It's a tough weekend at the box office, with two highly anticipated films falling short of expectations. Disney's Moana and Warner Bros.' Evil Dead Burn are both underperforming, leaving studios with a challenging situation to navigate. The stakes are high for Moana, with a massive budget estimated at $200-250 million. Despite the star power of Dwayne Johnson, the film is only projected to gross around $42 million domestically, which is a disappointing start. This is especially concerning given the film's $100 million loss during its predecessor's run. The A- CinemaScore is a fair assessment, but it's not enough to guarantee success. The real surprise is the underperformance of Evil Dead Burn, which was expected to bring in $23 million but is now only projected to make $15 million. This is a significant drop from the $24 million earned by the previous installment, Evil Dead Rise. Warner Bros. may need to reconsider its release strategy for genre titles, as Mortal Kombat 2 also underperformed in May. The weekend's other releases, Minions & Monsters and Toy Story 5, are holding up reasonably well, with $21 million and $19 million, respectively. However, Minions & Monsters is experiencing a 43% week-over-week decline, which is a cause for concern. A24's The Invite, despite excellent reviews, is also struggling, with an estimated $4.3 million weekend gross. The film is just behind Angel Studios' Young Washington, which is front-loaded and dropped 64% in its second weekend, earning $7 million. Supergirl's box office run continues to be a disappointment, with an estimated $3.8 million weekend gross and a total domestic gross of $66 million. The future of James Gunn's DCU is uncertain, as the film fails to meet expectations. The box office results this weekend highlight the challenges faced by studios, with several films falling short of their projected earnings. It remains to be seen how these films will recover and whether the studios can turn things around. The industry is eagerly awaiting the full box office roundup tomorrow, with many questions lingering about the performance of these films and the strategies employed by the studios.
