Over the weekend, it was widely anticipated that the race for the top spot at the domestic box office would be a foregone conclusion, with Dean DeBlois’s “How To Train Your Dragon” dominating in its debut. As a result, the real competition centered around who would take second place: would it be Danny Boyle’s long-awaited horror sequel “28 Years Later,” or Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina’s latest Pixar release, “Elio.
Initially, the figures have been compiled, and the findings are somewhat unexpected. It could be due to the continued fascination among younger viewers towards Berk’s dragon-plagued island that the swift zombies managed to secure the second place. Take a look at the Top 10 sales chart below and let’s delve into the analysis afterwards.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. How To Train Your Dragon | $37,000,000 | $160,485,000 | 1 | 4,373 |
| 2. 28 Years Later* | $30,000,000 | $30,000,000 | N/A | 3,444 |
| 3. Elio* | $21,000,000 | $21,000,000 | N/A | 3,750 |
| 4. Lilo & Stitch | $9,700,000 | $386,749,181 | 2 | 3,375 |
| 5. Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning | $6,550,000 | $178,379,000 | 4 | 2,603 |
| 6. Materialists | $5,815,506 | $23,920,137 | 3 | 2,844 |
| 7. Ballerina | $4,535,000 | $51,118,000 | 5 | 2,537 |
| 8. Karate Kid: Legends | $2,400,000 | $49,376,000 | 6 | 2,006 |
| 9. Final Destination: Bloodlines | $1,885,000 | $134,804,000 | 7 | 1,342 |
| 10. Kuberaa* | $1,750,000 | $1,750,000 | N/A | 500 |
How To Train Your Dragon Holds On To First Place With A Not-So-Great Drop
Over the past weekend, the live-action reboot of “How To Train Your Dragon” had an impressive launch, ranking among the Top 5 opening weekends for the year 2025 with a box office take of $84.6 million. This is worth noting because while its animated prequels were all successful films, they didn’t initially gain momentum as quickly as this new version has.
After seven days, there’s been a sharp decline in the movie’s box office earnings, yet it’s still on track to surpass all the other films in the series domestically in terms of success.
As reported by The Numbers, How To Train Your Dragon has earned approximately $37 million since its release on Friday. This is a moderate 56% decrease from its opening weekend. Currently, the film has grossed around $160.5 million, a substantial amount at this point in its run. The movie has climbed to be the seventh highest-grossing domestic film of the year, surpassing Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein’s Final Destination: Bloodlines which made $134.8 million. It is approximately $18 million away from overtaking Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning for sixth place in domestic earnings (it’s worth mentioning that both of these films are still playing in cinemas nationwide).
It’s worth mentioning that the remake stands out particularly well when compared to the animated “How to Train Your Dragon” films. None of the earlier movies managed to earn over $100 million in their first ten days at the box office, but the 2025 release has already achieved this feat. Moreover, it’s on the verge of surpassing the total domestic earnings of “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World” (2019) which was $160.8 million, and it won’t take long for it to overtake both “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (2014) with its earnings of $177 million and the original “How to Train Your Dragon” (2010) with its impressive gross of $217.9 million.
A significant hurdle for the film is achieving the status of the highest earning movie in the franchise worldwide. As of now, the 2025 remake has earned approximately $358.2 million, but it has a considerable distance to cover before it can claim
As we approach July, ticket sales for our movie are expected to decrease significantly due to global audiences being drawn towards upcoming blockbusters such as James Gunn’s “Superman” and Matt Shakman’s “Fantastic Four: First Steps.” If we want our film to make significant strides in the box office records, it needs to do so before July concludes.
28 Years Later Nabs Second Place With A Franchise-Best Opening Weekend
The attention on the box office for the movie “28 Years Later” will likely be immense since its success significantly impacts the continuation of the franchise. Filmmakers Danny Boyle and Alex Garland envision a complete trilogy, serving as a sequel to Boyle’s “28 Days Later” and Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s “28 Weeks Later”. However, it was disclosed earlier this year that the final piece of this trilogy concept (Nia DaCosta’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple”) has yet to receive approval. Production on the film has been completed and its release is scheduled for January.
Has the recent release of “28 Years Later” been successful enough to guarantee the completion of the trilogy? Although no definitive announcements have been made, it appears that the new horror film has begun with a promising response.
28 Years Later raked in a total of $30 million across domestic and international markets over its first three days, pushing its global earnings to an impressive $60 million within its opening weekend. This figure matches the reported production cost of the film (excluding promotional expenses), suggesting it’s well on track to become the highest-grossing title in the franchise. The original movie, which held the record for the most successful entry, made $82.8 million during its entire run, and the first sequel earned $64.2 million at the box office. With fans eagerly anticipating this sequel after a 20-year wait, it appears that their patience has paid off.
The movie has received overwhelming critical acclaim, with TopMob’s Mike Reyes awarding it five stars, and audiences seem to be enjoying it as well, based on the “B” grade given in CinemaScore polls. Given this positive response, I would guess that the likelihood of Boyle and Garland being allowed to complete their trilogy is quite high.
Elio Struggles Against Big Box Office Competition
This past weekend, the box office reports show mostly positive results for “How To Train Your Dragon” and “28 Years Later”, however, unfortunately, “Elio” didn’t fare well among them. Although it may not be considered one of Pixar’s greatest (a standard set extremely high), it received favorable reviews, including a 3.5-star rating from me for TopMob. Unfortunately, it struggled to capture much attention on the big screen this weekend.
Over the past couple of years, Pixar had a strong run with successful releases like Peter Sohn’s ‘Elemental’ in 2023 and Kelsey Mann’s ‘Inside Out 2’ in 2024. However, the latest release ‘Elio’ underperformed during its opening weekend, earning only $21 million – a disappointing figure that marks the weakest debut for any Pixar film to date. This opening weekend total is significantly lower than the $29.1 million made by John Lasseter’s ‘Toy Story’ in 1995 upon its release. On a positive note, ‘Elemental’ only made $29.6 million in its first three days domestically, but it eventually went on to earn an impressive $484.8 million during its entire theatrical run.
Coming after the releases of Dean Fleischer Camp’s “Lilo & Stitch” and “How To Train Your Dragon”, “Elio” entered a highly competitive cinema market… However, with no signs of a box office slowdown on the horizon, it remains to be seen if it can hold its ground in the Top 10 for a couple months.
Moving forward, you can expect an exciting lineup of three unique movies hitting theatres next Friday: Joseph Kosinski’s “F1” featuring Brad Pitt, Gerard Johnstone’s “M3GAN 2.0”, and Eva Victor’s “Sorry, Baby” from A24. As these new releases go up against the current films in cinemas, make sure to check back here at TopMob next Sunday for our take on their box office battle.
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2025-06-22 22:40