Weekend Box Office: Hoppers Leaps to $46 Million Debut
Meanwhile, audiences weren't as into Maggie Gyllenhaal's divisive, genre-defying THE BRIDE!, and Scream 7 takes a big tumble.
Six years ago this weekend, Pixar made a rare March opening only to see a pandemic declared and theaters closed. They are back on the horse this week with beavers and leading the way, while the latest Scream film took an all-timer of a tumble and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s big-budget revision of the Bride of Frankenstein tale was met with hyperbolic pans and not much support from audiences.
King of the Crop: Hoppers Leaps to $46 Million Debut
Disney/Pixar has had a bit of an originality problem lately. While Elemental was saved mostly by the international audience, last year’s Elio fell short both domestically and overseas and was one of the biggest failures released by the company. Their most recent sequels, Incredibles 2, Toy Story 4, and Inside Out 2 joined Finding Dory and Toy Story 3 on their billion-dollar list. Could their latest, Hoppers, be the next original film to join the sequel parade? Critics certainly wouldn’t seem to mind, given that its 94% Tomatometer score ranks it among the best of Pixar’s work. Then again, out of 27 releases, 17 have earned 90% or higher on the Tomatometer.
Over at the box office, Hoppers, opened to $46 million. That puts it in the bottom tier of Pixar openings, a list that consists of their first two releases, Toy Story ($29.1 million) and A Bug’s Life ($33.5 million); their last two original releases, Elemental ($29.6 million) and Elio ($20.8 million); and The Good Dinosaur ($39.15 million). Back in 2020, Onward opened to $39.11 million just before the pandemic ravaged the globe. This is the fourth-best opening in March for an animated film with an original screenplay after Zootopia ($75.0 million), Monsters vs. Aliens ($59.3 million), and Ice Age ($46.3 million). Worldwide the film is at $88 million, which is the best start for an original Pixar film since Coco in 2017, which began with over $104 million globally but finished with over $800 million. We’ll see how the $150 million production does going forward, but animated films this month have a good history of tripling their opening weekend and then some, so it is not unreasonable to expect a floor of at least $150 million domestic for Hoppers.
Tales of the top 10: Scream 7 Suffers Massive Drop, THE BRIDE! Disappoints
Scream 7 had the biggest opening of 2026 last week and the biggest opening of the franchise. This week it had the biggest drop for a 3,000+ wide release this year falling 72.9% down to $17.3 million. It is just the third film to open with over $60 million and not cross $100 million by the end of its second wide weekend along with Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 ($95.3 million) and Cars 2 ($93.6 million). The latest Scream sits lower than both of them with $93.3 million after 10 days. It also had the third-lowest weekend ever for a film to debut with over $55 million, ahead of only The Flash ($15.1 million) and Valentine’s Day ($16.6 million). This is suggesting a finish in the $115-125 million region just on the domestic side, maybe not even doubling its opening weekend. However, with $56 million internationally already, it should get to $200 million globally. Not too shabby for a $45 million production.
Despite THE BRIDE! skirting the line with a 60% from critics on the Tomatometer, many have gleefully acted like a cinematic sin was committed against them personally by Maggie Gyllenhaal and her new film. Comments range from saying it is the worst film they have ever seen (a lot of Dwight Shrutes out there) to suggesting that Jessie Buckley has Norbit’ed her chances of winning the Oscar for Hamnet next weekend. Needless to say, this is hyperbolic kooky talk. THE BRIDE! is Gyllenhaal’s second directorial effort and the first to get a wide release in theaters. Her Oscar-nominated debut, The Lost Daughter, premiered on Netflix in 2021; Warner Bros. backed the new film after Netflix wanted a cheaper production. The reported $80 million project opened to $7.3 million this weekend domestically and another $6.3 million internationally.
