Yesterday,BooksmartdirectorOlivia Wildeurged audiencesto go see her film, noting that the film is “getting creamed by the big dogs out there.” Now that the weekend tallies are in, it looks like Wilde—unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you feel about massive global entertainment monoliths—was right. Disney’s live-actionAladdin, the newest of the aforementioned big dogs, took in $86 million over the weekend and is looking at $100 million+ for the four-day holiday frame.
Aladdin was followed by three franchise films.John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellumnabbed another $24 million, crossing the $100 million mark domestically.Avengers: Endgamesnagged $16 million, just on the verge of the $800 million line domestically.Pokemon Detective Pikachulanded in fourth place with $13 million.
But the two newcomers—Booksmartand theJames Gunn-produced superhero-horrorBrightburn—both failed to crack $10 million in their first weekends.Brightburnthudded down in fifth place with $7.5 million andBooksmartfollowed with $6.5 million. In fairness, both films are saddled with an R-rating—although that hasn’t hinderedJohn Wick 3—and both are a bit of a tough sell at face value for audiences with more familiar options, one an extremely violent superhero origin story and the other (unfairly, in my opinion) branded basically as “Superbadbut with girls.”
Booksmart is, for sure, the better-reviewed of the two films, with a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a solid B+ Cinemascore. Inhis review, Collider’s Matt Goldberg calledBooksmart"more than just a series of raunchy jokes, but a film completely rooted in character relationships and letting us enjoy a night of misadventures vicariously with its leads."
Check out the weekend’s top 10 estimates below, and be back here next week to seeGodzilla: King of the Monstersdo battle withRocketman. (Numbers viaBox Office Mojo)
Aladdin (2019)
$86,100,000
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
$24,350,000
$100,988,941
Avengers: Endgame
$16,841,000
$798,172,736
Pokemon Detective Pikachu
$13,300,000
$116,122,622
Brightburn
$7,535,000
$6,512,154
A Dog’s Journey
$4,090,000
$14,920,535
The Hustle
$3,812,554
$29,837,523
The Intruder
$2,265,000
$31,930,541
$1,565,000
$28,693,097
