LOS ANGELES, April 1 — Disney’s new live-action film Dumbo took flight over the weekend but didn’t quite make the expected altitude, taking in an estimated US$45 million (RM183 million) in the US, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported yesterday.
Analysts expected the movie, Tim Burton’s live-action remake of the 1941 classic about a small elephant with huge and magical ears, to take in at least US$50 million in its opening three-day weekend, according to Variety. The film had a US$170 million production budget.
With a cast including Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton, Eva Green and Danny DeVito, Dumbo may yet catch on overseas, where it has taken in US$71 million. The last Burton/Disney live-action collaboration, Alice in Wonderland, earned US$1.02 billion worldwide.
Dumbo pushed last weekend’s box office leader, Us, down to second place but the Universal horror film still brought in a respectable US$33.6 million. Written and directed by Jordan Peele, Us stars Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as a couple frighteningly confronted by their doppelgangers.
In third spot was another Disney film, Captain Marvel, which had US ticket sales of US$20.5 million, pushing its cumulative worldwide total to just under US$1 billion. Oscar winner Brie Larson stars as a former fighter pilot with superpowers.
Lionsgate’s Five Feet Apart, featuring Haley Lu Richardson and Cole Sprouse as a pair of enamoured teens who must keep their distance as they deal with cystic fibrosis, came in fourth at US$6.3 million.
Fifth place went to new release Unplanned from Christian production company Pure Flix, at US$6.1 million — a shade over its US$6 million production budget. Ashley Bratcher stars in the true story of a young Planned Parenthood employee who becomes an anti-abortion activist.
Rounding out the weekend’s top 10 were: Wonder Park (US$4.9 million), How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (US$4.2 million), Hotel Mumbai (US$3.2 million), A Madea Family Funeral (US$2.7 million), and The Beach Bum (US$1.8 million). — AFP-Relaxnews
