28 YEARS LATER Brings in $60M Worldwide While Pixar's ELIO Limps Through Worst Opening Ever — GeekTyrant

Geek Tyrant

17 hours ago

Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later hit theaters this week, and while it didn't explode out of the gate like a rage-infected virus, it still managed to pull in a solid $60 million worldwide on its opening weekend, split evenly between $30M domestic and $30M international. That's not a bad start for an R-rated horror sequel that took some big bonkers swings.
With a reported $75 million production budget, the film doesn't have a huge mountain to climb, and strong reviews have certainly helped. Still, it's a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to audience reception. The real test for 28 Years Later will be staying power.
Meanwhile, over in the land of PG-rated aliens and heartstring-tugging animation, Pixar's Elio stumbled hard. It opened to just $21 million domestic and $35 million globally, which is a record low for the animation studio. Yes, worse than The Good Dinosaur . Worse than Onward , which opened days before COVID shut down theaters. This is officially Pixar's weakest box office debut ever.
The movie is actually really good, and it had solid reviews and a heartfelt story, but something didn't connect. I imagine the weak marketing campaign played a role. Then you have that Pixar animation style and character design that doesn't quite pop. Or, maybe there's Pixar fatigue? Whatever the case, the studio poured $150 million into Elio , and recouping that kind of money is going to be a struggle.
Adding to Disney's uneven weekend, the live-action Lilo & Stitch remake pulled in another $9.7 million, putting it at $386.7 million domestic and $910 million worldwide. It's not a critical darling, but it's marching toward the billion-dollar club with surprising consistency.
28 Years Later has a pulse and could pick up steam. Elio has tripped at the starting line, and Lilo & Stitch might be the unexpected juggernaut Disney didn't see coming.