned about the future of this rom-com, and rom-coms in general.

If you’ve seen You, Me & Tuscany, by now you probably know it features a charming Italian family, a very wet Regè-Jean Page and a lot of wine-drinking. It’s also landing reasonably good reviews from the critics (CinemaBlend gave it a 3/5), and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes are especially bullish, handing it an impressive 93% rating. That hasn’t translated to box office, however.

During opening weekend, You, Me & Tuscany did not land at No. 1. It did not land at two or three on the list either, as Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Project Hail Mary, and The Drama all pulled in tidier sums than the Halle Bailey-fronted film. This is bad news for rom-coms as a whole, and it's really bumming me out.

If Solid Movies Can't Earn Money, What's Next For Rom-Coms?

I know rom-coms can work at the box office, because I saw Anyone But You open to a packed audience back in 2023. It’s a genre that often falls into the “I’ll catch this at home” trap, but figuring out ways to get people back into theaters for genres that aren’t tentpole films or horror is so paramount to keeping the theater as a viable option longterm. In my opinion, it's also just better to watch a good rom-com with an audience, so when a decent one isn’t moving the needle, it really hurts.

It makes sense when mediocre rom-coms come out and don't do well. We have to vote with our wallets, and spending money for movies that aren't worth it is hard when popcorn and more up the ante a ton. However, in this case, if a movie with two notable leads that seems to have been enjoyed by nearly everyone who saw it can't make it, what can?

Furthermore, producer Will Packer spoke out about You, Me & Tuscany and its Black-led cast ahead of release, and made a second good point: you don’t see people like Bailey and Page in those “type of environments” (in this case, a winery in Italy). It’s a fun story and I want more diversity in rom-coms, too.

We are currently in a landscape where even when a rom-com does well, it doesn’t always get its due. It’s still absolutely crazy to me that Crazy Rich Asians absolutely dominated in theaters in 2018 and we never got a sequel, despite the fact there’s literally a sequel book just ripe for adaptation. (Though, maybe one day that will change…) Most rom-coms are still being relegated to streaming, too. While I don’t mind watching at home with my mom-sized glass of wine, I’d still rather have some Twizzlers, a gal pal, and a giant screen to look forward to. But if we want better-than-mediocre rom-coms to be made, we as fans have to start showing up for them.

The movie release calendar in any given year often telegraphs box office expectations, and this weekend offered a perfect example. Even thought Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie debuted last week, there was no thinking that the film was going to be a one-and-done performer, even with the primarily negative response from critics, and studios made plans accordingly. Kat Coiro's You, Me & Tuscany and Daniel Goldhaber's Faces Of Death arrived as counterprogramming (much like Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama did 10 days ago), but there was never any doubt that the new Nintendo feature would repeat as #1 in the domestic Top 10.

In the past three days, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie successfully crossed two more milestones – both at home and abroad – but just like last Sunday, there are lingering questions if it will be able to match the blockbuster performance of its 2023 predecessor. Scope out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

For The Second Weekend In A Row, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Underperforms Compared To The Super Mario Bros. Movie

When the box office reporting came in for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie last weekend, it was mostly good news with a sprinkle of bad. As expected, the new video game adaptation set a new high water mark for box office debuts, earning $131.7 million by the time final tabulations came in... but it was notable that the film underperformed compared to the opening numbers for Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Bros. Movie (which made $146.4 million).

Seven days later, we're seeing something similar play out with the weekend-to-weekend box office comparison: The Super Mario Bros. Movie remain a powerhouse in the wake of its release, with ticket sales falling just 37 percent in its sophomore Friday-to-Sunday, earning $92.3 million and bringing its domestic total up to $353.2 million. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is lagging behind all three of those results, as ticket sales fell 48 percent, it earned an estimated $69 million (per The Numbers), and it has seen its domestic total to date rise to $308.1 million.

The results are undeniably huge and the movie will be recorded as a massive box office win for Nintendo, Illumination, Universal Pictures and the theatrical industry, but simultaneously, this is not exactly the trajectory that any franchise wants from a second installment. The response to the film has been weaker across the board, from the aforementioned critical response, to the audience ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, to the CinemaScore survey grades, to the box office.

On the plus side, crossing $300 million domestically is one of two milestones reached by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in the last three days. The ticket sales from the United States and Canada are matching those from foreign territories, where the feature has made $320.6 million, and its worldwide box office total is now over $600 million ($628.8 million, to be precise). This puts the movie on the verge of becoming the biggest title in the world so far in 2026, as the only work sitting in front of it is Han Han's Pegasus 3, which has made $641 million, mostly in China.

The legacy for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie will be significant, and it will clearly go down as one of the biggest hits of 2026 no matter what else happens. But when I look at the results so far, I also can't help but wonder if the blockbuster may eventually fall short of hitting $1 billion.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie easily made it into the 10-figure club three years ago, finishing its global big screen run making $1.4 billion, but I'm not convinced just yet that the sequel is going to get its own membership. One significant part of my thinking here is the slower performance by the new film domestically, but another is the ratio between earnings at home and abroad: the feature is going to need ticket sales from the latter to supplement the slower start from the former, but that's not happening thus far. The $308.1 million made by The Super Mario Galaxy Movie in the United States and Canada represents 49 percent of the money made so far, while its predecessor saw that market offer just a 42.3 percent share.

When it was released in April 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie won the box office every weekend, and it's likely that the sequel will do the same considering the lack of significant competition on the way. How the numbers will compare side-by-side, however, will be a narrative to follow the entire time, and I plan to do that.

The Drama Quietly Just Had A Great Second Weekend And Looks To Snipe The Box Office Bronze Medal From You, Me & Tuscany

Released opposite The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, The Drama didn't exactly elicit high expectations when it arrived last week, but when looking at the film in this week's Top 10, I have to remark on it as a significant surprise. The new A24 movie featuring the star power of Zendaya and Robert Pattinson managed to have a stellar second weekend, as its ticket sales fell just 39 percent and early reporting suggests that it is going to hold position in third place despite the arrival of You, Me & Tuscany.

The secretive indie feature was made with a modest $28 million budget, according to Variety, and it has now eclipsed that pre-marketing/publicity number by making $30.8 million thus far domestically on the big screen. That means that it has now entered the box office Top 10 for A24 in the market, surpassing the $28.2 million made by Halina Reijn's Babygirl, and it will be fascinating to see where it finishes on that chart.

How will the domestic market change with the arrival of Lee Cronin's The Mummy, David Lowery's Mother Mary, Ben Wheatley's Normal and Cal McMau's Wasteman this coming Friday? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for my next column to see how it all shakes out.

It’s no secret that the past few years have been brutal for the movie theater business. Audiences haven’t been turning out the way they once did for big-budget releases, new superhero movies, and franchises. Not that long ago, it genuinely felt like the communal theatrical experience might be on its last legs. But four months into the 2026 movie calendar, and the mood around theaters feels different. For the first time in a while, there’s something that looks like real momentum, and a big part of that comes down to the massive box office success of Project Hail Mary and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

According to Page Six, the industry is now on track to surpass $9 billion at the domestic box office in 2026. That would mark the first time in nearly a decade that theaters have hit that milestone. It’s a meaningful shift after years of pandemic fallout, labor strikes, and the long tail of streaming-first strategies that changed how audiences watch movies.

Two years ago at CinemaCon, the unofficial message was simple: survive until 2025. Studios were still dealing with the effects of the 2023 labor strikes, and theaters were trying to rebuild audiences who had grown comfortable watching new releases at home during the COVID pandemic.

Unfortunately, last year didn’t quite deliver the turnaround many expected. Even major releases struggled to restore confidence fully, and there was a growing sense that the theatrical business might have permanently shrunk. That’s why 2026 feels different.

Despite the less-than-stellar critical response, Nintendo fans and families have been turning out for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. The new video game adaptation opened to a massive $190 million over five days, proving once again that family-friendly, broadly appealing franchises can still drive huge crowds to theaters.

Meanwhile, the book-to-screen adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary has exceeded expectations, giving the box office consistent, cross-genre appeal. Brandon Katz, Director of Insights & Content Strategy at Greenlight Analytics, summed it up pretty poetically, speaking to the outlet, he said:

Audiences definitely showed up in the year’s first quarter. And it seems Katz's sentiments are true. When studios give people a reason to leave the house, they will. Beyond those early hits, the rest of the calendar is stacked in a way that leaves me hopeful.

There are multiple new Marvel releases on the way, with the first Avengers movie in seven years and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The Mandalorian & Grogu are bringing a major Star Wars story back to theaters. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is shaping up as a large-scale, prestige-driven experience. And Dune: Part Three will close out Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi trilogy.

Seeing the success of Project Hail Mary and The Super Mario Galaxy Movie makes me optimistic that these releases will find success.

As exciting as the milestone of crossing $9 billion is, it’s still below the pre-pandemic norm, when the box office regularly cleared $11 billion annually. Audience habits have changed, and there’s no guarantee they’ll fully return to what they once were. But at the same time, industry analysts have pointed out that rising costs in other areas, like sports broadcasting rights, could eventually shift how studios allocate their budgets. That could mean fewer scripted projects in some areas, which may, ironically, push more focus back toward theatrical releases.

After years of uncertainty, the box office isn’t just holding on, but showing signs of life again. And if 2026 continues on its current trajectory, theater owners may finally be looking at a genuine comeback story.

