There was a time when a sequel to a once independently-produced horror film would have been beaten handily by a new Pixar film. This is not that time. While things continue to soar in the right direction for live-action remakes, a wholly original film from the acclaimed animation company just couldn’t entice audiences away. That isn’t necessarily an indictment on moviegoer’s appetite for non-IP titles, but perhaps the latest chapter in their disinterest in animated science fiction.
King of the Crop: How to Train Your Dragon Repeats with Solid Second Weekend
Leading the way again this week was the 2025 edition of How To Train Your Dragon. For the fifth straight week, a live-action remake of an animated film has led the box office, earning $37 million to bring its 10-day total to $160.4 million. That ranks 19th on the all-time list for June releases in that period, ahead of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($157.9 million) and behind Monsters University ($170.4 million). Dragon’s 56.3% drop puts its second weekend closer to Monsters but right in line with Transformers: Age of Extinction, which was also $15 million ahead of its pace. Last week we referenced that Transformers film as the lowest grossing film among June’s top 20 openings ($245.4 million). Dragon’s drops going forward should be better than Extinction, but it certainly has some ground to make up to avoid becoming the new low bar for June’s 20 best openings. We’ll put its end run in the $240-260 million range. Worldwide the film is over $358 million, headed well into profit and likely becoming the fourth non-Ne Zha 2 release to hit a half billion.
Tales of the top 10: 28 Years Later Tops Elio, Pixar’s Lowest Opener
Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later is still the 13th-highest grossing domestic release in the history of Searchlight Pictures (formerly Fox Searchlight). It made over $45 million back in 2003. The sequel, 28 Weeks Later, released under the label of Fox Atomic, did not do as well, grossing $28.6 million in May of 2007. Now, 22 years after the original release, we get 28 Years Later, backed by Sony with a return of the original director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland. The reported cost is $60 million, higher than Boyle’s highest budget (The Beach – $50 million) and more than 2.5 times higher than the combined cost ($23 million) of Days and Weeks. In its first three days it grossed $30 million. Not too shabby.
By next weekend it will be Boyle’s third-highest grossing film behind only his Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire ($141.3 million) and his last film, Yesterday ($73.2 million). Sony may like the shinier estimate of $30 million, but there have only been five R-rated films opening in June under $32 million to reach $100 million domestic over the last 20 years (Knocked Up, Bad Teacher, Spy, This is the End, and Baby Driver). Where did you go, R-rated summer comedies? A big drop next week could end the nine-digit discussion faster than the rage-infected people in the movie, but the film has made $60 million globally, nearly as much as Weeks’ total, with Days in reach. If the international total can stay ahead of the domestic total, Years should be able to get into profit during its theatrical run.
History was made this weekend with the latest from Disney/Pixar. Their animated sci-fi film, Elio, finished in third place with the lowest opening ever from the animation company at $21 million. The original Toy Story opened to $29.1 million back in 1995. No film from Pixar had opened to lower than that since then, though Elemental came close in 2023 with $29.6 million. This is also just one year after Inside Out 2 became one of the 10 highest-grossing domestic releases of all time.
People will point to how analysts jumped all over the low start of Elemental, only to see it gross over five times its opening ($154.4 million) and just shy of half a billion worldwide. At best, no one could ever refer to it as a bomb, nor even a financial loser of any kind, though it was still one of the lowest in Pixar’s profit margin vs. budgets. Elio arrives with a reported cost of $150 million, less than Elemental’s $200 million and actually lower than any Pixar release since 2007’s Ratatouille.
What should be pointed out is how, with the exception of Pixar’s WALL-E, space-based animated sci-fi has had trouble drawing in audiences over the years. Look no further than Pixar’s Lightyear in 2022, grossing just $118 million, which remains the company’s lowest-grossing film that wasn’t shut down by the pandemic (Onward). But let’s look anyway at titles such as Escape From Planet Earth, Planet 51, Treasure Planet, 9, Space Chimps, Titan A.E., and Mars Needs Moms. Only one of those films grossed over $50 million.
Elio would like to avoid that list (and very likely will), but the last time an animated film opened in June to less than $25 million and still made it to $100 million was Chicken Run in 2000. Animated sci-fi issues notwithstanding, also take note that Elemental, once the second lowest Pixar opening of all time, is still the best opening for an original animated film since Onward in 2020. Beyond that, you have Encanto ($27.2 million), Abominable ($20.6 million), and Wish ($19.6 million). So that makes Elio the third-best original animated opening since the pandemic. Glass full? Pixar has only had three films that failed to gross three times its opening weekend (Lightyear, Cars 2, and Cars 3). Its two greatest multiples of all-time just happen to be Toy Story and Elemental. So let’s not rule anything out yet, but Elio is only at $35 million worldwide right now.
