’28 Years Later’ Slays ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ in Domestic Box Office Debut

Audiences are spoiled for choice this weekend, with the summer movie season delivering one tent pole after another. Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon remake blew past expectations in its debut frame seven days ago, and is set to retain its box office crown this weekend, despite the arrival of two major new releases. The positively reviewed live-action remake has already passed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office and will probably pass the $150 million milestone by Sunday if it meets its $35 million projections. How to Train Your Dragon added $10 million to its total on its second Friday of release, finishing second.

It was beaten to the number one spot by Sony’s 28 Years Later, the zombie three-quel from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who are uniting on the franchise for the first time in over two decades. 28 Years Later grossed $14 million on its opening day, which includes the $5 million that it made in Thursday previews. It’s eyeing an opening weekend haul of around $30 million. Produced on a reported budget of $60 million, the movie received stellar reviews, and is currently sitting at a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences were decidedly mixed, awarding it a 67% on the aggregator website and a so-so B grade on CinemaScore.

Also debuting this week is Pixar’s Elio, which made around $9 million on opening day, after grossing around $3 million in Thursday previews. The movie will likely fall short of the $25 million mark this weekend, which is lower than the $29 million that Elemental made a couple of years ago. Elemental‘s opening was seen as a major disappointment, although the movie eventually legged it to nearly $500 million worldwide. Last year, Pixar broke records with Inside Out 2, which made nearly $1.7 billion globally. Elio opened with an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A grade on CinemaScore.

A Major Blockbuster Was Outperformed by a Rom-Com

At number four, Disney’s Lilo & Stitch added around $3 million to its total. The live-action remake is expected to gross around $10 million this weekend, which should take its running domestic total to just under the $390 million mark. A $400 million-plus finish is all but guaranteed at this stage; Lilo & Stitch is also aiming to become Disney’s first billion-dollar hit at the global box office since Moana 2 last year. The top five list was rounded out by A24’s Materialists, which narrowly beat out Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and hit the $20 million mark domestically. Despite this win, the romantic comedy will likely fall short of The Final Reckoning over the weekend. The action blockbuster made just under $2 million on Friday, and is aiming to gross around $6.5 million this weekend. It’s still unclear if it has the legs to pass the $200 million mark domestically. Stay tuned to Collider for more box office updates over the weekend.