Box Office Update: Maleficent 2 Passes $400 Million and Disney’s Return

For some time, all has been quiet on the Disney front. After a hectic opening to the year and then fading away, the company is back as Maleficent: Mistress of Evil surpasses $400 in global box office revenues. If predictions are to be believed, it will eventually pass $500 million. However, most of the success has been abroad with domestic totals expected to finish under $120 million.

Compared to the first instalment of the series, it’s actually an interesting comparison. Domestically, the first was far more successful. If Mistress of Evil only achieves $120 million at home, this will be under HALF the amount earned by the first movie. So far, just 22% of revenues have come from the US market.

This being said, the movie has been somewhat unpredictable so far. On Tuesday, for example, it brought in $1.74 million. While this might not seem unusual, it’s actually a huge 106% jump from the day before. Therefore, it has been a little hard for experts to make accurate predictions.

Overall, it’s fair to say Angelina Jolie’s Mistress of Evil has enjoyed some success. It has now passed the following;

• Mary Poppins Returns (2018) – $350 million
• Dumbo (2019) – $350 million
• Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016) – $300 million

If it does reach $400 million, it will finish somewhere between Cinderella (2015) and Oz: The Great and Powerful (2013). Also, there’s a potential record for lowest domestic total despite hitting $500 million globally (something to keep an eye on!).

Records for Frozen 2 Already

With regards to Disney’s return, this is set to continue for the rest of the year. Of course, we’re expecting Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and it will be interesting to see how it will perform compared to previous instalments of this trilogy as well as all the Star Wars films throughout time (INTERNAL LINK).

However, Frozen 2 is the next movie coming up and this will be released in just over two weeks. Currently in the pre-sales period, it is already breaking records in terms of the number of tickets sold. In the first Friday to Sunday three-day period, official tracking has the movie at $100 million. For an animation outside of summer, this would be a record.

Meanwhile, some are predicting that it could reach Minions ($115 million). Could it compete with the likes of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire ($158 million)? Probably not, but this is the Frozen films we’re talking about here. After the release of the first film, it went on to remain relevant in merchandise and other areas for a number of years.

As usual, Disney is trying to downplay the number of tickets purchased so far and say that this isn’t necessarily an indication of the overall success the movie will enjoy. This being said, we can’t deny that it’s better to sell more than less!