\n\tThe good news is there\u2019s been a better mix of broadly appealing tentpoles (\u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d), kid friendly fare (\u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d) and critically acclaimed movies for older crowds (\u201cThe Phoenician Scheme\u201d). As a result, ticket sales are up 18% from 2024, according to Comscore. But the movie business has yet to regain its pre-COVID form, with the box office down 26% from 2019, when a pandemic just seemed like a dystopian idea from a Steven Soderbergh movie.<\/p>\n
\n\tThere\u2019s still plenty of promise on the horizon, from \u201cSuperman\u201d to \u201cWicked: For Good\u201d to \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d which should keep multiplexes packed in the coming months. But with six months of grosses in the can, here\u2019s a look at what soared, struggled and fell flat at the box office.<\/p>\n
\t\tLilo & Stitch\t<\/p>\n
\n\tGlobal box office: <\/strong>$910 million \n\tStitch, welcome to the A-list. Turns out, 23 years was the perfect amount of time for the rowdy blue alien creature to become a lightning rod of nostalgia for millennials, who turned out in force alongside family crowds. Initially planned as a straight-to-streaming release, the live-action remake of 2002\u2019s animated comedy is on pace to become the year\u2019s first billion-dollar blockbuster. And that\u2019s just the theatrical windfall. Stitch-themed merchandise has been all the rage long before he and Lilo returned to the big screen. In 2024, Disney sold $2.6 billion in consumer products featuring the \u201cLilo & Stitch\u201d characters. Now that he\u2019s the biggest star of the summer, expect that figure to skyrocket when Christmas and Hanukkah roll around. That\u2019s a lot of Stitch mayhem!<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\tWarner Bros.<\/p>\n \t\tSinners \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: <\/strong>$363.8 million \n\tWith \u201cSinners,\u201d an ambitious, R-rated slice of Southern Gothic, director Ryan Coogler defied the odds to prove that audiences can get excited about something unique. Word-of-mouth for the Warner Bros. film was so strong that \u201cSinners\u201d earned nearly as much in its second weekend<\/a> as in its first, an unprecedented result for a film that didn\u2019t open over the holiday season. It helped that \u201cSinners\u201d received some of the year\u2019s best reviews. And Michael B. Jordan, who starred in the film as twin bootleggers who open a juke joint in the Mississippi Delta, demonstrated once again that he\u2019s the rare box office draw. At a time when studios have become congenitally risk averse, \u201cSinners\u201d validates that sometimes it pays to take chances.<\/p>\n \t\tA Minecraft Movie \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: <\/strong>$954.4 million \n\tIt took more than a decade to bring this video game adaptation to the screen, during which Warner Bros. and Legendary shuffled through directors and concepts. Well, it was worth the wait. Thanks to its family friendly approach and the presence of stars like Jason Momoa and Jack Black, \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d grossed more than $950 million. And credit director Jared Hess (\u201cNapoleon Dynamite\u201d) with finding a comic tone that helped the movie appeal to more than just video game buffs. The smash hit arrived at a welcome time for Warner Bros. film chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, whose jobs seemed to be on the line<\/a> until \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d and \u201cSinners\u201d silenced their doubters. But there\u2019s more at play here. \u201cA Minecraft Movie\u201d is part of a wave of PG-rated, all-ages blockbusters that are rivaling comic book movies in popularity.<\/p>\n \t\tFinal Destination Bloodlines\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $280 million \n\tDon\u2019t underestimate the commercial appeal of comically outrageous and creatively disturbing fatalities. After a 14-year hiatus, \u201cFinal Destination Bloodlines\u201d officially resurrected the long-running horror series. The sixth entry in the stomach-squelching property, in which people die in increasingly insane accidents, is the highest-grossing of the franchise thanks to bloody good reviews <\/strong>and a killer concept. Death for the win!<\/p>\n \t\tMaterialists \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: <\/strong>$31.4 million \n\tCeline Song\u2019s follow-up to \u201cPast Lives\u201d is shaping up to be today\u2019s rare arthouse hit. That\u2019s partly because it wasn\u2019t marketed like a typical indie release. A24 positioned the movie as a romantic comedy with a love triangle comprised of glamorous movie stars like Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans looking like their glamorous selves. It worked. \u201cMaterialists\u201d opened to $12 million, the third-biggest debut for\u00a0A24 following \u201cCivil War\u201d ($25.5 million) and \u201cHereditary\u201d ($13.5 million). The film has inspired intense online debates<\/a>, many of them over how Johnson\u2019s character pays for her nice digs and designer duds on $80K a year. That gave \u201cMaterialists\u201d impressive staying power; the film dropped less than 50% in its second weekend of release.