Now that we are getting into the middle months of 2026, the record books are starting to shift in more meaningful ways. Anticipated movies are arriving in theaters with higher and higher expectations, and that means that the superlative "biggest opening weekend of the year" is only being held for a couple weeks at a time. Case in point: Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary had an awesome debut in late March and easily topped the three-day premiere figure for Kevin Williamson's Scream 7, but today the news has arrived that the sci-fi feature's crown has been stolen by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

This news is certainly not surprising, as the entire industry was aware that the new Nintendo blockbuster was going to become the big new #1 title in the immediate wake of its release... but there is a notable wrinkle in that it failed to outperform its predecessor, 2023's The Super Mario Bros. Movie. You can check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie Is Unable To Outdo The Super Mario Bros. Movie In Its Debut

Without trying to be too cynical about it, sequels are produced in Hollywood to capitalize on popularity. When a movie does well at the box office, studios green light follow-ups in hopes of giving audiences more of what they evidently want – and the hope in doing so is that the second film makes even more than the first (with the assumption that the audience has only grown in the wake of the original's release thanks to word of mouth and the home video market). That doesn't always work out, however, and that's what we're seeing with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie.

To be clear: the latest collaboration between Nintendo and Illumination Entertainment is performing very well. According to The Numbers, the new video game adaptation made $130.9 million between Friday and Sunday, and because the film had a mid-week release, that means that its total domestic gross is already up to $190.1 million. In only about a third of the time, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has made over 87 percent of what Project Hail Mary has made in the United States and Canada thus far.

As noted, the film is the latest feature to earn the title "biggest debut of 2026," and it's not even particularly close: the Ryan Gosling led film previous earned the record with its $80.5 million start. In the current state of the industry, there is really nothing to complain about when it comes to making nine-figures in three days.

And yet, the numbers are a bit down compared to what The Super Mario Bros. Movie did a few years ago. On its way to earning $1.4 billion at the global box office during its full theatrical run, the animated feature made $146.4 million in its first Friday-to-Sunday, and because it too had a Wednesday release date, that meant it had $204.6 million banked domestically before its first Monday. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie couldn't match that performance.

What's interesting is that there are metrics beyond the numbers at the box office that match in saying movie-goers aren't digging the sequel as much as they liked the first. On Rotten Tomatoes, the Audience score (paired with a 41 percent positive reception from critics) sits at 89 percent, which is down from the 95 percent approval of the 2023 title. The results from CinemaScore surveys tell the exact same story: the new blockbuster got an "A-" grade compared to the "A" that its predecessor received.

It will be interesting to see if this is a trend that stretches into the coming weeks. There will be a lot of eyes on the second weekend performance of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie: in 2023, The Super Mario Bros. Movie saw its ticket sales dip just 37 percent weekend-to-weekend domestically; will the sequel be able to match it?

While questions linger about the details, I again emphasize that the film is doing extremely well on the big screen, and that narrative persists as one expands one's view to the global box office performance. The title has made $182.4 million in foreign markets to go with what it has made at home, bringing its worldwide total to an impressive $372.5 million in just a few days. The film wasn't inexpensive to make (Variety pins the budget at $110 million not counting publicity and marketing), but it's easily going to earn a big profit for all the studios involved.

The Drama Has To Settle For Third Place While Project Hail Mary Holds Strong

There was a zero percent chance that any feature other than The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was going to top the box office this weekend, but Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama arrived in wide release from A24 as counterprogramming for more adult crowds, and the results can be described as mixed. Unlike the video game blockbuster, the new movie starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson has produced for just $28 million, and early results say it has earned back a little more than half that figure its debut.

The movie has been a source of some controversy because of the secrecy surrounding the plot, but that evidently got a good number of people curious. The film did have to settle for the bronze medal, however, as Project Hail Mary continues to hold strong in its third week. The critically acclaimed adaptation of Andy Weir's hit novel of the same name added another $30 million to its domestic earnings in the last three days, meaning that it has crossed $200 million ($217.2 million to be exact. Worldwide, the film has now gone over $400 million, as it has made $420.8 million to date.

How will the current Top 10 be shaken up next week with the arrival of Daniel Goldhaber's horror film Faces of Death and Kat Coiro's romantic comedy You, Me & Tuscany? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next week for a full analysis of everything that goes down, and check out our 2026 Movie Release Calendar to discover all of the big titles heading to theaters and streaming in the coming months.

Looking at the box office results from last week, it was immediately clear that Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary wouldn't be a "one and done" performer. Based on a popular, award-winning book by author Andy Weir and featuring some big name talent (Ryan Gosling obviously being the biggest name), the film successfully wowed critics, earned outstanding buzz, and set new records for 2026 during its debut weekend, and when that kind of magic is conjured, it doesn't lead to being labeled "front-loaded."

Lo and behold, the second weekend box office results are now in, and Project Hail Mary just had another excellent weekend… albeit partially because the new competition, principally Kirill Sokolov's horror action comedy They Will Kill You, didn't put up much of a fight. Check out the full Top 10 in the chart below and join me after for analysis.

Project Hail Mary Posts The Best Second Weekend Performance For A Number One Movie In 2026

A couple weeks ago, Daniel Chong's Hoppers pulled off an impressive box office feat: after earning $45.3 million in its opening weekend (the best debut for an original Pixar title since 2017), the film successfully kept putting butts in seats seven days later, seeing its ticket sales drop just 37 percent and adding $28.7 million to its domestic total.

That was awesome to see, but now, Project Hail Mary has bested that success.

The sci-fi blockbuster set a new high bar for 2026 domestically when it made $80.5 million in its first three days, and seven days later, that number has dropped just 32 percent (per The Numbers). The movie had an impressive $54.5 million in the last three days, further establishing the film as one of the first true hits of the year. To date, Project Hail Mary has made $164.3 million, making it easily the highest earner in the United States and Canada from the first three months of the year – it having now made more than other big titles like the aforementioned Hoppers ($138.6 million), Kevin Williamson's Scream 7 ($118.7 million) and Tyree Dillihay's GOAT ($100.9 million).

Project Hail Mary is also on pace to do far better at the box office than Ridley Scott's The Martian – the previous Andy Weir adaptation. The 2015 movie actually had a matching weekend-to-weekend drop in the aftermath of its debut, but the big difference is that the 2026 movie made more in its second Friday-to-Sunday than its predecessor made in its first. That's an exciting development when one considers that The Martian was a huge hit that finished its run domestically earning $228.4 million with a $108 million budget.

The second Weir adaptation was far more expensive to make (Puck reports a $200 million cost), but one also can't forget international distribution. Per THR, that awesome $164.3 million total domestically is matched by $136.2 million earned overseas, which brings Project Hail Mary past a killer milestone: it has now made over $300 million worldwide. The Martian finished its theatrical run around the globe earning $653.6 million, and it will be fascinating to see if the Ryan Gosling led-title can ultimately match and/or beat that figure.

Of course, there is one significant problem standing in the movie's way. While the new sci-fi title didn't have any true competition this weekend (more on that in a moment), that most definitely won't be the case as the calendar flips over to April and the world experiences the theatrical release of Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – which is expected to be looked back upon as one of the biggest box office hits of 2026 after The Super Mario Bros. Movie made $1.4 billion globally back in 2023. The two titles are notably targeting two different core demographics; is there enough market for both to find success as we get into the new month? That will be one of the most fascinating box office storylines to track in the coming weeks.

They Will Kill You Has A Super Disappointing Opening Weekend, Debuts In Third Place With A Seven-Figure Take

Let's start with the silver lining, shall we? They Will Kill You was not an expensive movie to make. According to Deadline, the bloody romp starring Zazie Beetz, Myha'la, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette only cost $20 million to make (not counting publicity and marketing costs). In retrospect, it's a good thing that the price was kept to a minimal, as it failed to inspire much excitement at the box office in its debut.

The film got what could be called a mixed-positive response from critics, with many noting impressive work from Beetz as the lead, but that talk did not turn into word-of-mouth that got people interested in purchasing a ticket. Making only $5 million in its first three days on the big screen, They Will Kill You had to settle for third place behind both Project Hail Mary and Hoppers (which is now in its fourth week of release and still going strong with a $12.2 million take).

It's the second rough performance for "fun horror" we've seen in the last week. Seven days ago, I noted that Searchlight Pictures made a significant mistake trying to have Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillet's Ready or Not 2: Here I Come face off against Project Hail Mary, as the former got its clock cleaned and made just $9.1 million in its first three days. Perhaps it would have been brighter for studios to save these titles for spooky season?

The future certainly doesn't look bright for They Will Kill You, but April should get off to a fascinating start with the arrival of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and it will be exciting to see how Project Hail Mary ends up competing. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how the Top 10 shakes out, and check out our 2026 Movie Release Calendar to discover all of the titles that are on the way to cinemas and streaming in the coming weeks and months.

Here are words I don't regularly get to say: original blockbusters are presently on a roll. In the last two weeks, Daniel Chong's Hoppers has been the number one movie at the domestic box office (the best performance for an original feature produced by Pixar since Lee Unkrich's Coco in 2017), and now we get to appreciate the big numbers put up by Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary in its opening weekend, which has stolen the animated film's box office crown.

To be fair, we're talking about a work featuring the star power of Ryan Gosling, made by the filmmakers behind the acclaimed Spider-Verse movies, and adapted from a book by the author of The Martian, so this news isn't terribly surprising. At the same time, it's certainly a win worth celebrating... while also being sad that the other big new wide release of the weekend – Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come – was unfairly overshadowed. You can check out the full Top 10 in the chart below and join me after for analysis.

Project Hail Mary Has The Best Launch Of 2026

Up until today, the record for biggest opening weekend of 2026 belonged to Kevin Williamson's Scream 7, which overcame franchise-worst reviews and made $63.6 million domestically in its opening weekend. It was a result that generated some mixed feelings... but now, Project Hail Mary has stolen the record, and it's smiles abound.

The new sci-fi movie has been earning positive buzz for a while now, with critics glowing about Gosling's performance and the interstellar adventure that sees the star paired with a captivating alien named Rocky, and that hype has now turned into big ticket sales. In its first three days, per The Numbers, Project Hail Mary has made $80.6 million, which absolutely annihilated all competition playing in theaters this weekend.

