Weekend Winner Kind of Lost

While 'Rocketman' and 'Ma' debut in the top 5
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 2, 2019 4:00 PM CDT
Weekend Winner Kind of Lost
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Taron Egerton as Elton John in a scene from "Rocketman."   (David Appleby/ Paramount Pictures via AP)

The latest iteration of the Godzilla franchise took over the top spot from Aladdin and roared louder than Elton John at the weekend box office, but it still left a notably smaller footprint on North American theaters than its city-wrecking predecessors, the AP reports. Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment's sequel to 2014's Godzilla, was brought down to size by poor reviews and middling interest from moviegoers, selling $49 million in tickets, according to studio estimates Sunday. While still good enough for No. 1, that total was $10-15 million off industry expectations and close to half of the $93 million debut of the previous Godzilla movie.

Still, the weekend, led by one of the most classic movie monsters, brought Hollywood's summer season into full swing. Last week's top film, Disney's live-action, blue-Will Smith Aladdin remake, slid to second with $42 million in its second weekend. And a rush of newcomers, including the Elton John biopic Rocketman and the Octavia Spencer-led horror film Ma, swelled theaters with a variety of options. Rocketman took third place with $25 million, followed by Ma ($18.2 million) and John Wick: Chapter 3–Parabellum ($11.1 million), per Variety. Even with a toothless Godzilla, the weekend was up drastically—62%, according to Comscore—from the same weekend last year, when the swiftly forgotten Solo was in its second weekend. (See what reviews are like for Rocketman.)

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