I must ask, once again, if any stock should be placed in tracking anymore. The live-action Moana went from looking at an opening in the $60 million+ range (or even $80 million) to landing with a far softer splash of $43 million. For those keeping score, that’s lower than Snow White. Fucking Snow White.
What went wrong? Should Disney abandon ship on live-action remakes going forward. The answer to the latter is no. Lilo & Stitch made $1 billion only last year, and although not from the Mouse House, the How to Train Your Dragon reimagining brought home more than $600 million, flying higher than Superman.
Was Moana too soon? Did Disney self-sabotage themselves by releasing it too close to Toy Story 5? Did the 2024 animated sequel dilute excitement? Who knows. But going forward, Disney should be careful not to go the Gus Van Sant Psycho route with shot-for-shot remakes. They could get away with it for The Lion King due to the breathtaking visuals (as could the aforementioned Dragon). They couldn’t with Moana, which looked almost identical to the original. There’s such a thing as playing it too safe.
Also falling way below tracking is Evil Dead Rise, which didn’t exactly rise much despite the two most recent entries in the series being well-received by fans. Do the Deadites not pack the same gory punch in a post-Terrifier world? Forecasts had Rise in the $20 million+ range, with some being downright bullish with a $40 million projection which was absolutely never going to happen. In the end, Dead got buried with an okay $13 million.
Finally, the black comedy The Invite opened just outside of the top five. Don’t worry, as this is a critical darling from A24 and Olivia Wilde which never needed to bring in the big bucks. That said, I’m sure everyone involved would’ve been happy with this doing just a bit better. Also, I’m not entirely certain what The Invite is about. It looks like Seth Rogen’s Neighbors if everyone drank wine instead of beer.
Next weekend, The Odyssey finally opens. I sure hope people don’t get weird about it.
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
- Moana (Dis) 3,875 theaters, Fri $18M Sat $13.5M Sun $11.5M, 3-day $43M/Wk 1
- Minions & Monsters (Uni) 4,244 (+1) theaters, Fri $6.5M (-60% from previous Friday) Sat $7.7M Sun $6.1M 3-day $20.5M(-45%), total $108.2M/Wk 2
- Toy Story 5 (Dis) 3,575 (-400) theaters, Fri $5.7M (-58%) Sat $7.1M Sun $5.7M 3-day $18.5M (-39%), Total $403.77M/Wk 4
- Evil Dead Burn (New Line) 3,004 theaters, Fri $6.7M, Sat $4M Sun $3M 3-day $13.7M/Wk 1
- Young Washington (Angel) 2,771 (+46) theaters, Fri $2.1M (-72%) Sat $2.6M Sun $1.7M 3-day $6.44M (-66%), Total $33.1M/Wk 2
- The Invite (A24) 1,610 (+1,582) theaters, Fri $2.47M (+687%) Sat $1.8M Sun $1.4M 3-day $5.7M (+710%), Total $7.38M/Wk 3
- Obsession (Foc) 2,069 (-571) theaters, Fri $1.28M (-41%) Sat $1.4M Sun $1.1M 3-day $3.8M (-27%) Total $253.3M/Wk 9
- Supergirl (WB) 2,584 (-1,018) theaters, Fri $1.1M (-69%) Sat $1.4M Sun $1M 3-day $3.56M (-59%), Total $66M /Wk 3
- Disclosure Day (Uni) 2,204 (-498) theaters, Fri $1M (-55%) Sat $1.2M Sun $900K 3-day $3.2M (-44%), Total $111.3M/Wk 5
- Backrooms (A24) 1,262 (-817) theaters, Fri $498K (-67%), Sat $548k, Sun $438K 3-day $1.48M (-54%), Total $194.1M /Wk 7