SUNDAY UPDATE, Refresh for latest…: Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon led the charge at the global and international box office this weekend as Hiccup and Toothless winged in with a $197.8M start worldwide. Of that, $114.1M (which includes previews) is from 81 overseas markets — a smidge lower than where we saw it landing yesterday, which is nothing to snort about, and is above pre-weekend projections.
The Dean DeBlois-directed live-action take on the beloved animated franchise’s first entry, HTTYD has terrific word of mouth, setting it up for a strong run. It notched the 4th best global opening of the year so far, behind A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch and China’s Ne Zha 2. It’s also the 7th biggest for a live-action remake (behind Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Lilo & Stitch, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland and Aladdin).
Overseas, the Gerard Butler-starrer had the 4th biggest international box office launch of the year among Hollywood pics (behind Lilo, Minecraft and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning).
Uni kicked off international release with previews across more than 6,600 locations and 13,000 screens (including 339 Imax). Fifty-one of those began previews last weekend, starting with Korea on June 6; a further 10 markets began previews this week, capitalizing on the Whit Monday holiday in several territories. Australia and China did not hold previews and launched on Thursday and Friday this week, respectively.
Internationally, and excluding China and previews, the launch is in line with Mufasa, just off Aladdin and The Jungle Book, and above HTTYD3, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and The Little Mermaid — in like-for-like markets at today’s rates.
We’ll get to more detail below, but in the meantime, here’s an update on the other major titles in the marketplace.
Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, which crossed $800M global during the week, is now at $858.4M through Sunday on its way to becoming the first Hollywood movie of 2025 to cross $1B. The overseas weekend was $31.3M (-54%) as the international cume approaches $500M, currently at $492M through today.
The Top 5 markets to date are: Mexico ($61.8M), UK ($45.1M), France ($35.2M), Brazil ($31.8M) and Germany ($27M).
Meanwhile, there was another new milestone for Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning which topped the half-billion mark globally this weekend, now at $506.8M through Sunday. Of the running total, the international box office portion is $340.5M after a $21M fourth weekend (-49%) in 66 markets.
The Top 5 are: China ($55.8M), UK ($31.2M), Japan ($27.3M), Korea ($21.6M) and France ($20.8M).
In Imax M:I 8 is at $73.3M global box office, the highest ever for the franchise in the format.
MORE…
PREVIOUS, SATURDAY: Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon is on track to fly in with a global debut of just over $200M, landing higher than pre-weekend projections. The live-action take on the beloved animated franchise through yesterday had grossed $54.9M from the international box office, including $29.1M in previews. When factoring in domestic estimates, the opening start is looking like $200.4M worldwide through Sunday.
A global bow at that level would give Hiccup and Toothless bragging rights to the 4th best worldwide opening of the year so far, behind A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch and China’s Ne Zha 2. It would also be the 7th biggest for a live-action remake (behind Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Lilo & Stitch, The Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland and Aladdin).
The Dean DeBlois-directed HTTYD is playing in 81 offshore markets and is on track to gross an estimated $117.7M this session, including previews that began last weekend. That would make the Gerard Butler-starrer the 4th biggest international box office opener of the year among Hollywood movies (behind Lilo, Minecraft and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning).
It would also be the No. 6 offshore launch ever for a live-action remake (behind Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Lilo & Stitch, The Jungle Book and Aladdin).
In terms of individual markets, Mexico kicked into gear with $2.3M on Friday to reach $4.4M including previews. Playing across 3,765 screens, it’s the clear No.1 title in the market with a 68% share.
The UK & Ireland through Friday is at $4.8M, including $3.3M from weekday previews. Friday grossed $1.5M across 2,000 screens, delivering Universal’s 4th No. 1 opening of the year in the market.
China, which did not have previews, launched across 35,000 screens on Friday with $2.3M for the day, ranking No.1 at 44% market share. While not a huge number, it was still good enough for the biggest opening day of a live-action adaptation in the past 5 years, and was in line with Inside Out 2, above Mufasa and more than double Wonka and Sonic 3. The Maoyan score is a strong 9.5.
Brazil on Friday added $689K at No. 1 to bring the running cume to $4.9M including five days of previews. Friday’s gross is on par with Mufasa and above The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Sonic 3.
Korea through Friday zoomed to $5.3M including previews and with a terrific 99% CVG Egg score. The cume to-date has already surpassed the lifetimes of The Little Mermaid and Mufasa in the market.
HTTYD is also flying in at No. 1 in France ($2.8M through Friday); Germany ($2.4M); Australia ($1.5M), Spain ($2M — Friday was the 4th best of the year and tops for the franchise); Italy ($1.4M); and Thailand ($1.1M — posted the biggest opening Friday of 2025).
We’ll have a full update on Sunday.