Tracer cinema (or Tracinema, i.e. the almost “traced over” scene-for-scene remakes we’ve been getting lately) got its latest entry this weekend. We’ve had your Cinderellai, Dalmatians and Lion Kings, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid, a Beauty and a Beast, plus (cough) Dumbo and Snow White, not to mention three straight weeks of Lilo & Stitch. But those are all part of your Disney crew. Its time for one of its animated competitors over the years to get in the game, and your challenger this week is Universal and Dreamworks on the 15th anniversary of How To Train Your Dragon. How did it fare? Well, pretty fine.
King of the Crop: How to Train Your Dragon Dethrones Lilo & Stitch with Fierce $84 Million Debut
It will never not be amusing to pare down an $83.7 million opening weekend. But in the numbers game of the box office, it starts with how you measure up en route to the end game of satisfying one’s bottom line. Among the not entirely critically lauded group of films mentioned in the prologue, the opening haul of the live-action, special effects-laden version of How To Train Your Dragon ranks eighth:
The Lion King (2019) – $191.7 million
Beauty and the Beast (2017) – $174.7 million
Lilo & Stitch (2025) – $146.0 million
Alice in Wonderland (2010) – $116.1 million
The Jungle Book (2016) – $103.2 million
The Little Mermaid (2023) – $95.5 million
Aladdin (2019) – $91.5 million
How To Train Your Dragon (2025) – $83.7 million
Maleficent – $69.4 million
Cinderella (2015) – $67.8 million
Dumbo (2019) – $45.9 million
Snow White (2025) – $42.2 million
101 Dalmatians (1996) – $33.5 million
Cruella* – $21.4 million
Let’s also not forget Paramount’s Ghost in the Shell and Charlotte’s Web films as well, plus a sequel with an added dalmatian. Dragon’s numbers, in comparison, should not be all that surprising. Despite being a solid word-of-mouth hit in 2010 opening to $43.7 million and then nearly making five times as much with $217.5 million domestic, there were diminishing returns on the sequels over the years, at least on the domestic side. We are still talking about a $1.63 billion trilogy stretched from 2010-19. That’s only six years since the third film had its biggest opening ($55 million) but its lowest domestic gross ($160.7 million, not even three times its start — a rarity for animation). Lilo & Stitch had a waiting period of 23 years.
How to Train Your Dragon’s $83.7 million is still the 18th highest opening ever in June, and the lowest final gross for any film in the top 20 was $245.4 million, and that was the first Wahlberg Transformers film. It was also one of just five films on that list to not perform three times its opening, the others being Man of Steel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and the last two Jurassic World films (which are also fourth and fifth on the June opening list). The budget on tracer Dragon is being reported at $150 million, so if the film gets anywhere close to the near half-billion haul of the original film, it will be a resounding success. Domestic numbers could get it close to halfway there. Internationally this weekend, the film made $114 million for a $197+ million start. Halfway to profit is pretty fine indeed.
Rotten Returns: Audiences Aren’t Interested in The Life of Chuck
When we looked at the platform numbers for The Life of Chuck last week, it was hard not to notice that a month’s worth of buildup was not the best strategy for a film that won the People’s Choice award at the Toronto Film Festival. Instead of building on that goodwill and extending positive word-of-mouth through a parade of festivals, Neon sat on the film, and audiences are going to have to discover it later, because they sure aren’t in theaters. Mike Flanagan’s latest Stephen King adaptation only made $2.1 million in 1,074 theaters. That’s a per-theater average of just $1,955.
Back in 1994, Sony platformed The Shawshank Redemption for two weeks after a debut at Toronto Fest. It began with $727,327 in 33 theaters, expanded to 328 theaters in week three with $1.96 million, and then went wider the following week, making $2.4 million in 944 theaters. Movie lovers eventually discovered that film in droves, but for all the talk about nobody seeing it in theaters, it at least made $16 million and then another $12+ million during its awards run, something The Life of Chuck now looks unlikely to have on top of its disappointing theatrical run.
Tales of the top 10: Lilo & Stitch Falls to Second, Materialists Opens Strong for A24
It’s a 1-2 punch of live-action remakes as Lilo & Stitch ended its three-week perch at No. 1 to finish second with $15.5 million. After 24 days, it is over $366 million domestic and $800 million worldwide — still the 29th best domestic total in that timeframe. The Dragon competition actually dropped Stitch in its pace against Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which had $370.4 million and a $16 million fourth weekend. Family audiences will be divided further next week with Elio, and if the L&S grosses continue to level off in line with Multiverse, A Minecraft Movie may be able to hang onto its title as the top domestic grosser of the year a little longer, with Superman perhaps being its best challenger for the rest of the summer. However, Stitch is also plunging forward with designs on being the U.S.’s first billion-dollar film of the year. At over $858 million, there is at least another $40-50 million on the domestic side alone to get it past $900 million. The final number could be close. A Minecraft Movie is over $951 million globally.