The easiest comparison to make between the new film and a previous title is Ridley Scott's The Martian (as both are adaptations of novels by Andy Weir), and the 2026 movie is thus far on a stronger trajectory. When the Matt Damon-led blockbuster arrived in theaters in October 2015, it made $54.3 million in its debut. Ultimately, it went on to make $630.6 million globally, and I don't think anyone would be complaining if Project Hail Mary simply matched that total.

Of course, one important detail that needs mention is a comparison of budgets, as the new release, according to Puck, was put together with a $200 million production budget, which is quite a bit more than the $108 million cost of The Martian (via Box Office Mojo). The blockbuster is a major gamble for Amazon MGM Studios, but thus far, it appears as though it is paying off.

A strong performance in foreign markets is also going to be extremely important if Project Hail Mary is going to be ultimately deemed a box office success, and while the film isn't currently doing as well abroad as it is in the United States and Canada, it is still selling a lot of tickets. Thus far, it has made $60.4 million overseas, which brings the movie's three day worldwide box office total up to $141 million. That's immediately enough to make it the eighth most successful big screen release of 2026 thus far, having already earned more than titles including Sam Raimi's Send Help ($93.9 million) and Bart Layton's Crime 101 ($70.4 million).

It's a good thing to see this success happening early for Project Hail Mary, and it's going to need to see all of the positive word of mouth result in a strong second weekend. Why? Because when the calendar turns to April, the box office will see Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrive as the big new marquee blockbuster, and attentions will be violently shifted (a reminder: The Super Mario Movie made $146.4 million in its first Friday-to-Sunday in domestic release). The sci-fi film needs to make as much money as it can between now and April 3.

Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come Settles For Fourth Place With A Modest Debut

This box office report would be much more fun to write if I could solely focus on the success of Project Hail Mary... but the folks at Searchlight Pictures felt that it was a good idea to put Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come as direct competition, and that decision has yielded some really bad results. The new horror sequel got a warm reception from critics (albeit not as warm as the response to its predecessor), but the audience was far more interested in heading to space with Ryan Gosling.

The new release starring Samara Weaving and Kathryn Newton only managed to make $9.1 million this weekend, which was not only less than Project Hail Mary, but also less than Hoppers (now in its third week) and Aditya Dhar's Dhurandhar: The Revenge (which only played in 987 locations). As a silver lining, it is outpacing 2019's Ready Or Not, which made $8 million in its first three days, but obviously expectations were a lot higher for the sequel.

In retrospect, this definitely feels like the result of bad scheduling. If released in the fall during spooky season, Ready Or Not 2 could have gotten the attention it deserves, but it instead got completely ignored in favor of a title that was very obviously always going to win the weekend. This will be remembered as a "what if..." situation.

Looking ahead on the 2026 movie calendar, next week will principally see the current crop of releases competing with director Kirill Sokolov's horror action comedy They Will Kill You, which will arrive in theaters on Friday. How will the Top 10 shake out? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for our full breakdown of the numbers

It’s rare when a non-franchise movie is poised to not just win a box office weekend, but potentially become a smash hit that could become one of the highest-grossing movies of the year. And yet, we may be about to see just that as Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s Project Hail Mary has reportedly put together a preview night box office gross on par with the likes of Christopher Nolan.

Project Hail Mary Outperformed Oppenheimer In Early Box Office Previews

According to Deadline, Project Hail Mary had a fantastic start to its box office run last night as the movie put up receipts somewhere in the neighborhood of $11 million. This is a notable number that puts it slightly ahead of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which scored $10.5 million, and F1, which came in at $10 million. It’s well ahead of Sinners, which was last year’s highest-grossing original at the domestic box office, which brought in $4.7 million in previews.

Oppenheimer would go on to gross nearly $1 billion at the global box office, and it would do so with very stiff competition in the form of Barbie, which would break the billion-dollar mark. Project Hail Mary won’t see that kind of competition. The only other major studio release this weekend is Searchlight’s Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, which is looking to do about $11 million total in domestic business on opening weekend. Project Hail Mary is expected to see an opening of around $60 million domestically and $100 million globally.

Can Project Hail Mary Break Oppenheimer's Opening Weekend Record Too?

Oppenheimer currently holds the record for the highest-grossing opening weekend of a non-franchise film, at just over $82 million. While the record seems secure based on projections, Project Hail Mary’s Thursday night numbers are a bit higher than had been projected, so it’s possible the film could outperform expectations. Becoming the highest-grossing non-franchise movie ever would be a tall order, but it doesn’t appear impossible.

There is another key area where Hail Mary is outperforming Oppenheimer, and that’s word of mouth. While both movies have Rotten Tomatoes scores with critics and fans that are in the 90% range, Project Hail Mary is actually slightly ahead of Oppenheimer on both counts. If a strong critical response to Project Hail Mary or positive word of mouth compels people to the theater, especially to see the movie in more expensive large formats like IMAX, we could see a big opening weekend here.

Of course, the difference between a movie making money and making a lot of money is about the movie’s success over multiple weeks. The real question is whether Project Hail Mary will have the legs to put up great box office numbers for weeks to come.

Going into last weekend, there was a fair bit of mystery surrounding Daniel Chong's Hoppers. It had been a minute since Pixar last had a sizable box office win on an opening weekend with an original title (the streaming debuts of Pete Docter's Soul, Anrico Casarosa's Luca and Domee Shi's Turning Red not doing the brand any favors in the last few years), and it was unclear if audiences would turn up for the new, super silly beaver movie. By Sunday, however, the film put up numbers that registered as the best start for a non-sequel from the animation studio since Lee Unkrich's Coco in 2017... and the good times are continuing to roll in its sophomore weekend.

In an age when a great number of notable releases end up having box office numbers that are super front-loaded (looking at you, Kevin Williamson's Scream 7), Hoppers is quickly turning into a big hit with potentially long legs – though what is good news for the new animated feature isn't particularly awesome news for Vanessa Caswill's Reminders Of Him (the new Colleen Hoover adaptation). Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

Hoppers Has A Minimal Weekend-To-Weekend Drop Following Its Stellar Debut

Writing this column every weekend, I like to keep an eye out for growing trends, and one that might be worth keeping track of in the coming year may be soft drops for popular animated features in their second week (a trend that pairs with the current popularity of animation movies in general on the big screen). Last month, Tyree Dillihay's GOAT made headlines when it demonstrated much more durability compared to Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, as it went from having a $27.2 million domestic debut in second place to winning the box office in its second weekend with a $16.9 million haul – a tiny 38 percent drop.

This week, Hoppers pulled off the same trick, but it's an even better version. The Pixar film did much better than GOAT in its first Friday-to-Sunday, making $45.3 million in the United States and Canada, and it's now followed up that performance by adding $28.5 million to its coffers – just a 37 percent difference. It suggests that this is a movie that has people talking: the positive critical reaction got people interested, and now folks are going for a second viewing and/or telling their friends/family that they should make the trip to their local theater.

Thus far, the new 2026 movie has made $86.8 million domestically, which means that it already ranks as the third most successful new film of the year behind the aforementioned Scream 7 (which has now made $106.5 million domestically) and GOAT ($90.6 million). At the rate things are going, it should easily top both of those titles before we say goodbye to March.

Of course, being part of the incredibly successful Pixar legacy, the film has a while to go before it is considered one of the biggest titles the animation studios has put out – but it has already started climbing the ladder domestically. It has ascended out of the basement, as it has made more money than Dan Scanlon's Onward (which saw its time in theaters cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic), and it has already surpassed the earnings of Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi and Adrian Molina's Elio, which completed its unsuccessful big screen run making $73 million last summer.

Hoppers success at home continues to be matched by its performance in foreign markets as well. To date, according to Box Office Mojo, the new release has made $164.7 million worldwide. In that arena, the film has actually already eclipsed the ticket sales of GOAT (which has brought in $162.8 million globally). As far as Hollywood titles are concerned, it sits behind both Wuthering Heights ($226.4 million) and Scream 7 ($176.9 million) in the rankings for the year.

Reminders Of Him Follows Regretting You As The Second Colleen Hoover Adaptation Failing To Debut At #1

What's good news for Hoppers is not so great news for the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation. While one doesn't imagine that there is a crazy amount of crossover between the core demographics of the two releases, it certainly can be said that the former stopped the latter from getting better headlines and winning a box office crown.

Reminders Of Him had to settle for second place in its first weekend, with the film making $18.3 million domestically. Taking into account that the movie isn't a massive blockbuster and didn't have an outrageous production budget ($25 million, per Deadline), it's definitely not shaping up to be a big flop, but it's also not the success that was hoped for given the cache of the Colleen Hoover brand.

Remember: we are less than a couple years removed from the release of Justin Baldoni's It Ends With Us starring Blake Lively, which made $351.4 million worldwide before becoming the subject of headlines regarding behind the scenes drama. The industry was hopeful that the film would be the first of a string of hits featuring Hoover's name, but Josh Boone's Regretting You did nowhere near matching business when it arrived last fall (making $13.7 million domestically in its debut before ultimately grossing $90.5 million worldwide) and Reminders Of Him appears to be on a similar trajectory.

At present, there is an interesting blend of titles mixing it up on marquees around the world, and we should be seeing a big splash in a few days that mix things up even more, as Friday will see the arrival of Phil Lord and Chris Miller's Project Hail Mary starring Ryan Gosling and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's Ready Or Not 2: Here I Come with Samara Weaving. The Top 10 should get a big shakeup, so be sure to return here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how everything plays out.

Big, ambitious movies sometimes connect with audiences in a major way. Other times, they swing for the fences and miss. Unfortunately for Maggie Gyllenhaal’s 2026 movie schedule release, The Bride!, the latter may be what’s happening. And based on the film's opening weekend box office, it now looks like the film could lose millions.