After three weeks at the top, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch has faced back-to-back family features; one of them from the House of Mouse itself. Now in fourth place, the film made $9.7 million in its fifth weekend, bringing its domestic total to an incredible $386.7 million, well on its pace to hit $400 million in the next two weeks. That will make it the 48th film in history to achieve that milestone, and to think there were eight films that achieved that before 2010. Stitch also reached the $900 million global milestone ($910.3 million), the 15th film to do that since the pandemic began in 2020. Can it become the 10th film since then to hit a billion? It appears it will not hit Minecraft numbers domestically, so it only has maybe around another $30 million or so up its sleeve. International audiences will have to step up in order to make it.
After a solid drop last week, Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning takes another one this week, down 38% to $6.5 million. That brings its 31-day total to $178.3 million, which is right on point with what the original animated How To Train Your Dragon had in that period ($178.3 million). It’s no surprise Ethan Hunt should have more in common with Toothless and Skrat than his human counterparts, because M:I Final is trending close to Ice Age: The Meltdown, which had a $7.2 million fifth weekend and a $177.8 million 31-day total. If that sticks, the film is looking at a finish in the $195 million vicinity domestic. Currently at $541 million worldwide, the film should be able to pass Dead Reckoning’s $567.5 million global total (it passed its domestic total this week) to become the fourth-highest grossing film in the franchise, which is settling into an overall $4.6 billion take since 1996 and over a billion of that in profit.
Falling from third to sixth this week is Celine Song’s Materialists. Despite strong critical reviews, the film received a rather muted grade from the Cinemascore crowd (“B-“) and its second weekend came down nearly 50% to $5.8 million. Having banked $23.9 million, that ranks it as the third-best 10-day haul for an A24 release ahead of Talk To Me’s $22.1 million and behind Hereditary’s $27 million. Materialists’ weekend is a bit behind Talk To Me’s $6.31 million, but it seems destined to drop off quicker, putting its final number probably in the $30-35 million range to ultimately make it the eighth-highest grossing domestic release in the company’s history.
In its third week, Ballerina is down to seventh place with $4.5 million. It has taken 17 days for it to reach $51.1 million, a number the third John Wick film reached in three days and the second film just two. The reportedly $90 million production has surpassed $100 million globally, which is only about half of what it needs to start counting profit. We had the film in the $50-55 million range last week, but now it looks like it will finish somewhere in the vicinity of $60 million domestic. That’s better than Karate Kid: Legends, which is still just south of $50 million with $2.4 million this weekend. That said, with only half the budget of Ballerina, getting over $100 million globally (as it is close to achieving), puts it much closer to getting out of the red during its theatrical run, even if it will still need its VOD and video sales to even up.
Rounding out the top ten is Final Destination: Bloodlines with $1.9 million in its sixth weekend. Its $134.8 million domestic and over $280 million worldwide puts it among the top 25 highest-grossing horror films since 2000. Finally, the three-hour Indian film, Kuberaa, cracked the list this week with $1.7 million, pushing out a pair of expanded platform releases.
Beyond the Top 10: Sinners Eyes a Record
Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme made $1.4 million. Its total stands at $16.2 million, passing The French Dispatch, and it should still surpass Rushmore, but it will be his fifth film to gross under $20 million and the second of his last three films. Neon’s release of Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck quickly fell out of the top 10 after its limited expansion last week to 1,072 theaters. The film grossed $1.01 million, bringing its total to $4.68 million. Bride Hard, sporting a meager Tomatometer score with just a handful of reviews, opened to just $932,000. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners, which will stream on MAX on July 4, is still cashing in with $820,000, bringing its total to $277.2 million. That is only about $100,000 away from besting The Hangover as the highest-grossing original R-rated film of all-time domestically.
On the Vine: F1, M3GAN 2.0, and a Festival Darling
Brad Pitt teams up with Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, who goes from jets to race cars in F1: The Movie. The reportedly $300 million budgeted film is going to need more than half of that Top Gun money to recoup that. Universal and Blumhouse had a surprise hit in January 2023 and are hoping to double down on it with M3GAN 2.0. A24 is also opening one of the most praised films from Sundance this year, Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby. The film is already Certified Fresh at 96% on the Tomatometer.
Full List of Box Office Results: June 20-22, 2025
- How To Train Your Dragon – $37.0 million ($160.4 million total)
- 28 Years Later – $30.0 million ($30.0 million total)
- Elio – $21.0 million ($21.0 million total)
- Lilo & Stitch – $9.7 million ($386.7 million total)
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – $6.5 million ($178.3 million total)
- Materialists – $5.8 million ($23.9 million total)
- Ballerina – $4.5 million ($51.1 million total)
- Karate Kid: Legends – $2.4 million ($49.3 million total)
- Final Destination: Bloodlines – $1.8 million ($134.8 million total)
- Kuberaa – $1.7 million ($1.7 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
