Disney/Pixar’s “Toy Story 5” will easily hold on to the top spot at the box office on pre-July 4th weekend over Warner Bros./DC’s “Supergirl,” taking $21 million on Friday for an industry estimated $72.5 million second weekend that will put it past $300 million in the U.S. and Canada on Sunday.
“Toy Story 5” performed strongly through weekday screenings, boosted by families looking to see the highly praised sequel at theaters with midweek discount offers. That interest has continued into this weekend with a drop of just 55% from its $160 million opening, and should lead into solid July holds even with Universal/Illumination’s “Minions & Monsters,” which is tracking for a $100 million-plus 5-day opening next weekend, as direct competition.
“Supergirl,” meanwhile, is flying low with an opening day total of $18 million, including $7.8 million from Thursday previews. From that start, industry estimates have the film earning a $38-40 million opening weekend, a bad sign given the film’s $170 million reported budget.
Directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Milly Alcock as the trauma-stricken Kara Zor-El, “Supergirl” has struck Kryptonite rather than gold with its critics and audience scores, earning Rotten Tomatoes ratings of 57% critics and 78% audience and a B- on CinemaScore, the latter falling below the B received by the 2023 DC flop “The Flash,” which made $271 million worldwide.
Warner Bros. seemed to be on the right track with last year’s “Superman,” which rebooted DC’s cinematic timeline under the newly formed DC Studios and its chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran. That film grossed $618 million worldwide.
But “Supergirl” has an early trajectory closer to “The Flash” and other DC films released prior to the reboot like “Birds of Prey” and “Blue Beetle,” and it will be a while before another DC film with a tentpole budget and a fresh lead actor will be in theaters, as the next films up on DC Studios’ slate are the mid-budget horror film “Clayface,” the “Superman” sequel “Man of Tomorrow,” and the Robert Pattinson sequel “The Batman Part II.”
In fourth this weekend is Paramount’s “Jackass: Best and Last,” which made $3.7 million from 2,855 locations and is tracking for an opening weekend of $8.4 million. That’s roughly a third of the $23.1 million opening that its 2022 predecessor, “Jackass Forever,” made from an early February release.
But that was to be expected as the final film in the irreverent stunt series was designed as a retrospective on its 25-year history, with half of its runtime dedicated to stunts from the 2001 MTV series and previous films. The movie was also produced on a budget of just $10 million, so it should still be able to break even. Reception for “Best and Last” has been positive among fans with an A- on CinemaScore and an 85% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
