Weekend Box Office: Michael Dances Its Way Back to No. 1
The King of Pop reclaimed his crown from The Devil Wears Prada 2, which crossed a milestone of its own.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie was the first film of 2026 to rule the box office for three straight weeks. Another film had a shot to be the second this weekend, but it was not to be, as audiences chose to keep dancing in the aisles. The King of Pop indeed upended the Prada Devil, but collectively, along with this year’s Super Mario Galaxy and Project Hail Mary, they have added over $1.2 billion alone to the domestic box office and over $2.7 billion to the global tally.
King (of Pop) of the Crop: Michael Dances Its Way Back to No. 1
Michael crept its way back to the top of the box office in the weekdays leading up to this weekend, with narrow victories on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Antoine Fuqua’s partial biopic reclaimed its spot on the throne with $26.1 million and a domestic total of $282.8 million after 24 days. Depending on the final estimates, that has potential to join the top 20 fourth weekends of all time. The Dark Knight is 20th with $26.11 million and Jumanji: The Next Level is 19th with $26.22 million.
Michael is now outpacing Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which made $19.4 million in its fourth weekend and a total of $281 million. The estimate of $375 million last week continues to ring true, and it could get closer to $400 million than anyone would have imagined. Worldwide the film is over $700 million, making it just the fourth Lionsgate release to achieve that number. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is starting to sweat now, as the studio’s all-timer made $864.9 million across the globe.
Rotten Returns: Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft Suffers Massive Drop in Second Week
We haven’t had this section in a while, but it returns with a vengeance this weekend. Last week, Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft opened to $7.01 million. The James Cameron co-directed concert film began softer than Katy Perry’s film Part of Me did in 2012 ($7.13 million). This weekend it fell to just $800,000 for a total of $9 million. Now, the $20 million budgeted film landed here not because it will go down as one of the big bombs of the year. It is practically a write-off of a very successful live tour. But it does join the list of the steepest second-week drops we have seen for a new film (not a re-release) opening in over 2,000 theaters.
Christy (-91.7%)
Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft (-88.6%)
Collide (-88.5%)
Gigli (-81.9%)
Replicas (-81.5%)
Joker: Folie a Deux (-81.4%)
Friday the 13th (2009) (-80.4%)
Halloween Ends (-80.0%)
Ella McCay (-79.9%)
Hurry Up Tomorrow (-79.2%)
In the span of six months, we’ve seen the two biggest drops ever, as audiences abandoned Sydney Sweeney in her boxing biopic Christy very quickly just last November. (Her other, more successful film over the holiday, The Housemaid, features prominently on a more positive list below.) Andy Serkis’ Animal Farm, released two weeks ago, actually ranked 10th on this list with a 78.7% drop before being pushed off this week. The Billie Eilish film may rank second on this list if the estimates hold, but it now ranks as the all-time biggest drop for a film opening in over 2,500 theaters.
Tales of the Top 10: The Devil Wears Prada 2 Crosses $500 Million Worldwide
Thanks to Michael, The Devil Wears Prada 2 missed out on becoming the second film of 2026 to lead for three straight weeks. But $18 million in its third weekend was enough to drive its 17-day total to $175.8 million. That puts the film just around Solo: A Star Wars Story ($176.7 million) and Star Trek Into Darkness ($176.3 million), though its third weekend was higher than their respective $15.7 million and $16.7 million totals. We could still be looking at a domestic gross around $225-235 million. Meanwhile, it has become the fourth Hollywood film of 2026 to gross over half a billion worldwide with a current total of $546 million. That is a remarkable sum, as it now ranks among the top films ever worldwide to be headlined by at least two women at the top of the call sheet. Here is that top 25 list:
Lilo & Stitch (2025) ($1.03 billion)
Maleficent ($758.4 million)
Wicked: Part One ($755.3 million)
The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($546.2 million)
Wicked: For Good ($525.8 million)
Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ($491.7 million)
Sex and the City ($415.2 million)
Black Widow (2021) ($379.7 million)
The Housemaid (2025) ($367.0 million)
Black Swan ($329.3 million)
The Devil Wears Prada ($326.5 million)
Ocean’s 8 ($297.7 million)
Bridesmaids ($288.38 million)
Sex and the City 2 ($288.34 million)
Pitch Perfect 2 ($287.5 million)
Charlie’s Angels ($264.1 million)
Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle ($259.1 million)
Hidden Figures ($235.7 million)
Cruella ($233.5 million)
Sister Act ($231.6 million)
The Heat ($229.9 million)
Ghostbusters (2016) ($228.7 million)
The Help ($216.6 million)
Little Women (2019) ($216.6 million)
The Marvels ($205.6 million)
Curry Barker’s Obsession is certainly a hit with both critics (Certified Fresh at 94% on the Tomatometer) and audiences (Verified Hot at 94% on the Popcornmeter), and Focus Features’ marketing helped get them their 11th-best opening ever with a $16.1 million start. Coraline is their 10th-best start with $16.8 million. If the estimates hold, Obsession would rank higher than BlacKkKlansman ($16.03 million) and Downton Abbey: A New Era ($16.00 million). The company has had a few successful horror launches with Nosferatu ($21.6 million), The Strangers ($20.9 million), and The Forest ($12.7 million), as well as pickups from other studios like Insidious: Chapter 3 ($22.6 million), Sinister 2 ($10.5 million), and even Seed of Chucky ($8.77 million). Generally one does not associate horror with the studio, though maybe they should tap into that crowd more, given that three of those films just mentioned are among their top 10 highest-grossing films of all time.
