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Family IP holds the line as summer box office hits $88M across the top three — but Pixar’s latest underperforms, raising bigger questions around original animation viability. Meanwhile, exec shifts at Netflix, Apple, and Paramount signal recalibration across licensing, board governance, and deal strategy. Streamers double down on half-hour genre thrillers, with FX/Hulu and Apple chasing auteur-driven discomfort, while Amazon aims for youth-skewed genre pop. Plus: The Hamptons aesthetic goes viral, TikTok drives audio discovery, and July’s calendar is stacked — from M3GAN 2.0 to the Paramount merger vote.

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Weekend Pulse - Box Office

Weekend Pulse

Box Office Top 3 • June 21–23

1

How to Train Your Dragon

Universal

$37.0M

Weekend

📈 WEEK 2 -40% DROP Total: $160.4M

Live-action remake held the top spot in its sophomore frame with strong family turnout driving solid retention.

2

28 Years Later

Sony

$30.0M

Debut

🧟 HORROR NEW Global: ~$60M

Danny Boyle's long-awaited zombie threequel opened solidly, marking one of the year's bigger horror starts and nearly matching the previous installment's entire run in week one.

3

Elio

Disney/Pixar

$21.0M

Debut

⚠️ LOWEST PIXAR OPENING ORIGINAL IP

Original animated sci-fi reflects brand challenges but could still find family success if word-of-mouth builds like Elemental did.

Also of Note

Lilo & Stitch fell to #4 with $9.7M but has amassed a massive $386M domestic after five weekends, proving the power of Disney IP legacy.

$88M

Top 3 Total

2

New Releases

Mixed

Performance

🎬 THE SIGNAL: Family franchises continue to dominate while original content struggles. Horror delivers solid returns, but Pixar's brand challenges signal broader animation industry shifts.