Inspired by the classic Bride of Frankenstein mythology, Gyllenhaal’s The Bride! debuted in theaters this past weekend, but the early box office numbers aren’t exactly encouraging. According to Deadline, the film opened to about $13.6 million worldwide, with only $7.3 million coming from domestic theaters. That’s a particularly rough start for a movie that reportedly cost around $80 million to produce, before marketing costs are factored in.

Industry insiders suggest the film could ultimately lose close to $90 million during its initial release cycle, though the full financial picture won’t be clear until after home entertainment and streaming revenue are included. That’s a tough outcome for a movie that clearly aimed to do something different and has connected with a lot of folks who did see it. CinemaBlend’s own Nick Venable gave the movie an outstanding five-star review, going so far as to call it a masterpiece.

The Bride! is a follow-up to Gyllenhaal’s critically acclaimed debut, The Lost Daughter, and was never meant to be a traditional horror film. Instead, the movie leans into a stylized, genre-blending approach that mixes period horror, punk-rock energy, and a tragic love story. The film also assembled an impressive cast, including Jessie Buckley in the title role alongside Christian Bale, with supporting performances from Penélope Cruz and Peter Sarsgaard.

Critics have noted that the movie looks stunning, with elaborate production design and striking visuals. But visually impressive movies don’t always translate into box office success. Part of the challenge may come down to the film’s identity.

Some industry observers believe The Bride! struggled to clearly define its audience. Even from the first Bride trailer, it was clear that the movie blended multiple tones and themes, from feminist storytelling to gothic romance to campy monster spectacle, which may have made it difficult for marketing to communicate exactly what the experience would be like. And in today’s social media-driven movie environment, word of mouth spreads incredibly fast.

Audience response to the film hasn’t been particularly strong so far, with a C+ CinemaScore indicating that general moviegoers were fairly mixed on the experience. That’s not necessarily disastrous for a more experimental film, but it does make it harder to achieve strong box office legs.

Timing may have also played a role. The movie arrived not long after Guillermo del Toro released his new book-to-screen adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, streaming for folks with a Netflix subscription. That film reportedly drew huge viewership in its first week, which may have satisfied some audiences’ appetite for monster stories — at least for the moment.

There’s also the broader reality of the current box office landscape. Original movies, especially expensive ones that aren’t tied to existing franchises, can be a difficult sell. That doesn’t mean studios will stop trying. In fact, Warner Bros. appears to be taking a calculated approach with a diverse slate of upcoming films, hoping that major hits will offset the occasional miss.

Still, The Bride! represents a reminder of how risky ambitious filmmaking can be. By all accounts, Gyllenhaal set out to make a bold, unusual monster movie, and the studio backed that vision with a substantial budget and high-end creative team. Sometimes those risks pay off. Other times, the audience simply doesn’t show up.

And for The Bride!, the early numbers suggest that this particular gamble may end up costing the studio tens of millions before everything is said and done. But all is not lost. You can head to your local theater and see the new horror film for yourself and make up your mind about the flick.

While once seen as a major champion for fresh storytelling, Pixar's run with original movies in the last few years hasn't quite matched its legacy. The animation studio has produced hit sequels, including Pete Docter's Inside Out 2 and Josh Cooley's Toy Story 4, but Dan Scanlon's Onward, Enrico Casarosa's Luca, Domee Shi's Turning Red, and Docter's Soul all saw their releases hamstrung by the COVID-19 pandemic; Peter Sohn's Elemental needed an extended period to grow its box office numbers; and Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina's Elio straight-up underperformed. Because of this recent history, there were a lot of question marks surrounding the release of Daniel Chong's Hoppers – but the audience has responded with exclamation marks.

The new animal-centric animated feature dominated the box office this past weekend with a strong debut – though what's good for Hoppers turned out to be not so great for Maggie Gyllenhaal's The Bride! and Kevin Williamson's Scream 7. You can scope out the full domestic Top 10 for the weekend below, and join me after for analysis.

Hoppers Arrives As Pixar's Best Original Movie At The Box Office Since 2017

In 2024, Pixar had one of the biggest box office successes of the year with the release of Inside Out 2, and the animation studio has now stuck gold in the early months of 2026 with Hoppers.

According to Box Office Mojo, the new movie made $46 million in its debut domestically, and while that's not exactly "all-time" money when discussing Pixar on the big screen, it's definitely a big win as an original title. In fact, one needs to go back all the way to 2017 and the arrival of Lee Unkrich's Coco to find the last non-franchise title from the studio that made that much money in its first three days of domestic release.

The success comes after the film managed to get some extremely positive buzz in the days before release (critics really liked to use the word "best" in writing about Hoppers), and the picture gets even rosier when one factors in the performance abroad. The movie made $42 million overseas to go along with the ticket sales in the United States and Canada, which brings its total gross to date up to $88 million.

This success comes at a time when things are going well for animation on the big screen: Byron Howard and Jared Bush's Zootopia 2 successfully managed to claim the title of biggest film of 2025 domestically last month, and Tyree Dillihay's GOAT has made $146.3 million so far worldwide after arriving in theaters in the middle of February. Audiences of all ages are clearly digging the material that animation studios are putting out these days, and the positive word of mouth should only help Hoppers in the weeks to come.

To go along with all of the raves from professional movie writers, the new Pixar movie has gotten an extremely warm welcome from audiences as well, as illustrated by the "A" grade returned from CinemaScore surveys. Looking at the 2026 movie release schedule, the film also doesn't seem to have any titles targeting its core demographic until Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie arrives in early April, so I expect there's a good chance it stays in at least the Top 3 through the end of the month.

The Bride! Stumbles Out Of The Gate With A Tough Third Place Finish In Its Opening Weekend

Unfortunately, while things are going very well for Hoppers at the box office, things did not go as swimmingly for The Bride! In the words of Christian Bale, Maggie Gyllenhaal was given the freedom to take a big swing with her take on the Bride of Frankenstein story, but audiences, it seems, weren't quite ready for her vision. The movie got word-of-mouth full of extremes going into its wide release (a mix of five star and zero star reactions), and it only managed to take third place in its debut.

Featuring current Oscar-nominee Jessie Buckley in the titular role, The Bride! managed to only bring in $7.3 million over the last three days, and it made slightly less than that abroad – leading to a global total of just $13.6 million in its opening weekend. Considering this is a title with a reported budget in the range of $90 million, according to Variety, it's definitely not the start that anyone was hoping for.

Based on reactions so far, it doesn't look like the movie is going to be growing legs in the weeks ahead either, which means it appears as though we will end up looking at the audacious horror/crime feature as an early 2026 bomb.

Scream 7 Suffers A Massive Fall After Its Record Breaking Start

In last week’s box office column, I noted that I would be keeping an eye on the legs shown by Scream 7. The film had a massive opening (one that registered as the biggest in the history of the franchise), but I wondered if the movie potentially had some troubled waters ahead due to both critical and audience reception: the sequel earned the worst reviews of any title in the series and the lowest CinemaScore grade (tied with Wes Craven’s Scream 4). I wondered if the lacking positive word of mouth would end up hurting its ticket sales in its second week… and it turns out I was right to prep for a massive drop.

While Scream 2 was able to still land in second place and make $17.1 million, that figure is a shocking 72 percent fall weekend-to-weekend (to provide context for those who don’t regularly track box office, “bad” is usually a figure in the high 50s, so this is particularly rough). To date, the movie has now made $93.4 million domestically, which is enough for fourth place in the history of the franchise in the market (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Scream VI holds the top spot having made $108.4 million).

So what happened here? It’s not particularly difficult to decipher. The people who decided that they were going to see Scream 7 no matter what flocked to their local theaters last week when the movie first arrived in theaters – and because this is a major horror franchise, that was a considerable crowd. Unfortunately, those folks were evidently not too impressed with what they witnessed, and didn’t make a point of telling their friends and family that they should check it out. Simultaneously, those who were on the fence about purchasing a ticket ultimately decided against it. The end result is a serious and immediate decrease in ticket sales, and crowds are only going to get thinner and thinner as we get deeper into March 2026.

Despite this major drop, one expects that Scream 7’s performance overall should mean that this will not be the end of the long-running meta horror franchise. Globally, the film has made $149.5 million, which is plenty when one compares it to the production’s $45 million budget (per Deadline).

Looking ahead on the movie release schedule, next week will feature some new competition for the current Top 10 with fresh titles including Vanessa Caswill's Reminders Of Him (a new Colleen Hoover adaptation), Ian Tuason's sound-driven horror feature undertone, and Amy Wang's Mean Girls-meets-The Substance body horror comedy Slanted. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how things shake out for the weekend.

Last weekend's box office results were far from impressive. While the industry saw a nice spike around Valentine's Day earlier in the month, with Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights leading the market, my report last Sunday was all about how the industry offered few intriguing new options in wide release – allowing Tyree Dillihay's GOAT to rise to the number one spot in the Top 10. In my feature recapping the numbers, I noted that it appeared as though Hollywood was basically paving a path for Kevin Williamson's Scream 7 to dominate at the end of the month, and seven days later, that's exactly what has happened.

The slasher sequel was the only new wide release to arrive in theaters this past Friday, and it used all of its breathing room to put up the biggest opening weekend of the 2026 movie calendar so far. It's huge news for the blockbuster, but it comes with a bit of an asterisk, as while the success is massive by franchise standards, the overall reception hasn't exactly been something for the filmmakers and stars to brag about. You can check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

Scream 7 Steamrolls The Competition At The Box Office With Big Results Worldwide

You know an opening weekend is successful when it proves to basically double the previous record holder for the year, and that's precisely what Scream 7 has accomplished – per early reporting from The Numbers. Current results put the Neve Campbell-led movie at $64.1 million earned domestically since it arrived on the big screen on Friday, and that's quite a lot more than the 2026 record-setting $32.8 million made by Wuthering Heights when it debuted a couple weeks ago.