The number is not great on a ledger and settles into a list of unimpressive attendance for the Frankenstein-in-name projects released in theaters over the years, including I, Frankenstein ($8.6 million), Lisa Frankenstein ($3.6 million), and Victor Frankenstein ($2.4 million). Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein by Kenneth Branagh opened to $11.2 million in 1994 and did not even double that with a $22 million gross (albeit with $90 million overseas). 1985’s The Bride with Sting and Jennifer Beals opened to $1.7 million and finished with $3.5 million. We’ll never know what Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein could have made in theaters.
Sony’s animated GOAT made over $75 million in its first three weeks competing only with those who still had not caught up with Zootopia 2. Now, with some new Disney in the mix, it fell to fourth place with $6.6 million. That puts its 24-day total at $83.8 million. That is a little less than $8 million behind where The LEGO Movie 2 was in 2019 after a $6.6 million fourth weekend, which reduces GOAT’s chances for a $100 million run quite a bit. Right now it is looking for a finish somewhere in the $92-97 million region. Its international numbers have been a bit disappointing ($62.5 million to date) and finishing somewhere in the $160-170 million region is a bit below where the $90 million production would like to be.
Emerald Fennell’s “Wuthering Heights” is in fifth place with $3.7 million in its fourth weekend, putting its 24-day total at $78.7 million. We pointed out last week the remarkable coincidence that its numbers are right in line with Birds of Prey, also starring Margot Robbie, which had $78.7 million in 24 days after a $4.1 million fourth go. If this path continues, Wuthering is looking at a finish in the $83-85 million region. The good news is that it has been a hit overseas, putting its global total now over $213 million and in the win column for Warner Bros.
This week in music, Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert grossed another $1.52 million to bring the Neon release to $10.9 million. It passes No Other Choice and Infinity Pool to become their ninth-highest grossing domestic release to date. By the end of its first weekend, I Can Only Imagine had grossed $17.1 million. Its sequel, I Can Only Imagine 2, is now on its 17th day, and it has made just $16.2 million.
Sam Raimi’s Send Help is hanging in there in seventh place in its seventh weekend, where it added $1.6 million to its domestic total of now $62.7 million. That puts it over $90 million worldwide for Sony. $48.7 million of Drag Me To Hell’s $90.8 million haul back in 2009 came internationally. To date, Send Help has not brought in the same numbers outside North America. Amazon/MGM’s Crime 101 reportedly cost $90 million. It has made back $33.6 million on the domestic side and another $30 million internationally. With the theaters keeping half of that, it does not do great things for their bottom line.
Crunchyroll’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle was back this weekend, making $1.3 million to bring its total up to $135.8 million. Because of that, Zootopia 2 missed notching its 15th-straight week in the top 10. It had a chance to join the company of Avatar: The Way of Water, The Sixth Sense, Wayne’s World, Independence Day, The Hunt for Red October, and As Good As It Gets in that achievement. Nevertheless, Zootopia 2 is now over $427 million domestic and $1.86 billion worldwide.
On the Vine: A New Colleen Hoover Adaptation and an A24 Horror Film
Arriving next week is the latest Colleen Hoover adaptation, Reminders of Him, with Maika Monroe. Both It Ends With Us and Regretting You were solid hits. Let’s see if this continues to have some staying power. Also opening is A24’s “audio horror” film Undertone, which premiered at the Sundance film festival this year and currently sits at 89% on the Tomatometer.
Full List of Box Office Results: March 6-8, 2026
- Hoppers – $46.0 million ($46.0 million total)
- Scream 7 – $17.3 million ($93.3 million total)
- THE BRIDE! – $7.3 million ($7.3 million total)
- GOAT – $6.6 million ($83.8 million total)
- “Wuthering Heights” – $3.7 million ($78.7 million total)
- Crime 101 – $2.0 million ($33.6 million total)
- Send Help – $1.6 million ($62.7 million total)
- I Can Only Imagine 2 – $1.53 million ($16.2 million total)
- EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert – $1.52 million ($10.9 million total)
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle – $1.3 million ($135.8 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Disney/Pixar
