LOS ANGELES, May 26 — Theatres across North America are enjoying an exceptional Memorial Day holiday weekend, with two much-anticipated blockbusters bringing in an estimated box office total well over US$250 million, analysts said on Sunday.
Disney’s family-friendly Lilo & Stitch earned an estimated US$183 million, a record for the four-day Memorial Day weekend, according to Variety.
The film has already taken in an additional US$158 million internationally, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations reported.
“This is a sensational opening,” placing the film among the top three Disney live-action remakes, said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research.
Maia Kealoha (as Lilo), Hannah Waddingham, Courtney B. Vance and Zach Galifianakis star, while Chris Sanders again provides the voice of the chaos-creating blue alien Stitch.
Paramount’s new spy thriller Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning — the latest, and ostensibly last, in the hugely successful Tom Cruise series — opened to an estimated US$77 million in ticket sales in the United States and Canada.
Gross called that an “excellent” opening, likely the best ever in the series. Ticket sales, however, need to make up for a huge production budget estimated at US$400 million.
In third, dropping two spots from its opening last weekend, was Warner Bros. and New Line’s horror film Final Destination: Bloodlines, at US$24.5 million.
Kaitlyn Santa Juana stars as a young woman who must deal with the grisly aftereffects of her grandmother having long ago cheated Death.
Fourth place went to Disney and Marvel’s superhero film Thunderbolts, at US$11.6 million. Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan lead a motley bunch of misfits and antiheroes. The film has taken in more than US$350 million worldwide.
And in fifth was Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller Sinners, raking in US$11.2 million. The film has now earned US$259 million domestically to become one of the highest-grossing R-rated films ever, according to Variety. — AFP
