{"id":6156,"date":"2025-06-22T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6156\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T20:16:09","slug":"how-to-train-your-dragon-beats-28-years-later-at-box-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/6156\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018How to Train Your Dragon\u2019 beats \u201828 Years Later\u2019 at box office"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Neither Pixar nor zombies were enough to topple \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d<\/a> from the No. 1 slot at North American box offices over the weekend. The Universal Pictures live-action remake remained the top film, bringing in $37 million in ticket sales in its second weekend, despite the sizeable new releases of \u201cElio\u201d<\/a> and \u201c28 Years Later.\u201d<\/a> , according to studio estimates Sunday. \u201cHow To Train Your Dragon\u201d has rapidly amassed $358.2 million worldwide.<\/p>\n

Six years after its last entry, the Dean DeBlois-directed \u201cHow To Train Your Dragon\u201d has proven a potent revival of the DreamWorks Animation franchise. A sequel is already in the works for the $150 million production, which remakes the 2010 animated tale about a Viking boy and his dragon.<\/p>\n

Pixar\u2019s \u201cElio\u201d had a particularly tough weekend. The Walt Disney Co. animation studio has often launched some of its biggest titles in June, including \u201cCars,\u201d \u201cWALL-E\u201d and \u201cToy Story 4.\u201d But \u201cElio,\u201d a science fiction adventure about a boy who dreams of meeting aliens, notched a modest $21 million, the lowest opening ever for Pixar.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a weak opening for a new Pixar movie,\u201d said David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm FranchiseRe. \u201cThese would be solid numbers for another original animation film, but this is Pixar, and by Pixar\u2019s remarkable standard, the opening is well below average.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cElio,\u201d originally set for release in early 2024, had a bumpy road to the screen. Adrian Molina \u2014 co-director of \u201cCoco\u201d \u2014 was replaced mid-production by Domee Shi (\u201cTurning Red\u201d) and Madeline Sharafian. Back at Disney\u2019s D23 conference in 2022, America Ferrera appeared to announce her role as Elio\u2019s mother, but the character doesn\u2019t even exist in the revamped film.<\/p>\n

Disney and Pixar spent at least $150 million making \u201cElio,\u201d which didn\u2019t fare any better internationally than it did in North America, bringing in just $14 million from 43 territories. Pixar stumbled coming out of the pandemic before stabilizing performance with 2023\u2019s \u201cElemental\u201d ($496.4 million worldwide) and 2024\u2019s \u201cInside Out 2\u201d ($1.7 billion), which was the company\u2019s biggest box office hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cElemental\u201d was Pixar\u2019s previously lowest earning film, launching with $29.6 million. It rallied in later weeks to collect nearly half a billion dollars at the box office. The company\u2019s first movie, \u201cToy Story,\u201d opened with $29.1 million in 1995, or $60 when adjusted for inflation. It remains to be seen whether \u201cElio\u2019s\u201d decent reviews and \u201cA\u201d from CinemaScore audiences can lead it to repeat \u201cElemental\u2019s\u201d trajectory.<\/p>\n

With most schools on summer break, the competition for family audiences was stiff. Disney\u2019s own \u201cLilo & Stitch,\u201d<\/a> another live-action remake, continued to pull in young moviegoers. It grossed $9.7 million in its fifth weekend, bringing its global tally to $910.3 million. .<\/p>\n

\u201c28 Years Later\u201d signaled the return of another, far gorier franchise. Director Danny Boyle reunited with screenwriter Alex Garland to resume their pandemic apocalypse thriller 25 years after \u201c28 Days Later\u201d and 18 years after its sequel, \u201c28 Weeks Later.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sony Pictures release opened with $30 million. That was good enough to give Boyle, the filmmaker of \u201cSlumdog Millionaire\u201d and \u201cTrainspotting,\u201d the biggest opening weekend of his career. The film, which cost $60 million to make, jumps ahead nearly three decades from the outbreak of the so-called rage virus for a coming-of-age story about a 12-year-old (Alfie Williams) venturing out of his family\u2019s protected village. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes co-star.<\/p>\n

Reviews have been good (90% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) for \u201c28 Years Later,\u201d though audience reaction (a \u201cB\u201d CinemaScore) is mixed. Boyle has more plans for the zombie franchise, which will next see the release of \u201c28 Years Later: The Bone Temple\u201d next year from director Nia DaCosta.<\/p>\n

\u201c28 Years Later\u201d added another $30 million in 59 overseas markets.<\/p>\n

After its strong start last weekend with $12 million, A24\u2019s \u201cMaterialists\u201d<\/a> held well with $5.8 million in its second weekend. The romantic drama by writer-director Celine Song and starring Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans has collected $24 million so far.<\/p>\n

Next weekend should also be a competitive one in movie theaters, with both \u201cF1,\u201d from Apple and Warner Bros., and Universal\u2019s \u201cMegan 2.0\u201d launching in cinemas. <\/p>\n

Top 10 movies by domestic box office<\/p>\n

With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:<\/p>\n

1. \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon,\u201d $37 million. <\/p>\n

2. \u201c28 Years Later,\u201d $30 million. <\/p>\n

3. \u201cElio,\u201d $21 million. <\/p>\n

4. \u201cLilo & Stitch,\u201d $9.7 million. <\/p>\n

5. \u201cMission: Impossible \u2014 The Final Reckoning,\u201d $6.6 million. <\/p>\n

6. \u201cMaterialists,\u201d $5.8 million. <\/p>\n

7. \u201cBallerina,\u201d $4.5 million. <\/p>\n

8. \u201cKarate Kid: Legends,\u201d $2.4 million. <\/p>\n

9. \u201cFinal Destination: Bloodlines,\u201d $1.9 million. <\/p>\n

10. \u201cKuberaa,\u201d $1.7 million. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Neither Pixar nor zombies were enough to topple \u201cHow to Train Your Dragon\u201d from…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":6157,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[7706,6057,485,480,7708,7701,64,2059,276,7704,7700,7703,208,7707,7699,171,57,477,6059,53,7705,7702,478,61,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-6156","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-aaron-taylor-johnson","9":"tag-adrian-molina","10":"tag-alex-garland","11":"tag-alfie-williams","12":"tag-america-ferrera","13":"tag-animation-and-comics","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-ca-state-wire","16":"tag-california","17":"tag-celine-song","18":"tag-chris-evans","19":"tag-dakota-johnson","20":"tag-danny-boyle","21":"tag-david-a-gross","22":"tag-debbie-harwell","23":"tag-entertainment","24":"tag-general-news","25":"tag-jodie-comer","26":"tag-madeline-sharafian","27":"tag-movies","28":"tag-nia-dacosta","29":"tag-pedro-pascal","30":"tag-ralph-fiennes","31":"tag-u-s-news","32":"tag-united-states","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156","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=6156"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6156\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}