Not just impressive by the standards of the young year, Scream 7 is also doing well to outperform ever single one of its predecessors, and it's the second title in a row from the series to accomplish that particular feat. In 2023, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's Scream VI set a new opening weekend record for the franchise, earning $44.4 million and topping the $34.7 million made by Wes Craven's Scream 3 in 2000. Now Kevin Williamson's new release sits on top of the charts in that respect.

The success goes beyond the ticket sales in the United States and Canada too. In addition to the $64.1 million earned at home, foreign markets have contributed $33.1 million to the theatrical release's success, bringing its worldwide total after three days up to $97.2 million. It has already outgrossed the aforementioned Scream 3, which completed its global run on the big screen making $96 million. Wes Craven's original Scream, now just about nine months away from its 30th anniversary, still remains the highest grossing title in the franchise, having made $173 million in 1996/1997 (and that's without accounting for inflation). It should go without saying that there will be a lot of interest in seeing if Scream 7 can be the title to dethrone it.

The big thing standing in the film's way? One word: reception.

Scream 7 may now hold an IP record for the biggest opening weekend, but it seems that accomplishment comes in spite of word of mouth instead of as a result of it. The reaction from critics (arriving very late last week) came in sharp contrast to the response earned by its two predecessors in the franchise's current era, which earned praise for keeping the spirit of the Wes Craven series alive following the filmmaker's passing back in 2015. The reactions to the Kevin Williamson-directed entry have been far less friendly (I personally delivered a one-and-a-half star Scream 7 review for CinemaBlend).

It's not just critics either, as audience ratings are also down for the new release. Audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes are lower for the 2026 slasher film than the response to either 2022's Scream or Scream VI, and that pattern continues when one looks at the results from CinemaScore surveys: the new movie got a "B-" grade which ties Scream 4 for the weakest in the series (1997's Scream 2, 2022's Scream and 2023's Scream VI hold a three-way tie for the best grade with their "B+" results). This doesn't suggest that people are coming out of their local theater suggesting that all of their friends partake in the same cinematic experience.

What does this mean? While nothing is ever guaranteed, these metrics suggest that Scream 7 may have a tough go of it in March and have difficulty retaining its audience in the weeks ahead. Franchise curiosity, the mystery surrounding the identity/identities of the new Ghostface/s, and the return of Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott may have inflated ticket sales for the debut, but now that people have seen it and not loved what they've seen I imagine we're going to see a significant drop-off come next Sunday.

The second weekend numbers will be one thing I keep an eye on next week, especially because the film should be getting some significant competition in wide release with the debut of Daniel Chong's Hoppers – the latest feature from Pixar and the latest title to try and continue the successful trend of animation on the big screen (following in the wake of GOAT and Byron Howard and Jared Bush's Zootopia 2, which was recently crowned the 2025 domestic box office champion). There will be plenty to discuss in seven days when the new Top 10 is published, so be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend for my full break down of the results.

At this point, 2025 feels well behind us at this point, no? Here in the last week of February, we are now one-sixth of the way through 2026, and the holiday season already feels like a distant memory. While all that may be true, however, the box office record books for any year remain open until every release has made its last dollar – and that’s why we can now report that Jared Hess’ A Minecraft Movie has been usurped as the biggest domestic release of 2025.

Premiering last April, the video game movie spent the vast majority of last year as the biggest theatrical release in the United States and Canada, having completed its big screen run in the market making $424.1 million. According to Deadline, that total has now been topped by the monster success that is Byron Howard and Jared Bush’s Zootopia 2, which has been going strong since being released over Thanksgiving, has now made $424.2 million… and it’s not done yet.

Looking at this past weekend’s box office report, one will recognize that Zootopia 2 is still hanging around in the Top 10, and it’s even making more money domestically at this point than James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire And Ash, despite the science-fiction blockbuster arriving in theaters nearly a month later. Even more impressively, the Walt Disney Animation Studios release has been outgrossing its predecessor from day one. The 2025 movie had a bigger opening weekend ($100.3 million vs. $75.1 million), and the 2016 feature only made $341.3 million in the United States and Canada.

As impressive as Zootopia 2’s numbers are at home, they get even more outrageous when you look at its performance worldwide – and it’s another page in the record books where it outshines A Minecraft Movie. The film starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa was unquestionably a massive smash – earning $961.2 million around the globe, but the Disney film has made over $1.8 billion. It would be the biggest title of 2025 if it weren't for the $2 billion success of the animated Chinese film Ne Zha 2 from writer/director Jiaozi.

From a wide perspective, all of this success particularly shines a light on how well family films have been doing at the box office as of late – and it suggests big things to come as we get deeper into the 2026 movie release calendar and see the theatrical arrivals of major animated titles including but not limited to Daniel Chong's Hoppers (March 6), Andrew Stanton's Toy Story 5 (June 19), Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April 1), Josie Trinidad and Jason Hand's Hexed (November 25), and Pierre Coffin's Minions & Monsters (July 1).

This week's Friday-to-Sunday stretch was a bit of a wheel-spinner for Hollywood at the box office. Last weekend had the flair of a double holiday – with Valentine's Day and President's Day lined up together – and we are now just a few days removed from the anticipated release of Kevin Williamson's Scream 7, which is expected to be the title that closes out February on top. But stuck in the square middle of that, the last few days in theaters have been slow, resulting in last week's biggest titles remaining in the first two slots of the domestic top 10.

There is one big difference between this weekend and last, however: while Valentine's Day saw Emerald Fennel's Wuthering Heights win the box office crown, it has now slipped into second place thanks to Tyree Dillihay's GOAT seeing its ticket sales experience a relatively small drop compared to how it performed in its debut. Check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

GOAT Rises To The Top Of The Box Office Thanks To A Soft Weekend-To-Weekend Drop

As I noted last Sunday following the impressive arrival of GOAT in theaters, animated movies have been huge contributors to the current box office landscape. Just look at Byron Howard and Jared Bush's Zootopia 2, which was the big hit of last Thanksgiving and can still be seen in the chat above occupying ninth place and adding another $2.3 million to its awesome domestic haul (and it looks like it is going to outlast James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash in the Top 10). As much content as there is on television and the internet, audiences of all ages – but especially families – are clearly still appreciating the fun of the big screen experience, and that's again apparent in the strong legs that the new Steph Curry-produced feature.

When the final results came in last week, GOAT earned $27.2 million in its domestic debut, and according to The Numbers, ticket sales have dipped only 38 percent weekend-to-weekend. In the last three days, the Sony Pictures Animation release added $17 million to its total in the region, bringing its earnings to date up to $58.3 million. That now makes it the second highest grossing title of 2026 so far, as it has now officially outpaced Sam Raimi's Send Help – which has made $55.5 million to date and remains in the Top 5 following its late January premiere.

Is it a smash hit? No – but the way things are going these days in the industry, a movie is much better off simmering in the Top 10 versus making a big splash in its debut and then fading fast as the majority of people opt to either skip it or wait until its available for home viewing.

GOAT wasn't an inexpensive movie to produce, as Deadline reports that the pre-marketing and publicity budget being in the $80-90 million range. Fortunately, the film has solid if not exceptional ticket sales overseas giving it a boost. While the animated title is performing better at home than in foreign markets, it's nonetheless attracting attention: to date, it has brought in $44 million from outside the United States and Canada, which brings its global total to date up to $102 million.

The road ahead for may be a bit difficult, as the latest from Pixar, Daniel Chong's Hoppers, is arriving early next month and going to be targeting the exact same core demographic, and when we look back on 2026 for animated features, GOAT's box office may get overlooked compared to other massive titles like Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Andrew Stanton's Toy Story 5. That being said, the film has nonetheless done a nice job making a bit of a splash here in mid-February.

Losing The Valentine's Day Bump Sees Wuthering Heights Settle For Silver

Unfortunately, while GOAT saw strong weekend-to-weekend numbers unfold across the last three days, the same can't really be said for Wuthering Heights. While there is no question that launching the Margot Robbie-Jacob Elordi film on the big screen in time for Valentine's Day was a great call, the movie is now experiencing the downside of such an approach: now that the holiday is over, interest in the Emily Brontë adaptation seems to be over as well.

It's far from a disastrous slip in the 60-70 percent range, but Wuthering Heights saw its ticket sales slip 57 percent compared to its opening weekend. The film made $14.2 million since Friday, which brings its domestic total to date up to $60 million (which is enough for it to hold claim its title as the biggest film of 2026 so far, but GOAT is nipping at its heels).

Overseas, the gothic story is doing much better than it is at home: so far, foreign markets have seen the film earn $91.7 million, which brings its worldwide gross to date up to $151.7 million.

I Can Only Imagine 2 And How To Make A Killing Fail To Make Much Of An Impression As The Weekend's Biggest New Releases

As for why GOAT and Wuthering Heights remained battling for the top spots, the simple explanation is that none of the new releases from this past Friday failed to make much of an impression.

Andrew Erwin and Brent McCorkle's I Can Only Imagine 2 tried to recreate the success of its 2018 predecessor (which made $17 million when it debuted in theaters and went on to make $85.8 million worldwide), but the film only managed to make $8 million and had to settle for third place. It's a particularly rough performance given that the movie played in over 3,100 locations

John Patton Ford's How To Make A Killing, meanwhile, had a much smaller release, but it failed to crack the Top 5. The new A24 movie features a stellar cast including Glen Powell, Jessica Henwick, Ed Harris, Zach Woods, Topher Grace and Margaret Qualley, but it divided critics to a rather extreme degree and it only earned $3.6 million.

