Aladdin pops up with strong box office debut, while Booksmart disappoints

"Aladdin," the latest Disney title track retread, yielded about $ 86 million for the three-day weekend, including $ 105 million expected for four days. This is a surprisingly strong result. after "John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum", he suggests that summer will follow the path of optimists.

Memorial Day weekend, once the official debut of summer movies, became secondary to the early Marvel titles a few weeks earlier. Although it is still a privileged meeting, several films have been in vain in recent years; Last year, "Solo: A Star Wars Story" did not yield 100 million dollars.

Even so, even with "Aladdin" exceeding "Solo", the three – day totals are down about 5% from last year and may result in a reduction in revenues. about 10% compared to 2018. But the results of this weekend are hopeful that this summer will further reduce this shortfall.

Daniel Smith

Franchise titles like "Godzilla", "Men in Black", "Shaft", "Child's Play", "Toy Story", "Annabelle" and "Spider-Man" will take place before July 4th. They bet that the retreading of past successes will pave the way for a great summer, and "Aladdin" could be room A for success.

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The film was initially expected to face resistance after Tim Burton's "Dumbo" disappointment, with forecasts lower than "Solo". Fortunately, this is not the case; the initial global catch exceeds $ 200 million (Japan remains the main territory to open). However, with a production cost of $ 183 million before major marketing expenses, it's not free. Titles like this can flourish in the long run, and Cinemascore A suggests a good initial response.

Annapurna Pictures / UAR

Older audiences, especially women, sometimes react more slowly to original films such as "Booksmart". But Olivia Wilde's acclaimed debut looks like a disappointment, and it stings. With just over $ 5.6 million collected during the weekend (there was an extra week of $ 875,000 in previews), the comedy very well commented on two unusual girls who Attempt to get high school four years of fun in high school was not impressive for a race in 2,505 theaters.

In the past, this film would have been widely distributed after the release of a platform. Younger characters may have created more resistance in an older, specialized audience, while its broader appeal and counter-programming ability seemed appealing. It was still sweet, despite the careful handling of United Artists.

It may be that we are at a time when nothing can make a title like this. B + Cinemascore suggests a fight with word of mouth; it's a slightly favorable answer. The best news is that with the previews removed from Friday, Saturdays increased by 30%. But this will require a quick turnaround to justify staying in the rooms.

Screen gems

"Brightburn", a co-production with the H collective, was more successful. This horror riff on the myth of Superman (an extraterrestrial boy come to earth, raised like a typical human but growing up on a different path) is another low-budget Screen Gems presentation (about $ 6 million). He managed $ 7.5 million for the weekend without major star power (Elizabeth Banks, the best-known name), without bad reviews, and not much attention in a weekend where "Aladdin "And" Booksmart "have taken over most of the air.

His Cinemascore is still embargoed, suggesting mediocre or inferior. Saturday fell 19%, not unknown for the second day of a title related to the horror. But the story goes that if studios support independent theatrical titles and their marketing expenses, it makes more sense to choose a movie like "Brightburn" rather than "Booksmart". This is discouraging, but it reflects the realities of the current market. .

Niko Tavernise

"John Wick: Chapter 3" will reach $ 100 million this weekend, with an additional $ 75 million to date. That makes it a success in every way, but it still dropped 57% this weekend. As has shown "Endgame", the company is more busy than ever. At this point, "Endgame" will be less well paid this weekend (its fifth) than "Infinity War" during its Memorial Day 5 week – and it's for a movie that debuted $ 100 million better on first weekend.

The best summers came when the movies had not only big openings, but also better hold. This summer, we did not see a lot of serious competition, but that will change in the weeks to come. If this trend continues, we may not be able to rely on opening numbers to determine the ultimate fate of the films.

"Endgame" dropped by 44%; "Infinity" last year dropped 41%. "Pokemon Detective Pikachu" has dropped a little more to 47%, with a fair total (for its cost) of 150 million domestic dollars to come.

Second weekend movies showed little sign of staying. "A dog trip" had 49% off. It's great compared to "The Sun is also a Star", an unfortunate movie that only managed $ 775,000 on its second weekend, down 69% and ranked in the top 10. It's about as bad as it gets.

The top ten

1. Aladdin (Disney) NEW – Cinemascore: A; Metacritic: 54; Is. budget: 183 million dollars

$ 86,100,000 in 4,476 movie theaters; PTA (per medium theater): $; Cumulative: $ 86,100,000

2. John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum (Lionsgate) Week 2; Last weekend # 1

$ 24,350,000 (-57%) in 3,850 cinemas (no changes); PTA: $ 6,325 Cumulative: $ 100,989,000

3. Avengers: End of game (Disney) Week 5; Last weekend # 2

$ 16,841,000 (-%) in 3,810 cinemas (-410); PTA: $ 3,478; Cumulative: $ 798,173,000

4. Pokémon detective Pichaku (Warner Bros.) Week 3; Last weekend # 3

$ 13,300,000 (-%) in 3,824 theaters (-424); PTA: $ 3,478; Cumulative: $ 116,123,000

5. Brightburn (Sony) NEW – Cinemascore: (not revealed); Metacritic: 45; Is. budget: $ 6 million

$ 7,535,000 in 2,607 movie theaters; PTA: $ 2,890; Cumulative: $ 7,535,000

6. Booksmart (United Artists) NEW – Cinemascore: 85; Metacritic: B +; Is. budget: $ (not reported)

$ 5,637,000 in 2,505 cinemas; PTA: $ 2,250; Cumulative: $ 6,512,154

8. The haste (United Artists) Week 3; Last weekend # 5

$ 3,813,000 (-38%) in 2,377 cinemas (-700); PTA: $ 1,604; Cumulative: $ 29,838,000

7. The journey of a dog (Universal) Week 2; Last weekend # 4

USD 4,090,000 (-49%) in 3,279 cinemas (+12); PTA: $ 1,247; Cumulative: $ 14,921,000

9. the intruder (Sony) Week 4; Last weekend # 6

$ 2,265,000 (-44%) in 1,612 movie theaters (-1,219); PTA: $ 1,405; Cumulative: $ 31,931,000

10. Long Shot (Lionsgate) Week 4; Last weekend # 7

$ 1,565,000 (-53%) in 1,358 theaters (-752); PTA: $ 1,156; Cumulative: $ 28,693,000

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