{"id":147229,"date":"2025-05-31T16:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T16:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/147229\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T16:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T16:25:10","slug":"legends-chops-7-5-million-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/147229\/","title":{"rendered":"Legends’ Chops $7.5 Million Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cKarate Kid: Legends<\/a>\u201d kicked off with $7.5 million from 3,809 theaters across Friday and preview screenings \u2014 but it won\u2019t be enough to wax off \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d or \u201cMission: Impossible \u2014 The Final Reckoning<\/a>\u201d from the top of the box office.<\/p>\n

\n\tSony\u2019s \u201cKarate Kid\u201d legacy sequel is coming in behind projections for a $25 million debut, now slowing down to $21 million to $23 million. Even if it falls lower, the PG-13 martial arts film cost just $45 million to produce \u2014 relatively modest for a summer blockbuster play. \u201cLegends\u201d isn\u2019t breaking out much beyond \u201cKarate Kid\u201d fans, but their nostalgia for the 1984 original and its sequels is sizable. A 2010 film reboot, led by Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan, was a theatrical hit, and Netflix\u2019s popular \u201cCobra Kai\u201d spinoff series concluded its sprawling six-season run just earlier this year.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis new entry pulls together everything that\u2019s come before, with Chan returning to team with original karate kid and \u201cCobra Kai\u201d star Ralph Macchio to train a new young fighter, played by Ben Wang. Reviews have been middling for this Jonathan Entwistle-directed feature, but the fans seem to enjoy it, with moviegoer survey firm CinemaScore turning in a strong \u201cA-\u201d grade among the first wave of ticket buyers. \u201cLegends\u201d will hope that positive reception can draw more viewers as schools let out.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut Disney\u2019s \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d remains the prime option for families, making contact with $17 million more on its second Friday. The live-action remake exploded in its opening last frame, earning the biggest Memorial Day weekend gross of all time at $182.6 million. It already ranks as the third-highest-grossing North American release of the year, with $234 million so far. It\u2019s a fantastic result weighed against the film\u2019s $100 million production budget \u2014 and that theatrical success is even sweeter considering the film was originally conceived as a Disney+ original.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, \u201cMission: Impossible \u2014 The Final Reckoning\u201d will keep running in second after earning $7.5 million on its second Friday. The eighth (and allegedly final) entry in Tom Cruise\u2019s action series is projecting $26.7 million for its sophomore outing, which would be down 58% from its franchise-record opening.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Paramount release, which still has Imax screens and lots of premium large-format auditoriums, passed $100 million domestic on Friday and is looking to hit $122 million through its first 10 days. To compare to prior entries, 2023\u2019s \u201cDead Reckoning\u201d had $118 million in the same window, while 2018\u2019s \u201cFallout\u201d had $124 million. It\u2019s all falling in line with the franchise\u2019s track record, but \u201cFinal Reckoning\u201d cost $400 million to produce \u2014 a price tag that ballooned through COVID protocols, strike delays and years of inflation. Turning a profit theatrically remains a very steep task.<\/p>\n

\n\tEyeing fifth place in its opening, \u201cBring Her Back<\/a>\u201d earned about $3.1 million across Friday and previews, bowing in 2,409 venues. A24\u2019s foster-family thriller, starring a freaky Sally Hawkins, is the follow-up <\/a>to Danny and Michael Philippou\u2019s 2023 release \u201cTalk to Me,\u201d which debuted at Sundance before being acquired by the indie banner in a splashy deal. It became what was then A24\u2019s second-highest-grossing feature ever.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBring Her Back\u201d sports fantastic reviews and even a positive \u201cB+\u201d grade from Cinema Score \u2014 practically a rave from moviegoers, considering horror movies (especially ones as feel-bad and brutal as this one) tend to draw more divided responses. Those are great critical marks that could portend a similar breakthrough to \u201cTalk to Me,\u201d which opened to $10.4 million and legged out a fantastic 4.6x multiplier. There\u2019s no horror competition to come until Sony\u2019s \u201c28 Years Later\u201d on June 20.<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course, there\u2019s still \u201cFinal Destination: Bloodlines,\u201d which is looking at fourth place after earning about $3.1 million on Friday, pushing its domestic total to $104 million. Not only is that far and away the highest-grossing of the franchise, but \u201cBloodlines\u201d will soon double the domestic earnings of the series\u2019 previous high watermark, 2009\u2019s \u201cThe Final Destination\u201d ($66 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tIn limited release, Focus Features\u2019 has Wes Anderson\u2019s latest feature, \u201cThe Phoenician Scheme,\u201d earning $270,000 across Friday and previews from six venues in Los Angeles and New York. The well-reviewed ensemble adventure, which premiered at Cannes earlier in May, will expand nationwide next week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cKarate Kid: Legends\u201d kicked off with $7.5 million from 3,809 theaters across Friday and preview screenings \u2014 but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[21212,77,60931,55667,60932,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-147229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-bring-her-back","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-karate-kid-legends","11":"tag-lilo-and-stitch","12":"tag-mission-impossible-u2014-the-final-reckoning","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}