Weekend Box Office (May 24 - 27, 2019)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND The Disney juggernaut continued its amazing run with their latest animated-turned-into-live-action tentpole, Aladdin, which opened to an estimated $112.7M across the 4-day Memorial Day Weekend frame. That's the fifth highest grossing Memorial Day Weekend ever, but the highest for a non-sequel. Reviews were mixed but audiences loved what they saw, giving the film an A Cinemascore which should lead to a bright future ahead. Internationally it added $121M across the traditional 3-day weekend period. While Dumbo didn't live up to the usual Disney standards, Aladdin has already matched that film's entire domestic box office run.

Last weekend's champ fell a reasonable 45% (comparing 3-day to 4-day weekend grosses) as John Wick: Chapter 3 took in an estimated $31M bringing its cume up to $107.6M. In 11 days Chapter 3 has already outgrossed both previous films in the series. Look for a final total in the $150M range.

Continuing its historic run, Avengers: Endgame slipped 25% to an estimated $22.3M, bringing its gargantuan total up to $803.6M, only the second film in history to cross the $800M mark domestically. Currently it stands nearly $130M behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the top spot on the all-time domestic charts, but only $111M behind Avatar for #1 on the all-time worldwide charts. It'll be a race to the finish to take down Avatar but it wouldn't surprise me if Disney pulled out all the stops to get there.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu landed in fourth place this weekend with an estimated $17.3M, bringing its total up to $120M. In another week it should pass Lara Croft: Tomb Raider to become the highest grossing film based on a video game.

A couple of newcomers took the next two spots. Sony's horror entry Brightburn opened in 2,607 theaters to an estimated $9.5M over the long holiday weekend, for a per screen average of $3,644. Reviews were mixed but a CinemaScore of a C+ does not bode well for any sort of long term future for the fright flick. Still, on a $6M budget, it'll at least make its money back. Following just behind was the critically acclaimed Booksmart which took in an estimated $8.7M from 2,505 theaters for a per screen average of $3,469. Easily the best reviewed film of the year so far, Booksmart may have been better served by a fall or winter release as it got lost in the summer blockbuster crowd. A CinemaScore of a B+ is decent, but not great, which is not a great indicator for future box office success.

Holdovers filled up the rest of the top 10 this weekend. A Dog's Journey added an additional $5.5M in its second weekend, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $16.3M. The Hustle stole $4.8M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its cume up to $30.8M after three weekends. Sony's The Intruder made an estimated $2.9M this weekend, bringing its total up to $32.6M after a month, while rounding out the top 10 was Long Shot which rustled up $2.1M this weekend, according to estimates, for a total of just under $30M.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $216.8M across the holiday weekend, which was down a scant .6% from last year's Memorial Day weekend when Solo: A Star Wars Story opened at number one with $84.4M; but up 27.7% from 2017 when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales debuted on top with $62.9M.


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Watch the trailer for It Chapter Two.

# Title May 24 - 27 May 17 - 19 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Aladdin $ 116,805,962 4,476 1 $ 26,096 $ 116,805,962 Disney
2 John Wick: Chapter 3 30,974,297 56,818,067 -45.5 3,850 2 8,045 107,613,238 Lionsgate
3 Avengers: Endgame 22,063,855 29,973,505 -26.4 3,810 5 5,791 803,395,591 Disney
4 Pokemon Detective Pikachu 17,247,401 25,108,159 -31.3 3,824 3 4,510 120,070,023 Warner Bros.
5 Brightburn 9,610,417 2,607 1 3,686 9,610,417 Sony
6 Booksmart 8,701,363 2,505 1 3,474 8,701,363 UA
7 A Dog's Journey 5,447,100 8,030,085 -32.2 3,279 2 1,661 16,277,635 Universal
8 The Hustle 4,590,727 6,139,638 -25.2 2,377 3 1,931 30,615,696 UA
9 The Intruder 2,943,169 4,017,808 -26.7 1,612 4 1,826 32,608,710 Sony
10 Long Shot 1,999,572 3,341,917 -40.2 1,358 4 1,472 29,127,669 Lionsgate
11 Dumbo 1,192,842 309,302 285.7 346 9 3,448 112,848,255 Disney
12 The Sun Is Also a Star 1,048,881 2,511,530 -58.2 2,073 2 506 4,535,705 Warner Bros.
13 Uglydolls 890,108 1,779,617 -50.0 1,090 4 817 19,110,250 STX
14 Poms 885,664 2,180,698 -59.4 911 3 972 12,598,775 STX
15 The Biggest Little Farm 679,812 276,446 145.9 181 3 3,756 1,209,750 Neon
16 The Curse of La Llorona 604,547 890,020 -32.1 359 6 1,684 53,954,772 Warner Bros.
17 Breakthrough 526,900 1,081,480 -51.3 551 6 956 39,995,147 Fox
18 Captain Marvel 494,727 735,998 -32.8 300 12 1,649 425,917,079 Disney
19 The Church 475,524 252 1 1,887 475,524 Indican
20 The White Crow 440,465 231,379 90.4 356 5 1,237 1,264,812 Sony Classics
Top 5 $ 196,701,932 $ 126,069,454 56.0
Top 10 220,383,863 139,901,024 57.5
Top 20 227,623,333 145,523,523 56.4
Top 20 vs. Memorial Day 2018 227,623,333 223,390,928 1.9

Last Updated: May 27, 2019 at 2:45PM ET

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