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

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.