‘Lilo & Stitch’ To Prevail With $60M 2nd Weekend, ‘Karate Kid: Legends’ $25M: Box Office

The summer box office just got a lot deeper.

Following the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all-time with an updated near $330M from Comscore, the theatrical release schedule now has a rhythm with something for everyone, well for a while; definitely through Labor Day weekend with New Line’s The Conjuring: Last Rites. Gearing up business even more is 45% of K-12 schools are out for good this summer starting Friday.

The big new event film is Sony’s Karate Kid: Legends which was made for a thrifty net $45M before P&A, and a complete homage to the Karate Kid of yore, the new Jackie Chan paradigm and the Cobra Kai fandom. It’s expected to do $25M-$30M at 3,600 locations, including a share of PLF screens, and even though it’s impossible for Ralph Macchio’s Daniel-son and Chan’s Mr. Han to kick Disney’s Lilo & Stitch to the mat, that’s a great second or third place haul for exhibitors this weekend. Previews start Thursday at 2PM. Review embargo lift at the time of this post hasn’t registered on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Karate Kid is a 41-year old film franchise counting five previous movies. The 2010 reboot with Chan and Jaden Smith owns the franchise’s record opening with $55.7M. It’s also the series’ highest grossing title at $176.6M domestic, $359M WW.

Meanwhile, Lilo & Stitch is looking at a second frame of $60M, -59%, which is in the vicinity of previous Disney Memorial Day live-action takes of classic toons, Aladdin (-53%), and Little Mermaid (-57%). We’re getting word that Tuesday was fantastic. At the time of this post, we’re still waiting on those numbers. The final 4-day on Lilo & Stitch was $182.6M, still the best debut Memorial Day weekend has ever seen. If you have a great movie, Hollywood, people will break off from the barbeque.

Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning will stay afloat at -50% and all those Imax screens for a second weekend of $32M. The eighth Tom Cruise Ethan Hunt movie finaled at $79M at the four-day box office.

Also looking to break out is the follow-up film from Australian twin brothers, Danny and Michael Phillipou, Bring Her Back at 89% fresh. I wouldn’t underestimate this second film from the duo after their Sundance smash Talk to Me which minted over $48M stateside. Projections are $5M-$7M for this movie about foster teens (one of them visually impaired) in peril with a their new foster mom played by Sally Hawkins — who we all know from sweet natured roles ala The Shape of Water, but here, she’s an amazing monster. A24 funded this movie by selling foreign to Sony Pictures Releasing. Talk to Me ranks as A24’s third highest opening for a horror movie at $10.4M after Ari Aster’s Hereditary ($13.5M) and the Hugh Grant title, Heretic, at $10.8M. One thing is for certain: This is a twisted movie, like you’ve never seen before.