Box Office Update: 28 Years Later is solid, but Elio bombs badly (2025)

As expected, Pixar’s Elio is proving to be a major box office disappointment. Yet, even in Disney’s worst-case-scenario playbook, I doubt they ever expected its performance to be quite so dire, with it only on track for a $22 million opening (even less than what we predicted) and a third-place finish. That’s even lower than Elemental in 2023, which opened with $29 million, but eventually legged out to a solid $154 million gross. Will Elio have the same kind of legs? It’s doubtful, as being in the summer season, there’s a lot of competition, even if it scored a terrific A CinemaScore rating (we were less kind in our very negative review). Deadline, in their box office roundup, lists the budget at $150 million, but there have been rumours that due to the fact that it was reworked heavily, it might have cost twice that. Either way, it’s certainly Pixar’s biggest bomb ever.

The weekend’s other big new release, 28 Years Later, is performing better, with it looking at a roughly $30 million opening. The B CinemaScore is solid for a horror film, although again, it will be worth watching to see if Danny Boyle’s movie has legs, especially with a sequel, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, on track for a January opening. It seems to be dividing audiences, with some loving it and others hating it.

So far, though, the How to Train Your Dragon remake is looking at an easy win, with $35.7 million and a 58% week-to-week decline (not great but also not bad). Lilo & Stitch will be in fourth place with about $10 million, while Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is on track to edge out Materialists for fifth place, with $6.6 million to $5.4 million. The A24 drama is looking at a steeper than expected second weekend decline of 51%.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a full box office roundup!