Raya and the Last Dragon Tops Box Office With So-So $8.6M Opening

Raya and the Last Dragon tops box office with so-so $8.6M opening

Disney’s latest animated extravaganza, Raya and the Last Dragon, failed to make much of an impression at the box office this weekend, with a surprisingly weak $8.6M collected from 2,045 theaters. The film was made available on Disney+ for a $30 fee but still couldn’t outpace the openings of Warner Bros.’ Tom & Jerry ($14.1M) or Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Croods: A New Age’s $9.7M 3-day haul during Thanksgiving.

What gives?

According to Deadline, Raya faced a couple of roadblocks at the theater marketplace, notably Cinemark, Harkins and Canda’s Cineplex — all of which blocked the title after Disney refused to budge on terms due to its availability on Disney+. Said terms, per the trade, “were a two-week minimum play with a scale that starts at a 50% rental if the film grosses ultimately between $0 and $37.5M, and then 51% if the domestic gross finals between $37.5M and $50M,” which isn’t particularly generous for a movie theater during a pandemic.

Also, where Croods and Tom & Jerry appeal to all kids, Raya‘s marketing was geared more towards females. It’ll be interesting to see how the film holds up over the next several months; and how its poor box office affects Black Widow‘s upcoming theatrical release.

As a side, Disney has yet to reveal any info on Raya‘s Disney+ performance.

Speaking of Tom & Jerry, the cat and mouse adventure dipped a steep 53% in its second weekend to earn $6.6M, bringing its domestic total to $22.9M.

And more bad news: the long delayed Tom Holland/Daisy Ridley YA adaptation Chaos Walking managed just $3.8M from 1,252 theaters thanks to bad word of mouth and some truly awful reviews. The film, which Lionsgate spent $100M on, even had the benefit of some 200+ IMAX screens. So, in other words, don’t expect another Hunger Games or Divergent franchise, kids.

INTERNATIONAL

Internationally, Raya only managed $17.6M from 32 markets, meaning its global bow was just $26.2M. Per Deadline, only $8.4M of Raya‘s haul came from China, though it notes that that number is actually considerably higher than Soul‘s opening; and that Pixar film went on to find enormous success. So, there is still hope that Raya catches fire in the Middle Kingdom.

Also, Latin America exhibitors Cinépolis and Cinemark did not show the film for the reasons laid out above, which dinged its box office potential from the start.

Still, Raya opened well in Russia where it grossed $2.8M; and the film should benefit from strong word of mouth and excellent reviews (95% on RottenTomatoes).

Chaos Walking failed to bring in international audiences as well, earning a combined $2.6M from the likes of Australia, Mexico and Korea.

Finally, Tom & Jerry collected another $5M in its sophomore frame, bringing its international score to $34.3M ($57.3M total).

IMAX

Raya and Chaos Walking drove the IMAX global network this weekend, with the former collecting $1.8M at the IMAX box office, $1.13M coming from China; and the latter snagging $400K, including $300K from the IMAX Domestic network, where IMAX screens re-opened in NYC for the first time in nearly a year.

BOX OFFICE TOP 10

1.) Raya and the Last Dragon (Dis) 2,045 theaters, 3-day: $8.6M/Wk 1

2.) Tom & Jerry (WB) 2,563 theaters (+88), 3-day: $6.6M (-53%)/Total: $22.95M/Wk 2

3.) Chaos Walking (Lionsgate) 1,980 theaters, 3-day: $3.8M/Wk 1

4.) Boogie (Focus) 1,252 theaters, 3-day: $1.2M/Wk 1

5.) The Croods: A New Age (Uni) 1,604 theaters (-308), 3-day: $780K (-38%)/Total: $53.6M/Wk 15

6.) The Little Things (WB) 1,448 theaters (-405), 3-day: $550K (-41%)/Total: $13.6M/Wk 6

7.) Wonder Woman 1984 (WB) 1,217 theaters (-317)/3-day: $511K (-27%)/Total: $44.4M/Wk 11

8.) The Marksman (Open) 1,050 theaters (-364)/3-day: $500K (-29%)/Total: $13M/Wk 8

9.) Judas and the Black Messiah (WB) 984 theaters (-366), 3-day: $282K (-42%)/Total: $4.4M/Wk 4

10.) Monster Hunter (Sony) 1,074 theaters (-164) 3-day: $260K (-43%)/Total $14.4M/Wk 12

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