As noted earlier, things should be shaken up in a big way come next Sunday, as not only will Scream 7 be in theaters, but Neon will also be expanding the release of Baz Luhrmann's EPiC: Elvis Presley In Concert (which made $3.6 million in the last three days playing in 325 locations). Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend to see how the Top 10 comes together, and check out our 2026 Movie Release Calendar to learn about all of the titles on the way in the coming weeks and months.

It’s been an encouraging month for female-driven stories. Wuthering Heights absolutely dominated this week, marking one of the biggest weekends at the box office in 2026 so far. Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 is still making us swoon near the top of Netflix’s Top 10 list a few weeks in. Plus, The Housemaid is still hitting new heights, and Sydney Sweeney seems quite amped up about it.

When The Housemaid hit $300 million globally about a month ago, I honestly expected that to be the end of the milestones for the fun flick. It had been in theaters for over a month since its December 19th movie release date at that point, and I never expected the movie to have as long of legs as it’s truly had. Which brings me to mid-February, when Sydney Sweeney celebrated The Housemaid hitting $375 million.

Where is that number coming from? Reporting outlets have the film just under that milestone marker (around $360 million) right now when it comes to traditional box office, but Sweeney’s post also nodded at Lionsgate Home, which currently has the movie available to watch at home on VOD. Apparently, the flick’s been picking up moolah in the millions via secondary viewing platforms -- and that money goes right into the studio's pocket.

As she has in the past, Sydney Sweeney took to social media to celebrate the milestone with an encouraging message for the fans who have watched it once, twice, and maybe even thrice or more.

It may feel like a bit of a “duh” now, but The Housemaid was not an ace in the hole when it came out just a couple of months ago. In fact, the flick’s producer Todd Lieberman got candid about the film’s trajectory, calling it a “sleeper hit” and noting people hadn’t paid that much attention in Hollywood before its release. This was not guaranteed to be a winner, but the actresses took a risk that paid off.

Last timeThe Housemaid hit a box office milestone, Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried had a cute exchange about their time working together. There may be more to come for those two. Millie Calloway moved on to new houses at the end of The Housemaid, leading to questions about a sequel. Lionsgate later confirmed a second movie is in development, and I hope Nina Winchester will get to at least make an appearance the next time around.

The next movie will be based on the second book by Freida McFadden, The Housemaid’s Secret and should continue Lionsgate’s successful track record of adapting books to film, as they’ve done with a slew of other projects, including the Twilight and Hunger Games films, the former of which has a new project coming this year in the prequel Sunrise on the Reaping, as well.

Valentine's Day weekend in 2025 was different than most years. While the love-centric holiday typically sees studios drop some romance in theaters for audiences, Marvel Studios opted to use the three-day stretch to debut Julius Onah's Captain America: Brave New World into wide release. In 2026, things returned to a bit of "normalcy" with the the arrival of Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights – and while the ticket sales aren't nearly as robust as they were 12 months ago, the new Margot Robbie/Jacob Elordi film still managed to dominate the domestic market.

Even beyond the new #1 movie, however, there were some notable developments in the last three days, as the entire Top 3 is brand new, and Sam Raimi's Send Help successfully pulled off a minimal one percent weekend-to-weekend drop during its third Friday-to-Sunday in release. You can check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

Wuthering Heights Easily Takes #1 Despite Mixed Buzz

Wuthering Heights arrived in theaters in a strange place this weekend. The movie – advertised as a lusty, sweaty big screen experience – registered as an ideal fit for the holiday (some may remember that Sam Taylor-Johnson's Fifty Shades Of Grey pulled a nearly identical marketing move back in 2015), and there was a lot of confidence in the star power of its two leads in combination with the track record of the writer/director. The big wrench in the gears going into Friday was that the film got a rather lukewarm reception from critics (CinemaBlend's Sarah El-Mahmoud gave it three stars in her review), and it created questions about how the buzz would impact box office.

Now the early results are in, and per The Numbers, and like the early response, they register as a mixed bag. The movie earned $34.8 million in the last three days, which was more than enough to win the domestic box office crown, but it's also notably lower than the $40 million that prognosticators across the industry expected from the three-day gross (I'll also add that it pales in comparison to the aforementioned Fifty Shades of Grey, which was ripped by critics but still made $85.2 million in its premiere).

As far as Emerald Fennell-directed movies go, the film is already far bigger than both 2023's Saltburn and 2020's Promising Young Woman, which respectively made $21 million and $18.9 million worldwide, and it's performing well by the standards of Margot Robbie's filmography as well. She hasn't always found box office success with projects beyond big franchise titles – with Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon A Time In Hollywood being the big exception – and Wuthering Heights is already doing much better than Damien Chazelle's Babylon, David O. Russell's Amsterdam and Kogonada's A Big Bold Beautiful Journey.

It's actually the biggest domestic debut of 2026 so far, though that is not a title that it is likely going to hold on to for very long.

Looking beyond the domestic market, Wuthering Height's performance abroad is helping to supplement the smaller-than-expected numbers at home. Foreign ticket sales hit $42 million, which means that the film has grossed $76.8 million so far – which puts the results on the higher end of the $70-80 million range that Deadline predicted going into the weekend.

But will the film be able to create momentum in the coming weeks? That's an open question, and not just because it won't have the Valentine's Day bump as it plays through late February. One bit of trouble to pay attention to is the result from CinemaScore surveys, which saw Wuthering Heights earn a pedestrian "B" grade. Between that response and the lack of enthusiasm from professional critics, we may be seeing a formula develop for a sizable drop-off in second week ticket sales.

GOAT Maintains The Strong Trend For Animation, While Crime 101 Settles For Third Place With An Unimpressive Debut Despite Its Star Power

It wasn't just Wuthering Heights that saw some solid numbers this weekend; when accounting for all of the titles currently playing on the big screen across the country, the last three days saw the highest earnings for cinemas since the very first weekend of the year (when James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash was right in the middle of its box office dominance).

One of the biggest contributors to this total was Tyree Dillihay's GOAT – which was never expected to top Wuthering Heights on the domestic chart but still didn't quite well anyway. Family movies continue to do better than most on the big screen (note that Jared Bush and Byron Howard's Zootopia 2 is still ranked sixth on the chart up top), and the new basketball-themed release from Sony Pictures Animation further solidifies the trend. In addition to making $26 million domestically in the last few days, it has also made $15 million from markets outside of the United States and Canada, bringing its global total so far up to $41.6 million.

Much less impressive is the performance by Bart Layton's Crime 101 – though I suppose an eight figure opening weekend result for an adult drama isn't something to totally dismiss in today's world. It would be a lot better if its production didn't carry a $90 million price tag (per Variety). The crime film, with an impressive cast including Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry, Barry Keoghan, Nick Nolte, and Mark Ruffalo, made $12 million abroad to go with the $15.1 million earned domestically, and it got strong marks from critics.

Despite Enhanced Competition, Send Help Holds Firm With Another Strong Weekend

To close out this weekend's box office report, I also want to shine a quick spotlight on Send Help – which hasn't been putting up blockbuster numbers, but has appropriately been a tough survivor in cinemas since arriving at the end of last month. In last Sunday's column, I pointed to the movie having a healthy 53 percent weekend-to-weekend drop following its debut (going from $19.1 million to $9 million earned), and it made almost the exact same amount the last three days despite hefty competition from new releases. Thus far, the film has made $72.1 million worldwide, and it continues to demonstrate a hunger from audience for more original horror.

How will all of these titles fare next week when the collection of fresh arrivals includes John Patton Ford's How To Make A Killing, Andrew Erwin and Brent McCorkle's I Can Only Imagine 2, Gavin Polone's Psycho Killer, and Polly Findlay's Midwinter Break? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to scope out the results.

James Cameron doesn’t make small movies. That’s part of his brand. But with the recently released Avatar: Fire and Ash nearing the end of its theatrical run, at $1.4 billion globally, some industry observers are starting to ask: Is Pandora losing altitude? As we head full steam into the third month of the 2026 movie schedule, it's worth looking into whether or not it's time to 'pump the brakes' on more Avatar flicks.

According to a recent Variety report, the third Avatar installment will finish well below the "two metric f---tons" of money the director was aiming for, the staggering $2.9 billion earned by 2009’s Avatar and the $2.3 billion hauled in by 2022’s Avatar: The Way of Water. While $1.4 billion would be a career-defining hit for most filmmakers, it’s a more complicated story here, given that the film stacks up with some of the most expensive movies ever made. Disney reportedly spent around $500 million to produce and market the threequel. As Wedbush Securities analyst Alicia Reese put it bluntly:

Disney, of course, has already committed to two more sequels, slated for 2029 and 2031. But analysts suggest the studio may be rethinking how much it’s willing to spend. As Stephen Galloway, dean of Chapman University’s film school, explained it:

From Terminator 2 to Titanic to every Avatar installment, Cameron has built a career on pushing budgets to historic highs. He’s also built a reputation for turning those risks into box office gold. He remains the only director with four consecutive billion-dollar hits, three of which crossed $2 billion.

But many viewers and critics alike felt that the third film was less essential. The original Avatar films dominated the box office for seven consecutive weekends. Fire and Ash relinquished its top spot after five. Some critics and analysts have also noted that the technological leap forward, once the franchise’s defining feature, didn’t feel as dramatic this time around.

There’s also the release timing. Unlike the 13-year gap between the first two films, Fire and Ash arrived three years after The Way of Water. That shorter window may have reduced the sense of event-level anticipation.

Still, Reese doesn’t think Cameron should be underestimated. The analyst added:

If history tells us anything, it’s that betting against James Cameron rarely works out. That said, with budgets climbing and returns dipping, Disney may be looking more closely at the math this time around. Pandora isn’t in crisis, but the pressure to justify another half-billion-dollar investment is very real.