Beyond those, they opened The Hitcher remake in 2007 to $7.81 million, and then the list goes Neil Jordan’s Greta ($4.48 million), The Return ($4.47 million), Cry Wolf ($4.42 million), Edgar Wright’s Last Night in Soho ($4.17 million, released during the pandemic), and Come Play ($2.25 million), plus horror comedies Lisa Frankenstein ($3.69 million) and, of course, Wright’s Shaun of the Dead ($3.33 million). Park Chan-Wook’s Thirst never made it further than 17 theaters and grossed only $318,574. None of those films from The Hitcher on down made it to $17 million. Obsession will be over that hump before next weekend. Focus has never had a film open to over $14 million and not gross at least $44 million. So it’s a great start for a film with a reported budget of no more than $1 million. In related news, Neon’s release of Damian McCarthy’s Hokum grossed $1.28 million in its third weekend of release outside the top 10. It has made $15.4 million to date. His previous film released by IFC, Oddity, made $1.2 million.
Mortal Kombat II took an expected dip this weekend. The first film in 2021 fell 73.2% in its second weekend, in part thanks to its day-and-date release on HBO MAX. The sequel is exclusively in theaters right now and fell 65.2% down to $13.4 million. That puts its 10-day total at $62.2 million, which is about $4+ million less than where The Angry Birds Movie and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood were at this point, but both of them had second weekends of $18.769 million (I couldn’t make that up) on their path to $100+ million. At this point, even a Memorial Day bump is unlikely to help MK2 get there domestically. But even just cracking nine digits at home is not going to be enough for the $80 million production with its paltry international haul of $39 million to date.
The response from critics to The Sheep Detectives seemed to be immediately catching up with audiences last weekend, as estimates went from about $13.5 million up to $15.9 million. This weekend it takes a very respectable drop of 38% down to $9.3 million, which brings it up to $29.6 million in 10 days. The numbers are in the vicinity of the following live-action talking animal films: Zookeeper ($12.3 million), Paddington ($12.2 million), Dolittle ($12.1 million), Stuart Little ($11.8 million), Garfield: The Movie ($11.3 million), Cats & Dogs ($12.0 million), and Stuart Little 2 ($10.6 million), albeit on the lower side. The Sheep Detectives is on course to finish between $50-60 million domestic. The $75 million production has made just $50 million globally so far.
The billion-dollar watch is on for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. After another $4.4 million this weekend, its domestic total is at $418.6 million. Worldwide the film is at $960 million. International is going to have to cover the bulk of the rest, as there is probably less than $15 million on the line in North America. Project Hail Mary isn’t quite there, but it is on the move to crossing $700 million globally. Another $3.9 million in its ninth weekend (it is the first film of 2026 to spend that long in the top 10) brings its domestic total to $334.8 million. The film is at $670 million across the big round Earth and another $15+ million is very possible domestically.
Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey was originally scheduled to open in January 2025, just nine months after his last film, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, bombed hard in theaters and a year after The Covenant bombed almost as hard. And that was a year after Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre did not even gross $7 million in North America. In fact, the combined grosses of those three movies did not match a single one of their individual budgets, which progressively increased from $50 million to $55 million to $60 million. There are reports that In the Grey’s budget is in that range, but the results are very de guerre-ish, opening to just $3 million. The film, released by Black Bear Pictures, was not screened for press in advance and it earned a 46% with critics who did get out to review it. Only King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (31%) and his remake of Swept Away (6%) rank lower on his resume.
Paramount’s re-release of Tony Scott’s Top Gun for its 40th anniversary, coupled with its 2022 sequel Top Gun: Maverick, grossed $3.1 million over the weekend in 2,295 theaters. Since their release on Wednesday, they have made $4.79 million. Universal re-released Dreamworks’ Shrek into theaters for its 25th Anniversary and it made $1.25 million in 1,370 theaters. Rounding out the top 10 is Aleshea Harris’ adaptation of her play, Is God Is, about two scarred sisters on a road trip of revenge against their father. The Amazon/MGM release starring Kara Young and Mallori Johnson grossed $2.2 million in its debut.
On The Vine: The Mandalorian and Grogu Take Flight
Memorial Day is part of next weekend and Star Wars has been a big part of it over the years. Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first film in the Star Wars galaxy to be released in the summer since Solo: A Star Wars Story, and this one is hoping to avoid being the misfire that one was at the box office. Paramount is trying to draw in horror fans thanks to the mysterious trailer of Passenger. Boots Riley’s sophomore effort, I Love Boosters also opens from Neon with a 92% from critics after its premiere at SXSW in March. Black Bear is also releasing Tuner with Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, and Dustin Hoffman. It is rocking a Certified Fresh 93% on the Tomatometer.
Full List of Box Office Results: May 15-17
- Michael – $26.1 million ($282.8 million total)
- The Devil Wears Prada 2 – $18.0 million ($175.8 million total)
- Obsession – $16.1 million ($16.1 million total)
- Mortal Kombat II – $13.4 million ($62.2 million total)
- The Sheep Detectives – $9.3 million ($29.6 million total)
- The Super Mario Galaxy Movie – $4.4 million ($418.6 million total)
- Project Hail Mary – $3.9 million ($334.8 million total)
- Top Gun / Top Gun: Maverick (Re-release) – $3.1 million ($4.7 million total)
- In the Grey – $3.0 million ($3.0 million total)
- Is God Is – $2.2 million ($2.2 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 Lionsgate
