It’s America’s biggest box office for a Memorial Day weekend ever, reports Variety.
And it’s been more than a decade since this many Americans went to see a movie during a three-day weekend…
Families turned out in force for Disney’s live-action „Lilo & Stitch“ remake, which collected a blockbuster $145.5 million in its opening weekend and an estimated $183 million through Monday… Meanwhile, older audiences showed up to watch Paramount and Skydance’s „Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,“ which earned a series-best $63 million over the weekend and an estimated $77 million through Monday’s holiday. This eighth installment just narrowly beat 2018’s „Mission: Impossible — Fallout“ ($61 million) to score the top debut of the 29-year-old franchise…
Thanks to effective counterprogramming — and a huge assist by holdovers like „Final Destination Bloodlines,“ „Thunderbolts*“ and „Sinners“ — this weekend delivered the best collective Memorial Day weekend haul with $322 million… Cinema operators are rejoicing because Memorial Day is the official launch to summer movie season, which is the most profitable stretch for the movie business. (Historically, the four-month period has accounted for $4 billion, or around 40% of the annual box office.)
It’s a huge improvement from last year, which started with a whimper rather than a bang as „Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga“ and „Garfield“ led the holiday’s worst showing in three decades with $132 million collectively. „Every film on the release calendar for the rest of the summer is going to benefit from the momentum created over this monumental record-breaking Memorial weekend in theaters,“ says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
But the top-earning movie of the year so far is A Minecraft Movie, which has apparently brought in over $940 million.
Meanwhile, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is one of the most expensive films of all time, according to the article, costing $400 million as Tom Cruise and the movie’s director „worked through a pandemic and two strikes, all while grappling with inflation.“ Though the film received a high „A-“ grade on CinemaScore, a movie industry analyst tells Variety that the unexpectedly high production costs means the movie „will be lucky to break-even.“
Fun fact: A quarter of a century ago, CmdrTaco reviewed a new movie called Mission: Impossible 2, calling it „a fun movie,“ but „no Gladiator“ and sort of a „James Bond for Dummies“ movie.
„The ‚Plot‘ is really just an excuse to show us lots of explosions, car/motorcycle/helicoptor chases…“
Read more of this story at Slashdot.