America Has Biggest Three-Day Weekend Box Office Ever

It's America's biggest box office for a Memorial Day weekend ever, reports Variety.

And it's been more than a decade since this many Americans went to see a movie during a three-day weekend...

Families turned out in force for Disney's live-action 'Lilo & Stitch' remake, which collected a blockbuster $145.5 million in its opening weekend and an estimated $183 million through Monday... Meanwhile, older audiences showed up to watch Paramount and Skydance's 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,' which earned a series-best $63 million over the weekend and an estimated $77 million through Monday's holiday. This eighth installment just narrowly beat 2018's 'Mission: Impossible — Fallout' ($61 million) to score the top debut of the 29-year-old franchise...

Thanks to effective counterprogramming — and a huge assist by holdovers like 'Final Destination Bloodlines,' 'Thunderbolts*' and 'Sinners' — this weekend delivered the best collective Memorial Day weekend haul with $322 million... Cinema operators are rejoicing because Memorial Day is the official launch to summer movie season, which is the most profitable stretch for the movie business. (Historically, the four-month period has accounted for $4 billion, or around 40% of the annual box office.)

It's a huge improvement from last year, which started with a whimper rather than a bang as 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga' and 'Garfield' led the holiday's worst showing in three decades with $132 million collectively. 'Every film on the release calendar for the rest of the summer is going to benefit from the momentum created over this monumental record-breaking Memorial weekend in theaters,' says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
But the top-earning movie of the year so far is A Minecraft Movie, which has apparently brought in over $940 million.
Meanwhile, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning is one of the most expensive films of all time, according to the article, costing $400 million as Tom Cruise and the movie's director 'worked through a pandemic and two strikes, all while grappling with inflation.' Though the film received a high 'A-' grade on CinemaScore, a movie industry analyst tells Variety that the unexpectedly high production costs means the movie 'will be lucky to break-even.'

Fun fact: A quarter of a century ago, CmdrTaco reviewed a new movie called Mission: Impossible 2, calling it 'a fun movie,' but 'no Gladiator' and sort of a 'James Bond for Dummies' movie.

'The 'Plot' is really just an excuse to show us lots of explosions, car/motorcycle/helicoptor chases...'

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