Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” will get its third No. 1 weekend at the box office, earning an industry estimated $33 million and rising above the underperforming “John Wick” spinoff “Ballerina.”
With a running domestic total of $336 million, Disney’s latest remake is on the verge of passing the $355 million unadjusted total of the 2019 “Aladdin” remake as it continues its way to a final total somewhere in the region of $450 million.
“Ballerina,” which was released by Lionsgate this weekend in 3,409 locations, earned a $10.6 million opening day and is on course for an industry estimated $25.5 million opening. That’s below pre-release projections, which had the film earning a $30 million start.
Lionsgate says that a $25 million start will be enough for this “John Wick” spinoff to turn a profit given that it has already partially recouped its $80 million production budget through presales to foreign distributors.
But it’s also a major sign of limited interest in the “John Wick” universe without Keanu Reeves’ titular assassin, especially given that “John Wick: Chapter 4” earned nearly triple the opening of “Ballerina” with $73.8 million two years ago.
For a non-franchise comparison, another gun-wielding, female-led action thriller, “Atomic Blonde,” opened to $18.2 million in 2017 and went on to gross $51.6 million domestic and $100 million worldwide. But that Focus Features film starring Charlize Theron had a much smaller budget at $30 million.
The one bright spot is that “Ballerina” has been embraced by the “Wick” fans who have seen the film, with early reception standing at an A- on CinemaScore and a 93% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes. We will see whether that helps prevent the film from being as frontloaded as currently projected and perhaps even boosts its current opening estimate.
