The weekend box office told a now-familiar story: a beloved animated sequel held firm while a big-budget superhero launch fell short. "Toy Story 5" stayed at No. 1, and Warner Bros.' "Supergirl" landed with a muted opening, Variety reported. All figures are studio estimates.
A soft landing for 'Supergirl'
"Supergirl" opened to an estimated $38 million in North America — beneath pre-release expectations and a modest result for a film tied to the relaunched Superman universe and carrying a reported production budget around $170 million, before marketing. Big superhero openings have become harder to guarantee: the result sits in the same disappointing range as recent comic-book misfires such as Marvel's "The Marvels," which opened to about $46 million in 2023, and "Joker: Folie à Deux," which debuted to roughly $37.6 million in 2024. For a tentpole of this size, a $38 million start raises questions about whether it can recoup its cost over the rest of its run.
'Toy Story 5' keeps humming
Pixar's "Toy Story 5," meanwhile, demonstrated the durability of animated franchises, holding the top spot in its second weekend with an estimated $70 million and a relatively shallow drop — the kind of "leggy" hold studios prize. The film has quickly piled up strong domestic and global totals, reaffirming that family animation, with its repeat viewings and broad appeal, remains one of the most reliable draws in theaters.
A quiet farewell for 'Jackass'
There was also a notable flop: "Jackass: Best and Last," billed as the final outing for the long-running stunt franchise, opened to only about $8.2 million — the weakest debut in the series' history, well below the roughly $23 million start of 2022's "Jackass Forever." With a small budget, the film is unlikely to lose money outright, but the soft turnout suggested the brand's theatrical pull has faded, even as reviews were warm.
The bigger picture
Taken together, the weekend sketched the shape of Hollywood's uneven recovery. The overall domestic box office has been running close to pre-pandemic levels, but the gains are uneven: audiences are still turning out for the right films — animation above all — while showing less patience for franchise installments that feel obligatory. For studios betting heavily on superheroes, "Supergirl" is another reminder that brand recognition alone no longer fills theaters, and that the surest path to the top of the chart this summer ran through a toy box, not a cape.
