{"id":184318,"date":"2025-06-14T17:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T17:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/184318\/"},"modified":"2025-06-14T17:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T17:40:09","slug":"how-to-train-your-dragon-remake-gets-35-mil-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/184318\/","title":{"rendered":"‘How to Train Your Dragon’ Remake Gets $35 Mil. Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUniversal\u2019s \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon<\/a>\u201d spread its wings across Friday and preview screenings with $35.6 million from 4,356 North American locations. That\u2019s the fourth-biggest opening day figure of 2025, behind just \u201cA Minecraft Movie,\u201d \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d and \u201cCaptain America: Brave New World.\u201d Meanwhile, A24<\/a>\u2018s love-triangle comedy \u201cMaterialists<\/a>\u201d is eyeing a third place debut.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe PG-rated \u201cDragon\u201d is now projecting a three-day gross of $82.7 million, forecasting above earlier projections for an opening between $70 million and $80 million. That\u2019ll easily become the biggest debut ever for the franchise, topping 2019\u2019s \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World\u201d ($55 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tThat all spells a successful stateside launch for \u201cHow to Train,\u201d which cost $150 million to produce and is helmed by franchise director Dean DeBlois. It also shows that Universal can turn out its own live-action remakes of animated favorites. (The studio has already scheduled a sequel for June 2027.) Like Disney\u2019s May blockbuster \u201cLilo & Stitch,\u201d which pulled from a 2002 animated feature, \u201cHow to Train a Dragon\u201d is playing on a more millennial-friendly property; the original DreamWorks Animation production opened in 2010. Reviews have been positive and early audiences think the film delivered too, as indicated by moviegoer pollster Cinema Score\u2019s glowing \u201cA\u201d grade.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, A24 is also beating out industry projections with \u201cMaterialists,\u201d writer-director Celine Song\u2019s follow-up to her Oscar-nominated debut \u201cPast Lives.\u201d The romantic comedy, which stars Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans and Pedro Pascal, earned about $5 million from 2,844 domestic venues across Friday and preview screenings. That puts it on track for a three-day showing around $12 million, north of initial forecasts for a seven-digit debut gross. It\u2019d be A24\u2019s third-biggest opening ever, behind \u201cCivil War\u201d ($25.5 million) and \u201cHereditary\u201d ($13.5 million).<\/p>\n

\n\tCritics loved \u201cMaterialists\u201d and but it\u2019s less of a crowdpleaser for general audiences, with Cinema Score turning in a middling \u201cB-\u201d grade. But at a production budget of $20 million, the A24 release is well-positioned as blockbuster counter-programming for the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe top of the charts remains dominated by live-action remakes, with Disney\u2019s \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d sliding to second after spending its first three weekends at No. 1. The family-friendly feature earned another $4.7 million on Friday, down 50% from its daily total a week ago. Its domestic total is now at an impressive $355 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tFourth and fifth is a tighter race. Lionsgate\u2019s R-rated actioner \u201cBallerina\u201d has the edge for now, but it\u2019s taking a serious fall in its sophomore outing. The first \u201cJohn Wick\u201d spin-off feature earned $2.35 million on Friday and is now projecting a second weekend of $8.7 million, which would be down a sizable 64% from an underwhelming $24 million debut. Total domestic gross is expected to hit $41.1 million through 10 days of release \u2014 a disappointing result for a franchise film with a $90 million production cost.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust below is Paramount\u2019s \u201cMission: Impossible \u2014 The Final Reckoning,\u201d which earned $2.2 million more on Friday. Total gross is projected for $165 million through Sunday, pacing ahead of its franchise predecessor \u201cDead Reckoning\u201d ($151 million in the same time) but behind the prior entry \u201cFallout\u201d ($181 million).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Universal\u2019s \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d spread its wings across Friday and preview screenings with $35.6 million from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[21211,77,36987,72120,16,15,17981],"class_list":{"0":"post-184318","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-a24","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-how-to-train-your-dragon","11":"tag-materialists","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-universal-pictures"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114682948796156243","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184318","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=184318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}