aladdin-live-action-slice

Yesterday, Booksmart director Olivia Wilde urged audiences to go see her film, noting that the film is "getting creamed by the big dogs out there." Now that the weekend tallies are in, it looks like Wilde—unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you feel about massive global entertainment monoliths—was right. Disney's live-action Aladdin, the newest of the aforementioned big dogs, took in $86 million over the weekend and is looking at $100 million+ for the four-day holiday frame.

Aladdin was followed by three franchise films. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum nabbed another $24 million, crossing the $100 million mark domestically. Avengers: Endgame snagged $16 million, just on the verge of the $800 million line domestically. Pokemon Detective Pikachu landed in fourth place with $13 million.

booksmart-graduation
Image via Annapurna

But the two newcomers—Booksmart and the James Gunn-produced superhero-horror Brightburn—both failed to crack $10 million in their first weekends. Brightburn thudded down in fifth place with $7.5 million and Booksmart followed with $6.5 million. In fairness, both films are saddled with an R-rating—although that hasn't hindered John Wick 3—and both are a bit of a tough sell at face value for audiences with more familiar options, one an extremely violent superhero origin story and the other (unfairly, in my opinion) branded basically as "Superbad but with girls."

Booksmart is, for sure, the better-reviewed of the two films, with a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a solid B+ Cinemascore. In his review, Collider's Matt Goldberg called Booksmart "more than just a series of raunchy jokes, but a film completely rooted in character relationships and letting us enjoy a night of misadventures vicariously with its leads."

Check out the weekend's top 10 estimates below, and be back here next week to see Godzilla: King of the Monsters do battle with Rocketman. (Numbers via Box Office Mojo)

Rank

Title

Weekend

Total

1.

Aladdin (2019)     

$86,100,000

$86,100,000

2.

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

$24,350,000

$100,988,941

3.

Avengers: Endgame 

$16,841,000

$798,172,736

4.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu  

$13,300,000

$116,122,622

5.

Brightburn

$7,535,000

$7,535,000

6.

Booksmart  

$6,512,154

$6,512,154

7.

A Dog's Journey   

$4,090,000

$14,920,535

8.

The Hustle         

$3,812,554

$29,837,523

9.

The Intruder 

$2,265,000

$31,930,541

10.

Long Shot        

$1,565,000

$28,693,097

john-wick-3-halle-berry-keanu-reeves
Image via Lionsgate
brightburn-costume-image
Image via The H Collective
marc-ruffalo-avengers-endgame-professor-hulk
Image via Marvel