The Memorial Day holiday weekend is one that usually sets the summer fully on track but that’s happening earlier and earlier with crowded summers pushing things up earlier. This weekend saw the debut of the latest Pirates of the Caribbean film where it did $62 million domestically – and $68 million in China. The worldwide at this point with other regions brings it to a $208 million weekend debut that’s definitely solid and helped to push Disney to the $1 billion theatrical mark domestically quickly, with only last year beating it. Though the film did well it’s down over the previous film in the domestic market which isn’t a surprise as there’s some real drag on the franchise at this point.
The other new film this weekend was Baywatch did $18 milion this weekend and is expected to be fairly weak as it progresses, at least in the local market. The original TV show had huge ratings for the longest time overseas and is expected to do very well there. With a $69 million budget, it should recoup that easily over the theatrical run and then some.
Beyond that, it’s all previously opened films that are still hanging on with the bulk of them under $6 million. Alien: Covenant had a whopping 71% drop to just $10 million, bringing it to $57 million total. Guardians of the Galaxt Vol. 2 is still doing well with a $20 million take to bring it to 4333 million domestically and a $783 million total, surpassing the first with plenty more to go. It’s also the fifth highest grossing worldwide film for the Marvel films at this stage.
Next week brings DC Comics back to the film table with Wonder Woman arriving in over 4,000 screens where tracking has it as the most anticipated summer film as it edges out Spider-Man: Homecoming. Fox has Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie coming out as well which should feed a need in the kids market that has been very underserved with just Boss Baby still bringing people in.
