“We live to fight another day,” says Richard Rushfield, whose weekend optimism comes with a small caveat. “If this were a flop, I’d be ready to call it quits on the whole cinematic genre.”
But in fact, How to Train Your Dragon — a near beat-for-beat live-action remake of the 2010 animated hit — performed admirably, opening with more than $80 million in North America. “Remaking new animation from the past 25 years, I can’t think of a miss,” Sean McNulty says. Add in $15.5 million from Lilo & Stitch’s fourth weekend and $12 million from A24’s Materialists, and the box office is back in business after two straight sluggish outings.
Our Monday Morning QBs discuss how the hottest genre in town is live-action family, the potential buzzsaw facing Pixar’s Elio this weekend and why Richard thinks we should pump the brakes on Materialists receiving the comedy of the summer crown.
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