It’s also important to remember that Avatar: Fire and Ash wasn’t just a box office player. The film earned a 2026 Academy Award nomination for Visual Effects and a nod for Costume Design. As we recently noted, Deborah L. Scott’s work combined traditional design techniques with advanced digital craftsmanship, reinforcing how the franchise continues to redefine large-scale filmmaking. So, even if it brought in less money, the Avatar series still carries prestige, which will undoubtedly be a factor in whether more movies are greenlit.

For now, Avatar: Fire and Ash remains in theaters and is expected to hit VOD sometime in March or April. Whether a fourth film moves forward remains to be seen. In the meantime, fans can revisit the first two chapters with their Disney+ subscription.

The relationship between the box office and the Super Bowl is not a friendly one. While it's true that the latter takes place on what is generally the slowest day of any given weekend, it's such a standout event that it successfully overshadows all entertainment – and that includes going out to the local theater to catch a movie. Hollywood has adjusted to this by not really bothering to compete, as this is not generally a Friday-to-Sunday stretch that sees the release of major new blockbusters... and that has allowed Sam Raimi's Send Help to once again sit at the top of the domestic Top 10.

It's not exactly a case of domination, as no film did particularly well on the big screen in the last three days, but the movie did still manage to keep its box office crown with a rather impressive and soft weekend-to-weekend drop. You can scope out the full chart below and join me after for analysis.

Send Help Stays On Top Of The Box Office With A Soft Drop After Its Debut

If you've been following box office developments in the last year, you know that the horror genre has heat, and things tend to go particularly well ticket sales-wise when positive word of mouth gets going. Send Help is turning into the latest perfect example of this. While the new 2026 movie isn't exactly putting up numbers comparable to Ryan Coogler's Sinners or Zach Cregger's Weapons, it has now successfully followed up a impressive debut with a solid second weekend.

According to The Numbers, the Sam Raimi film turned what was expected to be a much closer battle for #1 into an easy win, and the numbers are strong. The film didn't exactly become an instant blockbuster when it arrived on the big screen last week, as it made $19.1 million in its first three days, but the movie got a very positive response from critics and got audiences buzzing, and the end result of that is a 48 percent weekend-to-weekend drop.

The new horror movie added $10 million to its coffers domestically over the last three days per early reporting, and that brings its total gross in the market up to $35.8 million. For a feature with a modest reported budget of $40 million (via Variety), that's a pretty good place to be at this point – especially when you compare the results to the buzzy horror title that was released this time last year: Drew Hancock's Companion. Both features earned great reviews prior to arriving on the big screen, but Send Help has had a totally different trajectory, as the 2025 release made only half of what the new film made in its opening weekend and then saw its ticket sales tumble 68 percent despite strong word of mouth.

To go along with its success in the United States and Canada, the Rachel McAdams/Dylan O'Brien two-hander has also made $17.9 million in foreign markets, which brings its worldwide box office total to date up to $53.7 million. I can't fully call it a ringing success because there is still a road to travel before all of the numbers look really great on paper, but the title is in a good place for now.

As noted last week, it can be said to be a nice step up from the last time that Sam Raimi delivered an original horror movie: the underrated 2009 feature Drag Me To Hell. The Alison Lohman-led feature was sitting at $28.2 million by the tenth day of its domestic release – and that was in mid-summer.

Maintaining momentum might be a bit difficult in the immediate future thanks to the collection of titles arriving in wide release for the upcoming Valentine's Day weekend (more on that later), and that will be something to keep an eye on come this time next week.

Iron Lung Falls To Third Place After A Weak Second Weekend, But It's Already Set To Have A Great Legacy

In last week's box office column, I admitted to having no idea what the future would hold for Iron Lung – the new feature from filmmaker Mark Fischback, best known to his YouTube followers as Markiplier. Despite not having major studio backing and non-traditional marketing, movie came out of nowhere to compete with Send Help for the top spot at the box office, and in the wake of that success, I acknowledged that I had no idea if it was heat that the title could maintain.

It turns out that it couldn't.

While Iron Lung turned a lot of heads with its arrival in wide release, it would appear that didn't translate to a curiosity powerful enough to drive a strong second weekend. While Send Help saw its ticket sales drop by less than half after its debut, the indie horror movie saw its domestic earnings sink 67 percent, and it only made $6 million in the last three days – which was a descent matched by Brett Ratner's controversial documentary Melania, which went from third place to tenth place and made only $2.4 million in the last three days.

But here's the significant difference between those two features: Amazon paid a ridiculous $40 million to license Melania, which is about to drop out of the Top 10 after having made only $13.4 million; Iron Lung cost only $3 million to produce, per Deadline, and it's still hanging around in the Top 5 after shocking the world with its $30.8 million gross so far. One is a massive bomb, while the other will ultimately be remembered as one of the best big screen success stories of 2026.

The Strangers: Chapter 3 Closes Out The Horror Trilogy With A Whimper

Looping back to the discussion of the Super Bowl, studios knew not to drop any highly anticipated titles in theaters this past Friday in acknowledgement that nothing could complete with the NFL championship game. As a result, the middle of this weekend's Top 10 is filled with smaller titles that managed to bring in seven-figures including Chuck Kinnane and Dan Kinnane's romantic drama Solo Mio starring Kevin James, Paul Dugdale and Farah Khalid's concert movie Stray Kids: The DominATE Experience, and Luc Besson's Dracula. These films didn't manage to put up what could be called headline-worthy ticket sales – but I will shine a quick spotlight on Renny Harlin's The Strangers: Chapter 3, which closes out the horror trilogy starring Madelaine Petsch with the weakest debut of the series.

None of the new Strangers movies performed well, but they've also had diminishing returns. The first made just $11.8 million when it debuted in May 2024, The Strangers: Chapter 2 brought in just $5.8 million in its first three days last fall, and now The Strangers: Chapter 3 has brough the canon to an end with a whimper, having made just $3.5 million since Friday. These results will probably make it hard to justify a theatrical release for the near-four hour supercut that Petsch recently told me about in an interview.

As alluded to earlier, next week should see a good bump in box office activity, as multiple new titles are arriving on the big screen so that couples can celebrate Valentine's Day in the comfort of a movie theater: Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights, Gore Verbinski's Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die, Bart Layton's Crime 101, and Tyree Dillihay and Adam Rosette's GOAT. Which film will end up on top? Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to scope out the results.

Without totally demeaning its draw, Timur Bekmambetov's Mercy became the first 2026 title to top the box office last weekend... but it kind of just won by default. The $10.8 million it made wasn't exactly impressive, it's ascendency to the #1 spot domestically was mostly because of fading ticket sales for James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash. Today, however, I can report on a true race for a new film to be declared "the number one movie in America," as Sam Raimi's Send Help has edged out surprise competition from Mark Fischbach's video game adaptation Iron Lung.

It's another notable win for the horror genre, which stacked up a number of them in 2025 and has fans hoping for matching success in the new year. You can check out the full domestic Top 10 in the chart below and join me after for analysis.

Send Help Is The First 2026 Movie To Crack $20 Million In Its Domestic Opening Weekend

It took five weekends to get us to this point, but we finally have a new release in 2026 making over $20 million domestically.

Per early box office results reported by The Numbers, has hit that mark, and while it's not exactly a blockbuster start, it's solid. The film arrived in theaters after building a nice wave of buzz, with critics applauding its darkly comic and gross sensibilities along with the performances by stars Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien (sentiments I also shared in my four star review for CinemaBlend), and that hype successfully piqued the curiosity of movie-goers.

Making the results from Send Help's opening weekend only sweeter is the acknowledgement that this was not an expensive film to make (the survival thriller has some big sequences and a fair amount of both special and visual effects, but it's mostly a small scale story centering on the dynamic between its two lead characters). Per Variety, the project was made with a $40 million budget, which means that it's well on its way to the proverbial black.

Expanding the focus to look at the movie's performance around the world, thus far it's not exactly doubling its domestic haul, but it has reportedly brought in $8.1 million so far from foreign markets, bringing its worldwide total so far up to $28.1 million.

The results look even better when you start making comparisons. For example, this time last year saw another original horror movie arrive during this exact box office weekend – namely Drew Hancock's Companion starring Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid – and while it too earned raves from most who saw it early, it only managed to make $9.3 million in its first three days of domestic release.

Send Help is also performing much better than the last time Sam Raimi directed a fresh genre feature: 2009's Drag Me To Hell. That film saw Raimi coming off the incredibly successful Spider-Man trilogy and had a prime summer release date, but it had to settle for fourth place in its opening weekend after making $15.8 million.

Will the movie be able to grow legs? That's a hard question to answer. Competition isn't too powerful next weekend thanks to the world's focus on the Super Bowl, and Valentine's Day has a trio of notable titles set to arrive in theaters. As always with new number one titles, I'll be keeping an eye on its weekend-to-weekend numbers as we get deeper into February.

Iron Lung Offers A Surprising Challenge For The #1 Spot

This time last week, I predicted that Send Help would become the new film at the top of the box office, and I became more and more confident that result was coming as Brett Ratner's Melania documentary was getting by critics and early tracking numbers came in... but what I most definitely didn't expect was that Iron Lung would be a serious challenger for this week's crown. The film is the feature debut for writer, director, and star Mark Fischbach, best known for his content creation on YouTube, and it's based on the submarine simulation game of the same name from 2022.

The movie is the debut launch for Markiplier Studios (named for Fischbach's online pseudonym), and while the movie was made for less than $3 million, per Deadline, it managed to gross a reported $18 million in its debut, showing in over 3,000 screens nationwide.

It's the biggest success we've seen in recent years outside of Damien Leone's Terrifier franchise, and the numbers are pretty similar: when it arrived in theaters in October 2024, Terrifier 3 managed to top the box office making $18.9 million. And thanks to the on-going Halloween season, audiences kept coming back, and it ultimately made $54 million domestically and $76.3 million worldwide.