In 2023, A24 platformed Celine Song’s acclaimed Sundance film Past Lives in June. It had the fourth-best per-theater average of the year ($58,067) and went on to gross $11.3 million, with its largest release in 776 theaters. It went on to multiple Oscar nominations, including Best Picture. This June, A24 opened Song’s sophomore feature Materialists, with the most enviable romantic triangle in some time (Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal), in 2,844 theaters (their sixth-biggest launch), and it started with a solid $12 million. That is the studio’s third-best opening behind Civil War and Hereditary and will become one of their top 10 releases ever. Meanwhile, their release of Bring Her Back finished its third weekend in 11th place with $1.4 million. That brought its total to $17.6 million. After Monday it will be 18th all time on their list.
Sticking around the top five for its fourth week is Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning coming in with $10.3 million. That ranks fourth amongst the M:I films, just below Fallout’s $10.3 million. With $166.3 million in 24 days, the final film is behind the pace of Ghost Protocol ($169.5 million) and No. 2 ($168.3 million). The film is currently pacing closely to Thunderbolts* ($9.6 million fourth weekend, $171.8 million in 24 days) and we know that isn’t hitting $200 million. (It stands at $188.7 million after making $1.2 million in 12th place this weekend.) But modest drops on The Final Reckoning like the 31% this weekend through the July 4 holiday (and it should extend its top 10 run through July 11-13) should get the film over $180 million and possibly $190 million. The film has crossed half a billion globally ($506 million), making it the sixth film in the franchise to do so.
In its sophomore weekend, the World of John Wick spinoff Ballerina fell over 61% down to $9.4 million. At $41.8 million, the film is trending below The Chronicles of Riddick, which had $42.4 million in its first 10 days and a second weekend of $9.4 million on its way to $57 million domestic. Not so hot for Ballerina, whose budget is reported at $90 million and now could be finishing below that in the $50-55 million region. Globally the film is only at $80 million and would need to get well over $200 million to claim victory with its theatrical run.
Next up is Karate Kid: Legends, down to sixth place in its third weekend. It grossed $5 million for a 17-day total of $44.1 million. At this point, it is trending close to The Strangers, which had $45.2 million 17 days into its late-May opening with a $4 million third weekend. It only got itself to $52 million, so Legends should clear that, but it may end its domestic theatrical run with $55-60 million. It is approaching $100 million globally, but it has to feel like a disappointment for Sony.
Seventh place goes to Final Destination: Bloodlines with $3.9 million. After five weekends, the R-rated horror film has grossed over $130 million ($270 million worldwide) and is going to be coming in around the $140 million finish we have touted for weeks. Eighth place goes to Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme with $3 million. That is a full million less than his last film, Asteroid City, made on weekend three with a similar release expansion. That film also had $18.6 million, while this one is at just $12.7 million. Anderson’s third-most expensive film will be among the back half of his film’s grosses.
We’ve already covered The Life of Chuck above, so finally, we have Ryan Coogler’s Sinners. After making $1.47 million this weekend, the film is over $275 million and likely headed for a lot of awards attention — rare for an April release. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Back to the now: If estimates hold, Sinners will be the first film of 2025 to stay in the top 10 for nine straight weeks. A Minecraft Movie, Captain America: Brave New World and Dog Man all only made it to eight.
On the Vine: Plan Your Perfect Double Feature with Elio and 28 Years Later
Families get another option next week with Disney/Pixar’s Elio. Will their latest sci-fi comedy be more in the WALL-E realm or Lightyear, especially with Dragon and Stitch still pulling in audiences as well? R-rated horror fans are certainly being catered to recently, and they have 28 Years Later to spend their money on next week. It was 14 years since the last Final Destination film; it’s been 18 years since the last film in this series. Sony is hoping the pickup from Fox was worth the wait.
Full List of Box Office Results: June 13-15, 2025
- How To Train Your Dragon – $83.7 million ($83.7 million total)
- Lilo & Stitch – $15.5 million ($366.3 million total)
- Materialists – $12.0 million ($12.0 million total)
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – $10.3 million ($166.3 million total)
- Ballerina – $9.4 million ($41.8 million total)
- Karate Kid: Legends – $5 million ($44.1 million total)
- Final Destination: Bloodlines – $3.9 million ($130.6 million total)
- The Phoenician Scheme – $3.0 million ($12.7 million total)
- The Life of Chuck – $2.1 million ($2.4 million total)
- Sinners – $1.47 million ($275.4 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast.
Thumbnail image by ©Marvel Studios
