Father's Day weekend saw a mixed bag of results for the box office, with new releases and existing favorites drawing in audiences. Warner Bros.' latest superhero film, "The Flash," fell short of industry expectations, only bringing in $55 million during its first three-day weekend. The film was affected by several factors, including controversy surrounding star Ezra Miller, a lack of consistency in the DC film franchise, and a narrowly focused marketing campaign. Pixar's "Elemental" also saw a disappointing debut, estimated to earn just $29.5 million, while Sony's "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" continued to attract audiences since its June 2 release, generating an estimated $27.8 million over the Father's Day weekend.
Comscore data shows that the domestic box office is expected to tally just under $175 million in receipts over the weekend, 5% higher than the same period in 2022 and 28% higher than 2019. Despite the mixed results, senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian notes that the weekend saw a wide variety of audience demographics drawn to the multiplex, making it a great one for movie theaters.
The competition in the animation industry is steep, with Universal's Illumination and DreamWorks animation arms dominating the box office with hits such as "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," and "Minions: The Rise of Gru." Pixar is also rebranding itself following a slew of pandemic-era streaming releases.
Overall, the weekend saw no massive overperformances from the wide-release newcomers, but the sheer number of movies and the wide variety of audience demographics drawn to the multiplex made it a successful one for movie theaters.