Will Iron Lung be able to match that? To be perfectly honest, I have no idea, as I am still rather blindsided by its opening weekend success. My instinct is to predict that Send Help will have the stronger staying power thanks to its big names and the major studio behind it, but I can't tell if what we're seeing from the new video game adaptation is a flash in the pan success or the start of a phenomenon. We'll have a better idea of what's up this time next week.

Taking a look ahead at what's set to arrive on the big screen on Friday, it's certainly an eclectic mix of titles... and ones that may have a hard time being a distraction from the NFL championship game. The collection of titles includes Luc Besson's Dracula, Renny Harlin's trilogy-capper The Strangers: Chapter 3, and the wide expansion of Aidan Zamiri's Charli XCX faux documentary The Moment. Head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to find out if any of them have what it takes to unseat Send Help, and for a full look at what's coming to the big screen this year, check out our 2026 Movie Release Calendar.

Well, it had to happen eventually. When James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash arrived in theaters in mid-December, it did exactly what it was expected to do (which is to say act like a bulldozer at the box office), but we have spent most of January waiting for the arrival of a title that would knock it out of its #1 position. Last Sunday, Nia DaCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple was unable to be that movie, as final results broke a virtual tie in the early numbers, but after after six straight weekends, we now have a new film sitting at the top of the domestic market: Timur Bekmambetov's Mercy.

Featuring the star power of Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson, the new real-time science-fiction feature didn't exactly have what anyone would describe as a great opening weekend, but the film did sell enough tickets to become the new number one movie in the United States and Canada. You can check out the full Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.

Mercy Defies Bad Buzz And Wins The Box Office On A Slow Weekend

To be perfectly blunt, Mercy entered its opening weekend with some wretched buzz. I personally am not a fan, as evidenced by my one-and-a-half star CinemaBlend review, but that was also not a rare sentiment among my film critic colleagues – many of whom joined me in pointing out its gaping storytelling problems. That being said, there is a seemingly endless number of movies that arrived in theaters on a wave of bad buzz and still claimed the number one spot at the box office, and this title is the latest.

Mercy didn't exactly light the world on fire, as early weekend results from The Numbers show that it had what is being recorded as only the third best debut for a new 2026 movie: it made less than both the aforementioned 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple ($12.5 million) and Johannes Roberts' Primate ($11.2 million). But because the big screen audience for Avatar: Fire And Ash continues to shrink and its blockbuster numbers continue to wane, the $11.1 million earned was enough for it to land at #1. It's win is more about timing than true success.

Thus far, the Chris Pratt/Rebecca Ferguson movie has just about matched its domestic haul so far in overseas markets, as it has made $11.6 million abroad – which brings its worldwide total to date up to $22.8 million. Considering that the film is almost guaranteed to fade quickly in theaters (at least domestically), that's not an ideal start, as Variety has reported a $60 million production budget (which doesn't account for marketing and publicity). As a mid-budget sci-fi project, it won't go down as a massive early-in-the-year bomb, but it's not off to a great start.

As far as Chris Pratt being a box office draw, Mercy is definitely a notable step down,,, though, to be fair, this isn't a title that is also part of a major intellectual property like Marvel, Jurassic World, Super Mario Bros. or Garfield. In recent years, all of Pratt's original features have been streaming originals (including Joe and Anthony Russo's The Electric State for Netflix and Chris McKay's The Tomorrow War for Amazon Prime Video) so one has to go all the way back to 2016 to find a proper box office comparison: Morten Tyldum's Passengers.

That title – co-starring Jennifer Lawrence and admittedly released during a very different box office era – made just $14.9 million in its late December opening weekend, but it went on to make $100 million domestically and $302.2 million worldwide. There is no way that is happening with Mercy.

This coming Friday won't see a host of titles that will set the world on fire (I'll get into specifics a bit later), but I won't be at all surprised if we see a new #1 title, as I suspect there is a rough weekend-to-weekend drop coming in the future for the latest Bekmambetov feature.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple Takes A Terrible Slide In Its Second Weekend

Part of the reason why I suspect Mercy will have a rough second weekend at the box office is because of the word of mouth surrounding the film. While it's true that audiences don't seem to be reacting to it the same way as critics (evidenced by a 61-point differential in scores on Rotten Tomatoes), movie-goers aren't exactly loving it either, as illustrated by the "B-" grade returned in CinemaScore surveys.

Negative or lacking buzz can be death for a feature – though it's worth noting that it's not always a savior. Just look at what's happening with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

Of the limited new releases we've seen so far in 2026, the new horror sequel has earned the greatest acclaim by far, but it's not saving it at the box office, as evidenced by what has happened in the last three days. After landing in second place last weekend with an underwhelming debut, the film has seen its ticket sales drop by 71 percent. Domestically, the movie made only $3.6 million in the last three days, bringing its total in the market to date up to $20.8 million.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple is only doing marginally better abroad, and its worldwide earnings so far are up to $46.1 million. After 10 days, that's only about $16 million more than what Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later made in its domestic opening weekend last summer before going on to make $150 million worldwide.

Months After Its Debut, Zootopia 2 Is Still Hitting New Milestones

While most of the results in this weekend's box office report are a bummer, I'll conclude with a happy note and point out the latest milestone hit by Jared Bush and Byron Howard's Zootopia 2, which just completed its ninth weekend in release after debuting in theaters for the 2025 Thanksgiving holiday. After more than two months, the film is still holding on in third place in the domestic Top 10, and it just crossed $400 million in the region.

Zootopia 2 remains ahead of Avatar: Fire And Ash on the domestic chart, and only two movies last year earned more in the U.S. and Canada: Jared Hess' A Minecraft Movie ($424.1 million) and Dean Fleischer-Camp's Lilo & Stitch ($423.8 million). Will it eventually topple both? That may be difficult, but it's not impossible.

Looking ahead, the biggest new movie in theaters this weekend will be Sam Raimi's Send Help starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien, and it will be fascinating to see how it ultimately performs up against both Mercy and Avatar 3. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next week to scope out the results!

The Housemaid has seen a considerable amount of success since its release this past December. Amid the first first box office weekend of 2026, Avatar: Fire and Ash may have remained on top, but Housemaid landed at #3 with a sturdy a weekend gross of over $14 million. Around that same time, the Sydney Sweeney-led film also reached $100 million globally. While the book-to-screen had a modest start, producer Todd Lieberman was confident that the film would eventually be a hit.

Considering the financial trajectory Housemaid has had, it's now fair to call it a sleeper hit. In other words, the film got off to a somewhat slower start and had lower promotion than some of its peers but gradually found success due to varying factors. Todd Lieberman spoke to Business Insider about the Paul Feig-helmed thriller and mused about the irony of having a sleeper hit:

It's honestly impressive thatThe Housemaid was able to compete with the third Avatar film, the second Zootopia movie and another SpongeBob SquarePants flick. What those latter three films have in common is that they're all tied to IPs. Not only that but, unlike, Feig's film, they're not R-rated and can appeal to wider audiences as a result. That's information tha makes the box office receipts for this adaptation of Freida McFadden's 2022 book so impressive.

What needs to be noted as well is that Todd Lieberman has been responsible for producing plenty of other “underdog” films with fair budgets. For instance, his adaptation of the book Wonder finished second behind Justice League, and The Fighter made $125 million against a reported $25 million production budget. It's also important to note that the book on which Wonder was based was a New York Times Bestseller and that The Fighter arguably benefitted from word-of-mouth due to Christian Bale’s transformative performance.

In terms of The Housemaid, the film was originally supposed to have a Christmas Day release, which is a slot studios have historically liked to claim. However, it was moved up to December 19th, the same day Avatar: Fire and Ash released. On paper, that move may seem detrimental to the performance of a smaller film like Housemaid. But, as noted by Todd Lieberman, it was just the wind-up the movie needed ahead of the holiday:

That’s so brilliant, as those first few weeks provided some time for the movie to gain recognition and momentum. Also, with Avatar: Fire and Ash, David, Zootopia 2 and The Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepants all being family-friendly, The Housemaid eventually stood out as a true piece of adult-centric fare.

Even ahead of Housemaid's release, there was some hype brewing amongst fans of the book. Feig was already claiming people would be clutching their pearls, while McFadden said she loved the movie more than her own book. Co-stars Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried also hyped up their fun experience screening the movie early. Ultimately, critics shared mostly positive thoughts on the campy thriller. Also, word-of-mouth buzz helped bolster the movie to sweet box office heights, and Lieberman is not only pleased about what this all means for his movie but for the industry as a whole:

As of this writing, Housemaid has earned over $250 million worldwide against a reported $35 million budget. So it's no wonder Lionsgate is reportedly planning a sequel.

The shrewdest of box office analysts may have been able to predict The Housemaid's success. However, it's definitely evident that Todd Lieberman felt confident in the film's chances early on. Considering Lieberman's track record and knowledge, I wouldn't been too keen to bet against him. At this point, I'm just curious to see what the aforementioned movie's final cume is when its theatrical run ends. In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out the movie in theaters now.

When weekend box office numbers come in on Sunday mornings, they are understood as estimates. After all, Sunday counts as part of the weekend, and while it's true that buying tickets in advance is a big practice among movie-goers in the modern age, there are also still folks who plan last minute ventures or prefer to make their purchases in person. This in mind, we're going to have to wait until tomorrow to know what film topped the domestic market over the last few days, because the results we currently have register as "too close to call."

James Cameron's Avatar: Fire And Ash has been sitting in the number one spot since it first arrived in theaters back in mid-December, but Nia DaCosta's 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple debuted this past Friday, and it is making a challenge for the crown. For now, they are in a virtual tie – though the Pandora-set blockbuster presently has the slight edge. You can check out the full Top 10 as it stands via early numbers below, and join me after for analysis.