Lionsgate’s From The World Of John Wick: Ballerina opened below tracking on an estimated $25m in second place through Lionsgate as Disney’s family behemoth Lilo & Stitch held on to top place in its third weekend.
Overall North American box office earned an estimated $113.4m per Comscore and the year-to-date has amassed $3.53bn to track a very healthy 26% ahead of 2024 by the same stage.
John Wick spin-off Ballerina stars Ana de Armas and while action spin-offs historically have opened significantly below the previous entry in a franchise, the 65% drop-off from John Wick 4 will not make Lionsgate executives happy. Early tracking had the new instalment debuting on $35m before that dropped to $30m.
That said, decent reviews have resulted in an A-Cinemascore for Ballerina, which takes place during the events of John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and Lionsgate executives will be hoping for strong word of mouth in the weeks ahead. The core franchise instalments have earned more than their predecessors. John Wick 4 grossed $188m in North America and $440.2m worldwide when all was said and done.
Len Wiseman directed Ballerina, which debuted in 3,409 cinemas and follows de Armas as Eve Macarro, who begins her assassin training under the auspices of the shadowy Ruska Roma. The film earned $51m worldwide and PostTrak reported the overall audience in North America was 63% male and 76% comprised the 25-plus crowd.
The evergreen live-action Lilo & Stitch added $32.5m from 4,185 sites to reach $335.8m, consolidating its ranking as the second highest release so far in 2025 behind Warner Bros and Legendary’s A Minecraft Movie. After 17 days in release, Lilo & Stitch it has surpassed the $298m North American final gross of Disney’s 2023 hit The Little Mermaid.
Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning fell 45% to finish third in its third session. Tom Cruise’s action adventure added $15m from 3,496 locations for a $149.2m running total and $450.4m worldwide – a long way off what it needs to break even if the $400m production cost (excluding marketing) is to be believed.
Columbia Pictures’ Karate Kid: Legends in fourth place fell 57% from last weekend’s disappointing opening with an $8.7m session that raised the running total to $35.4m. Warner Bros’ Final Destination: Bloodlines in fifth fell 40% for $6.5m and easily stands at a franchise-high $123.6m after four weekends.
Focus Features expanded Wes Anderson’s Cannes Competition entry The Phoenician Scheme, which delivered the largest per-theatre average of the year to date when it opened last week in six cinemas. Ranking sixth and playing in 1,678, the ensemble grossed an estimated $6.3m to reach an early $6.5m running total.
The audience skewed 56% male and 59% were aged between 18 and 34. Focus said Alamo Drafthouse Theaters delivered the best numbers with 7.5% of the weekend compared to what the studio said was about four times the exhibitor’s usual market share. In particular, the company’s immersive Phoenician Scheme experience art New Mission was the top individual location for the weekend.
Independent Film Company released Sean Byrne’s recent Cannes Directors’ Fortnight world premiere Dangerous Animals and the serial killer thriller with sharks starring Hassie Harrison and Jai Courtney arrived outside the top 10 on $1.5m from 1,636 sites. The distributor noted a 85% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. GKids opened Dan De Dan: Evil Eye at number eight on $3.1m.
Dangerous Animals is not the only horror in action, as A24’s Bring Her Back starring Sally Hawkins added $3.5m from 2,425 in its second weekend to reach $14.1m and rank seventh. The company also has Friendship in release and the oddball comedy and 2024 TIFF premiere starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd stands at $14.7m after five weekends.
TIFF People’s Choice Award winner The Life Of Chuck, Mike Flanagan’s feelgood story and Stephen King novella adaptation starring Tom Hiddleston, opened outside the top 10 via Neon on $216,031 from 16 screens. Neon announced a giving campaign whereby people can buy a ticket for someone else via Fandango and AMC. The film will expand next weekend.
