Borrowing a page from Disney’s playbook is paying off bigtime for Universal at the box office, where the live-action remake of DreamWorks Animation‘s How to Train Your Dragon is headed for series-best domestic opening of $82.7 million and $200.8 million globally, according to official early estimates. That includes a huge international haul of $117.7 million from 53 markets.
Graced with rave exit scores from moviegoers — including an A CinemaScore and an almost-unheard of 98 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes — the $150 million summer event pic is winning over both families and younger single adults who grew up on the animated franchise. It’s the same phenomenon that turned Disney’s live-action Lilo & Stitch into a box office blockbuster. Case-in-point: nearly half of those rushing out to see How to Train Your Dragon on Friday were Gen Zers between the ages of 13 and 24. This is the first time DreamWorks Animation, now owned by Universal, has done a live-action rendition, with a sequel already dated.
If Universal’s estimates hold, the $150 million movie will boast one of the top-10 starts of all time for a live-action reimagining, including the seventh-biggest at the worldwide box office, the eighth biggest domestically and the sixth-biggest internationally. It’s also the eighth-best opening of all time for Father’s Day weekend, and the fourth-biggest opening of the year to date.
Franchise regular Dean DeBlois returned to direct the live-action remake of the his 2010 film about a young Viking boy named Hiccup (Mason Thames) who ignores the wishes of his father (Gerard Butler) and befriends a feared Night Fury dragon named Toothless.
How to Train Your Dragon topped Friday’s North America chart with a mighty $35.6 million from 4,356 theaters, including $11.1 million in previews. That’s less than $10 million behind the three-day opening of the 2010 pic, which started off with $43.7 million, not adjusted for inflation. And it will easily be the top opening of the series, supplanting 2019’s threequel How to Train Your Dragon: Hidden World ($55 million).
After ruling the roost for three consecutive weekends and shattering numerous records, Lilo & Stitch is headed for a second-place finish domestically with $13 million to $14 million from 3,675 locations as its North American total climbs to $365 million. Globally, it crossed the $800 million milestone last week.
Filmmaker Celine Song’s new romantic drama Materialists, playing in 2,844 cinemas, is expected to come in third with an estimated $11 million to $12 million. If so, that would mark A24’s third-biggest wide opening, unadjusted. The star-studded pic features Dakota Johnson as an ambitious New York matchmaker pairing clients with rich partners who herself becomes entangled in a love triangle with former flame (Chris Evans) and a high-powered exec (Pedro Pascal). Song herself worked as a matchmaker as a way of supporting her dreams of becoming a filmmaker.
Critics like Materialists— Song’s follow up to Past Lives — more than moviegoers. The film received a worrisome B- CinemaScore from ticket buyers, while the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is a tepid 70 percent.
How to Train Your Dragon has a huge advantage in taking over Imax screens that had belonged to Paramount and Skydance’s Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning for three weekends, but the Tom Cruise-starrer is looking at a fall of just 37 percent in its fourth outing to $9.3 million froom 2,942 theaters for a domestic tally of roughly $165 million through Sunday as it prepares to clear $500 million globally.
Dragon is also playing in numerous other large-format screen this weekend. All told, premium screens are responsible for 40 percent of the pic’s gross to date.
Lionsgate’s John Wick spinoff Ballerina continues to struggle in its second weekend, at least in the U.S., despite stellar audience exits and solid reviews. The female-led action pic, starring franchise newcomer Ana de Armas, is expected to tumble 64 percent to an estimated $8.7 million for a 10-day domestic tally of $41.1 milion.
Numbers will be updated Sunday morning,
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