Disney claimed the top spot at the box office once again but their live-action take on Dumbo didn’t quite take flight the way they were expecting.
Dumbo grossed $45.9 million to open at number one but fell short of the $50+ million it was tracking at before heading into the weekend. So what went wrong? Despite receiving an encouraging “A-” CinemaScore I don’t think the film could escape it’s mostly mixed reviews. The film is at 49% as of this writing and this is the kind of film where reviews do matter a bit for audiences who may have been on the fence about seeing it. The opening is ahead of recent live-action Disney offerings such as Christopher Robin ($24.6 million), Alice Through the Looking Glass ($26.9 million) & Pete’s Dragon ($21.5 million) but it fell below Cinderella ($67.9 million) which is where many people thought it would end up. The film carries a $170 million budget so it’s going to need some heavy lifting from overseas grosses. Internationally, Dumbo debuted day-and-date in all markets globally with an estimated $71 million, which includes #1 openings in not only the US, but also in France, Italy, Spain, Russia, UK, Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico along with being the #1 western release in China and Japan. Leading the way was a $10.7 million opening in China.
Dropping to second is Jordan Peele’s Us which grossed $33.2 million. The film dropped 53.3% which as to be expected. The film has grossed $127.8 million at the domestic box office and honestly, a $200 million final gross isn’t out of the question. It will be interesting to see how it holds up against Pet Sematary opening this Friday because that film has received great early reactions and is bound for box office success.
Dropping to third is Captain Marvel which grossed $20.6 million. The film dropped 39.7% which is a good hold considering that there is more competition at the box office. Captain Marvel may take a bigger hit with Shazam! opening Friday but there is no denying that the box office run has been very stellar. Captain Marvel has grossed $353.9 million at the domestic box office and internationally, Captain Marvel added another $26.4 million from 54 markets, pushing the overseas total to $636.8 million and the global tally over $990 million. The film will soon top $1 billion at the global box office.
Opening in fourth is Unplanned, which grossed a surprising $6.3 million. This may seem like it’s not all that impressive but the anti-abortion drama did most of its promotion online since the likes of Lifetime, Hallmark, HGTV and others refused to run ads for the film. Unplanned won’t be around long but generating this opening weekend purely based on online advertising is an impressive feat. The film received an “A+” CinemaScore which means those who saw it, really enjoyed it.
Rounding out the top five is Five Feet Apart which continued to have stellar holds with a gross of $6.1 million. That’s a drop of 27.5% which proves that the demographic is really making this one hold up due to positive word of mouth. The film has grossed $35.8 million to date and this is all on a $7 million budget. A $50 million final gross isn’t out of the question at this point.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
