“Karate Kid: Legends” slashed its way to $21 million at the domestic box office, a decent start although one that’s slightly behind expectations.
Heading into the weekend, Sony’s PG-13 action sequel was aiming for $25 million from 3,809 North American venues. Though “Legends” has garnered positive reactions from audiences (the film earned an “A-” grade on CinemaScore exit polls compared to the 59% Rotten Tomatoes average from critics), attendance didn’t break out beyond “Karate Kid” fans. The movie carries a relatively modest $45 million production budget.
“Karate Kid: Legends” is the franchise’s first new theatrical installment in 15 years, since 2010’s reboot with Jackie Chan. That film opened to $55 million (not adjusted for inflation) and ultimately earned $359 million globally. This new version, directed by Jonathan Entwistle, unites Chan with Ralph Macchio, who learned the art of “wax on, wax off” in the 1984 original “Karate Kid.” The long-running martial arts series has enjoyed a boost from streaming with “Cobra Kai,” a spinoff sequel that concluded after six seasons on YouTube Red and then Netflix. “Legends” picks up three years after the “Cobra Kai” finale as a new student (“American Born Chinese” star Ben Wang) becomes the latest protege to Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) and Mr. Han (Chan).
“Karate Kid: Legends” opened at No. 3 and didn’t have the strength to beat Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” reboot, which topped the box office for the second consecutive weekend with a mighty $63 million from 4,410 venues. Ticket sales dropped 57% from its $146 million opening weekend, which is encouraging momentum for a tentpole of its size. The live-action remake has generated $280 million domestically and $610 million globally after two weekends on the big screen.
In second place, “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning” added $27.3 million from 3,861 theaters — and also declined 57% from its Memorial Day weekend debut. The eighth entry in Cruise’s 29-year-old action franchise has amassed $122.6 million in North America and $353.8 million worldwide to date. That’s a promising result, except the film is one of the most expensive of all time (costing $400 million), so “The Final Reckoning” will need to keep climbing — like Ethan Hunt on the biplane wings in one of the film’s many thrilling, death-defying stunts — to get out of the red.
This weekend’s other newcomer is A24’s supernatural horror film “Bring Her Back,” which launched in fifth place with $7 million from 2,449 screens. It reportedly cost $20 million to produce. Critics and audiences have embraced the terrifying movie, a thrill ride about siblings who uncover a terrifying ritual at their foster mother’s home. “Bring Her Back” is Danny and Michael Philippou’s follow-up to “Talk to Me,” which became a sleeper hit in 2022. That film had a stronger $10 million start before ending its theatrical run with $91 million worldwide.
Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Wes Anderson’s latest feature “The Phoenician Scheme” opened in limited release with $570,000 from six screens — averaging $95,000 per location. These ticket sales rank as the top screen average of 2025, overtaking A24’s “Friendship” with $444,759 from six screens — averaging $74,000 per location. Now “The Phoenician Scheme” will attempt to sustain that enthusiasm while expanding next weekend to 1,500 North American theaters. Focus Features is releasing the meticulously designed espionage thriller, which boasts an ensemble of Benicio del Toro, newcomer Mia Threapleton, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks and Benedict Cumberbatch. Universal, the parent company of Focus, is rollout out “The Phoenician Scheme” at the international box office, where the movie has earned $6.2 million from 41 markets.
As the summer season heats up, the box office is riding high with overall ticket sales up 25.5% from last year though 27% behind 2019, according to Comscore.
“The box office is riding a boomlet that started in April with ‘A Minecraft Movie,’” says David A. Gross of movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “Momentum has been steady, but it’s always fragile.”
Hopefully, an influx of blockbuster hopefuls — including “Jurassic World Rebirth,” Brad Pitt’s “F1,” Marvel’s “Fantastic Four: The First Steps” and “Superman” — have the strength to continue the boom times.
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