<\/p>\n \t\tSnow White\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $205 million \n\tWho is the fairest of them all? Certainly not \u201cSnow White,\u201d which proved that not every Disney classic is worthy of the revival treatment. With a dated premise, creative struggles and too many controversies<\/a>, the poorly reviewed \u201cSnow White\u201d wasn\u2019t able to shake off the bad buzz and will go down as a massive money loser. Not everything is destined for a happily ever after.<\/p>\n \t\tMission: Impossible \u2013 The Final Reckoning \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $540.8 million \n\tEthan Hunt has thwarted ruthless arms dealers, brutal terrorists, even some batshit AI, but the super spy was no match for basic economics. In order to make a profit, you need to earn more than you spend. In this, \u201cThe Final Reckoning\u201d failed spectacularly. The film costs $400 million to produce and more than $100 million to market. And since theater owners keep roughly half of ticket sales, \u201cThe Final Reckoning\u201d won\u2019t bring back anywhere close to what Paramount shelled out to make it. To be fair, nobody anticipated \u201cThe Final Reckoning\u201d would be so pricey. Yet that\u2019s the reality of shepherding a globe-trotting action blockbuster in the midst of the pandemic and then two industry-shuttering strikes. Still, if Ethan Hunt comes back for another mission, he\u2019s going to need to learn to economize. That might mean swapping that nuclear submarine for a Honda Accord.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\tEverett Collection<\/p>\n \t\tElio\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $34.9 million in its opening weekend \n\tPixar is used to making box office history, but \u201cElio\u201d is going down in record books for all the wrong reasons. With $20 million domestically and $34 million globally in its liftoff, the original space adventure stands as the worst opening weekend in Pixar\u2019s 30-year history. Unlike the animation empire\u2019s prior misfires, \u201cLightyear\u201d and \u201cOnward,\u201d a lack of quality wasn\u2019t the thing that kept family audiences at home. Now \u201cElio\u201d hopes to forge a path similar to 2023\u2019s \u201cElemental,\u201d which overcame poor initial ticket sales to reach nearly $500 million globally. Positive critical reception and audience response should help the intergalactic tale endure at the box office over time. However one thing is clear: original animation is seriously challenged.<\/p>\n \t\tHurry Up Tomorrow\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $7.6 million \n\tThe Weeknd may be one of the biggest musical artists on the planet, but his attempts to crossover to Hollywood have flamed out in spectacular fashion. (His first project, HBO\u2019s \u201cThe Idol,\u201d in which the Weeknd plays a Svengali-esque night club owner and cult leader, was the most talked about show during summer 2023 \u2014 for all the wrong reasons<\/a>). In \u201cHurry Up Tomorrow,\u201d a thriller\u00a0and companion piece to the singer\u2019s studio album of the same name, the Weeknd plays a fictionalized version of himself, an insomniac musician on the verge of a mental breakdown. Critics dismissed the film as all flash and \u201cno substance.\u201d<\/a> It\u2019s hard to know if moviegoers agreed because none of them showed up to theaters to find out for themselves.<\/p>\n \t\tThe Alto Knights\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: <\/strong>$9.5 million \n\tWarner Bros. thought audiences would turn up to see two Robert De Niros for the price of one. Instead, the studio got a big ol\u2019 write-down and one of the year\u2019s biggest flops. The gangster picture was directed by Barry Levinson and featured De Niro in a familiar mean streets backdrop. But times have changed, and \u201cThe Alto Knights\u201d looked like something from another era. After the scathing reviews hit, \u201cThe Alto Knights\u201d was sleeping with the fishes in an ocean of red ink.