Supermaneasily reigns as thebox officechampion for the second weekend in a row, and James Gunn’s opus made an estimated $57.3 million domestically in its sophomore stanza. Unfortunately for newcomersI Know What You Did Last SummerandSmurfs, neither enticed enough audiences into theaters to contend for second place, let alone the top spot against the Man of Steel. True, the legacy horror sequel, which features the return of Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jennifer Love Hewitt, slayedSmurfsin their head-to-head competition, but it wasJurassic World Rebirthroaring its way to the silver medal with $23.4 million.
I Know What You Did Last Summersettled for third place over its opening weekend with $13 million in the United States and Canada, which is comparable to the $15.8 million debut the originalI Know What You Did Last Summerbrought home back in October 1997. Now, the question becomes: can the 2025 sequel go on to make close to the $125.6 million the seminal slasher did almost 30 years ago? Meanwhile, things look far less “smurfy” for the Rihanna-led adaptation of the classic blue characters. In fact,Smurfsonly made $11 million en route to a fourth-place finish at the box office. Now, take a gander at how bad the newSmurfs’numberscompare to the franchise’s other recent theatrical releases (below):
Box Office Round-Up: ‘Superman’ Soars, but DCU’s Best Still Can’t Compete With MCU - and It’s Not Even Close
Fans and critics love James Gunn’s Man of Steel, but the film still falls short of what Marvel’s crème de la crème achieved theatrically.
‘Smurfs’ Opening-Weekend Box Office (Domestic – Unadjusted for Inflation)
Clearly, if the estimates hold, Rihanna’sSmurfswill go down as the lowest-grossing debut in the lovable blue creatures’ modern-day franchise. It’s a fascinating yet downward-spiraling trend to behold. Consider the fact that when the Katy Perry-ledSmurfscame out in 2011, that animated adventure went on to make an impressive $563.7 million worldwide. 2025 films likeCaptain America: Brave New WorldandThunderbolts*would have killed to amass that much money globally, and there’s virtually zero chance the newSmurfswill get anywhere close to the 2011 film’s global haul once all is said and done. However, another animated flick has eclipsed the $500 million mark and much more during its nine-week run over the summer.
‘Lilo & Stitch’ Becomes 2025’s First Billion-Dollar Blockbuster
Brad Pitt’sF1rounded out the weekend’s Top 5 with an estimated $9.6 million, whilelast weekend’s box office champion,Superman, eclipsed $235 million domestically en route to over $400 million worldwide after two weekends of theatrical release. However, as much as James Gunn would love for his film to be “the” summer blockbuster, it’s time for Disney to celebrate as their belovedLilo & Stitchhas officially brought home $1 billion at the worldwide box office.Lilo & Stitchhas become the first American-made film production to clock in over the billion-dollar mark this year, and it only trails the Chinese-producedNe Zha 2($1.997 billion) for the honor of 2025’s highest-grossing movie globally.
Meanwhile, a third newcomer this weekend managed to make a little noise in the box office’s Top 10 as the star-studdedEddingtondebuted at No. 7 with $4.3 million. Writer and director Ari Aster’s satirical black comedy features an all-star cast, including Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Joaquin Phoenix, and Austin Butler. However, despite these incredible acting talents, the Neo-Western isn’t exactly riding off into the sunset with the fans. In fact,Eddingtononly registers 64% on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter. Plus, it’s “C+” CinemaScore is even worse than the newSmurfsmovie’s “B+” grade!
Domestic Weekend Box Office Top 5 (July 18-20)
A new box office champion will emerge next weekend when Marvel’sThe Fantastic Four: First Stepsjoins the 2025 box office on July 25. The most recent numbers suggest that the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry will now make somewhere between $100 million and $110 million over its opening weekend, which is far less thanthe long-rangeFirst Stepsforecastoriginally predicted. Nevertheless, Marvel’s First Family will arrive in the MCU, and it will become the film which knocksSupermanout of the No. 1 spot at the box office. BetweenThe Fantastic Four’sarrival, the success ofJurassic World Rebirth($648 million worldwide), andLilo & Stitch’sbillion-dollar achievement, it’s easy to see how some will scoff at the so-called “Summer of Superman.”
Sources:The Numbers,Rotten Tomatoes,Box Office Mojo
I Know What You Did Last Summer
