{"id":149889,"date":"2025-06-01T16:32:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T16:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/149889\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T16:32:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T16:32:10","slug":"legends-opens-to-17-million","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/149889\/","title":{"rendered":"Legends’ Opens to $17 Million"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cKarate Kid: Legends<\/a>\u201d slashed its way to $21 million at the domestic box office, a decent start, although one that\u2019s slightly behind expectations.<\/p>\n

\n\tHeading into the weekend, Sony\u2019s PG-13 action sequel was aiming for $25 million from 3,809 North American venues. Though \u201cLegends\u201d has garnered positive reactions from audiences (the film earned an \u201cA-\u201d grade on CinemaScore exit polls compared to the 59% Rotten Tomatoes average from critics), attendance didn\u2019t break out beyond \u201cKarate Kid\u201d fans. The movie carries a relatively modest $45 million production budget.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKarate Kid: Legends\u201d is the franchise\u2019s first new theatrical installment in 15 years, since 2010\u2019s reboot with Jackie Chan. That film opened to $55 million (not adjusted for inflation) and ultimately earned $359 million globally. This new version, directed by Jonathan Entwistle, unites Chan with Ralph Macchio, who learned the art of \u201cwax on, wax off\u201d in the 1984 original \u201cKarate Kid.\u201d The long-running martial arts series has enjoyed a boost from streaming with \u201cCobra Kai,\u201d a spinoff sequel that concluded after six seasons on YouTube Red and then Netflix. \u201cLegends\u201d picks up three years after the \u201cCobra Kai\u201d finale as a new student (\u201cAmerican Born Chinese\u201d star Ben Wang) becomes the latest protege to Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and Mr. Han (Chan). <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKarate Kid: Legends\u201d opened at No. 3 and didn\u2019t have the strength to beat Disney\u2019s \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d reboot, which topped the box office for the second consecutive weekend with a mighty $63 million from 4,410 venues. Ticket sales dropped 57% from its $146 million opening weekend, which is encouraging momentum for a tentpole of its size. The live-action remake has generated $280 million domestically and $610 million <\/strong>globally after two weekends on the big screen.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn second place, \u201cMission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning\u201d added $27.3 million from 3,861 theaters \u2014 and also declined 57% from its Memorial Day weekend debut. The eighth entry in Cruise\u2019s 29-year-old action franchise has amassed $122.6 million in North America and $353.8 million worldwide to date. That\u2019s a promising result, except the film is one of the most expensive of all time (costing $400 million), so \u201cThe Final Reckoning\u201d will need to keep climbing \u2014 like Ethan Hunt on the biplane wings<\/a> in one of the film\u2019s many thrilling, death-defying stunts \u2014 to get out of the red.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis weekend\u2019s other newcomer is A24\u2019s supernatural horror film \u201cBring Her Back,\u201d which launched in fifth place with $7 million from 2,449 screens. It reportedly cost $20 million to produce. Critics and audiences have embraced the terrifying movie, a thrill ride about siblings who uncover a terrifying ritual at their foster mother\u2019s home. \u201cBring Her Back\u201d is Danny and Michael\u00a0Philippou\u2019s follow-up to \u201cTalk to Me,\u201d which became a sleeper hit in 2022. That film had a stronger $10 million start before ending its theatrical run with $91 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

\n\tElsewhere at the domestic box office, Wes Anderson\u2019s latest feature, \u201cThe Phoenician Scheme,\u201d opened in limited release with $570,000 from six screens \u2014 averaging $95,000 per location. This ranks as the top screen average of 2025, overtaking A24\u2019s \u201cFriendship\u201d with $444,759 from six screens \u2014 averaging $74,000 per location.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Phoenician Scheme\u201d needs to sustain that enthusiasm while expanding its footprint next weekend to 1,500 North American theaters. Focus Features is releasing the meticulously designed espionage thriller, which boasts an ensemble of Benicio del Toro,\u00a0newcomer Mia Threapleton,\u00a0Riz Ahmed,\u00a0Tom Hanks and Benedict Cumberbatch. Universal, the parent company of Focus, is rolling out \u201cThe Phoenician Scheme\u201d at the international box office, where the movie has earned $6.2 million from 41 markets.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the summer season heats up, the box office is riding high with overall revenues up 25.5% from last year, though still 27% behind 2019, according to Comscore.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe box office is riding a boomlet that started in April with \u2018A\u00a0Minecraft Movie,’\u201d says David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. \u201cMomentum has been steady, but it\u2019s always fragile.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHopefully, an influx of blockbuster hopefuls \u2014 including \u201cJurassic World Rebirth,\u201d Brad Pitt\u2019s \u201cF1,\u201d Marvel\u2019s \u201cFantastic Four: The First Steps\u201d and \u201cSuperman\u201d \u2014 have the strength to continue the boom times. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cKarate Kid: Legends\u201d slashed its way to $21 million at the domestic box office, a decent start, although…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149890,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[77,60931,56208,3943,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-149889","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-karate-kid-legends","10":"tag-lilo-stitch","11":"tag-movies","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114609071484072895","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149889","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=149889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}