<\/p>\n \t\tThunderbolts\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $381 million \n\t\u201cThunderbolts\u201d was positioned as a return to form for Disney\u2019s Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had served up more than a few clunkers in the post-\u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d era. For the first time in a long time, critics and audiences dug the superhero adventure. And yet! After failing to hit the $400 million mark globally, it\u2019ll go down as one of the lowest-grossing installments in the entire MCU. Though Marvel remains Hollywood\u2019s most consistent hit maker \u2014 and the highest grossing film franchise in history with $31 billion across 36 films \u2014 \u201cThunderbolts\u201d confirms there\u2019s a new ceiling for superhero movies that aren\u2019t based on marquee characters. If Marvel wants to keep expanding its cinematic universe, it\u2019ll need to figure out a way to replenish the well without relying on Robert Downey Jr. to keep saving the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tBallerina \t\tFrom the World of John Wick: Ballerina\t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $100 million \n\tIt\u2019s never a good sign when a studio\u2019s marketing department adds a clunky addendum (in this case, \u201cFrom the World of John Wick\u201d) to a film\u2019s title ahead of its big-screen release. Lionsgate\u2019s attempt to spell out the connection between the Ana de Armas-led spinoff and the four-film series anchored by Keanu Reeves didn\u2019t pay off in spades. A $100 million global gross is impressive (except when factoring in the $90 million production budget), though \u201cBallerina\u201d didn\u2019t inspire much of the \u201cJohn Wick\u201d fandom to buy a movie ticket. That\u2019s a problem because Lionsgate is trying to expand the cinematic universe with and without Reeves<\/a> as the professional hitman. The studio needs audiences to care in order to justify that pricey endeavor.<\/p>\n \t\tBlack Bag \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office:<\/strong> $42.9 million \n\tCritics loved Steven Soderbergh\u2019s sleek and sexy spy thriller, and it\u2019s $42.9 million global gross isn\u2019t bad for a sophisticated movie aimed at adults. The problem was it cost too damn much. With a $50 million price tag, \u201cBlack Bag\u201d will lose Focus Features money \u2014 and potentially lots of it. That\u2019s unfortunate because it helps studios rationalize themselves out of backing brainier stories at a time when there are toys that can be adapted into movies. As Soderbergh himself posited<\/a> in the lead up to the debut of \u201cBlack Bag\u201d: \u201cIn theory, it\u2019s the kind of movie that people of a certain age always complain they don\u2019t make anymore. Does that mean they\u2019ll show up?\u201d Unfortunately, he got his answer.<\/p>\n \t\tThe Amateur \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $96 million \n\tThey don\u2019t make \u2019em like \u201cThe Amateur\u201d anymore\u2026 for good reason. This pulpy thriller with Rami Malek as a CIA cryptologist who is hellbent on exacting revenge on terrorists who betrayed him seemed like a throwback to \u201990s-era moviemaking. It\u2019s exactly the kind of star-driven action flick that has become a staple of streaming (we see you \u201cOld Guard,\u201d \u201cCarry On\u201d and \u201cThe Bodyguard\u201d), so it\u2019s the type of movie that\u2019s nearly impossible to get people into theaters to see. So-so reviews were the kiss of death, with Variety\u2019s Owen Gleiberman declaring the movie in one of its better notices, \u201cnever less than watchable.\u201d For something like \u201cThe Amateur\u201d to work, the execution has to be flawless. Adequate is not gonna cut it.<\/p>\n \t\tThe Accountant 2 \t<\/p>\n \n\tGlobal box office: $102.1 million \n\tApparently, somebody thought it was a good idea to make a sequel to decade-old Ben Affleck thriller that people barely remembered. It\u2019s true that \u201cThe Accountant 2\u201d was backed by Amazon MGM Studios, which views success and failure differently than more conventional studios because the company makes most of its money selling clothes and toilet paper instead of through ticket sales and licensing deals. That means the studio views a theatrical release more like a marketing opportunity for its Prime Video streaming service. Still, with these lackluster results, there\u2019s got to be a cheaper way to get subscribers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How has the box office fared so far in 2025? As the year hits its halfway point, Hollywood…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,7659,10806,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-11557","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-lilo-stitch","10":"tag-sinners","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114740055515952769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Budget: <\/strong>$100 millions<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/variety.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-variety-2020\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.gif\")
<\/p>\n
Budget: <\/strong>$90 million<\/p>\n
Budget:<\/strong> $150 million <\/p>\n
Budget: $50 million<\/p>\n
Budget:<\/strong> $20 million<\/p>\n
Budget: $250 million<\/p>\n
Budget: $400 million<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Budget: $150 million<\/p>\n
Budget: $15 million<\/p>\n
Budget:<\/strong> $45 million<\/p>\n
Budget: $180 million<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Lionsgate<\/p>\n
Budget: $90 million<\/p>\n
Budget:<\/strong> $50 million<\/p>\n
Budget: $60 million<\/p>\n
Budget: $80 million<\/p>\n