Key Takeaways
Total 3-Day Weekend Gross:
$70,403,439 | -14.6% Last Week / -3.7% Weekend 41, 2024
Despite a notable budget and a marketing campaign to match, Disney’s Tron: Ares failed to light up the box office with its neon glow, generating a disappointing $33.5 million, well under expectations. As savvy counter-programming, Roofman did about what was expected with an estimated $8M. The week’s results came in behind last week when Taylor Swift rocked the box office, and also behind the year-over-year of 2024 when Terrifier 3 surprised.
- Top Title: Tron: Ares (Disney) | $33.5M / 4,000 Screens / $8,375 PSA | Week 1
- Top Opener: Tron: Ares (Disney) | $33.5M / 4,000 Screens / $8,375 PSA | Week 1
- Best PSA: After the Hunt (Amazon/MGM) | $154.46K / 6 Screens / $25,745 PSA | Week 1
1. Tron: Ares
Walt Disney Pictures | NEW
$33.5M 3-Day Opening Weekend | $60.5M Global Total
For the third time in its history, Walt Disney Pictures has rolled the dice on a Tron feature and lost. The original film that started it all faltered with $26.9M in 1982, then 2010’s Tron: Legacy underperformed ($399.86M globally) compared to its $200M budget. Despite that, another 15 years passed and the studio felt the third time would be the charm with the soft reboot Tron: Ares, which has opened way under expectations with $33.5M on 4,000 screens for an $8,375 Per Screen Average. That’s lower than Legacy‘s $44M opening 15 years ago. Industry projections were hovering close to $50M at one point, but this is below our forecasting panel’s estimates.
Critics either slammed the movie for feeling unengaging or faintly praised it as fun camp, and the 57% Rotten Tomatoes critical score likely drove away those on the fence. Audience rating was better at 87%, with both scores an improvement on Legacy‘s 51% critic/64% audience. CinemaScore was a “B+” while PostTrak handed Ares 4 out of 5 stars from general audiences
Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $4.8M in Thursday previews…
- Friday – $14.3M
- Saturday – $11M
- Sunday – $8.2M
Here’s the format split…
2D – 69%
- Traditional 2D – 35%
- PLF 2D – 19%
- IMAX 2D – 12%
- Motion 2D – 1%
- ScreenX – 2%
3D – 31%
- Traditional 3D – 11%
- PLF 3D – 6%
- IMAX 3D – 9%
- Motion 3D – 5%
Audiences were majority male at 68% vs 32% female, with under-25’s only representing 30% of ticket sales while ages 25-54 were responsible for 60% of the take. Here’s how demographics looked…
- Caucasian – 46%
- Hispanic – 24%
- AA – 12%
- Asian – 12%
- NatAm/Other – 7%
How did this happen? Despite ancillary revenue from video games, soundtracks, and theme park attractions, Tron has never been known as a succesful theatrical franchise. It is closer to a cult oddity, best known for paving the way for other computer-oriented movies like The Matrix. Another issue is—rather than building on the last film—this movie focused on an almost entirely new cast, including Jared Leto. The cast leaned older, with very little name recognition or appeal to under-25s. The Nine Inch Nails soundtrack has been praised, but again the 90’s industrial rockers have little cache with younger audiences. Original lead Jeff Bridges was sidelined to a borderline cameo, one of several moves which may have alienated what fanbase the franchise had to begin with.
It’s easy to assume that Disney could have greenlit this movie as a kind of commercial for the TRON Lightcycle Run ride at two of its parks, especially given the 15-year gap since Legacy. As a piece of corporate synergy, Tron: Ares may have done its job even if it does not generate much theatrical business. The studio made a similar gambit with 2017’s Cars 3, a critical miss and, at the time, one of Pixar’s weakest performers at $152.9M domestic, yet it made up for that by driving millions of dollars in merchandising revenue.
Overseas Tron: Ares cleared $27M from 51 material territories, which represents almost the entire international footprint except for China, which launches on the 17th. Top 3 markets were Mexico ($2.9M), the UK ($2.4M), and France ($1.9M). IMAX screens were responsible for $10.4M globally, including $6.6M domestically (20% of stateside opening). The global total for the film stands at $60.5M.
2. Roofman
Paramount Pictures | NEW
$8M 3-Day Opening Weekend
Paramount and Miramax’s crime comedy biopic Roofman performed right in line with expectations, bringing in $8M from 3,362 screens for a $2,380 PSA. That’s right in the median of last year’s Channing Tatum openings of rom-com Fly Me to the Moon ($9.4M) and thriller Blink Twice ($7.3M). Both of those titles closed out in the low-$20M arena, which this one is likely to do as well.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $1M in Thursday previews…
- Friday – $3.25M
- Saturday – $2.8M
- Sunday – $1.9M
RT critical was 85% Certified Fresh, while audiences gave it 83%. Like Tron, Roofman scored a “B+” CinemaScore and 4 out of 5 stars via PostTrak. Audiences were split 51% male/49% female, with 50% in the 18 – 34 age bracket and 45% in 35+, indicating roughly the same older audience that flocked to Tron. Reported demographics were 69% caucasian, 17% hispanic, and 8% black. The film reportedly over-indexed in the Midwest and Northeast, while Canadian screens held a 9.2% market share.
Other Notable Performances
Sony and Affirm’s faith-based entry Soul on Fire did not make much of an impression with $3M on 1,720 screens to place at #5. The true story of a man who suffered burns on his entire body featured Joel Courtney, John Corbett, and William H. Macy. The movie received an “A” CinemaScore.
You can be forgiven for not noticing the small blip on the radar that was Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions’ release of the musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. The Jennifer Lopez starrer got off to a non-splashy start with only $1M from 1,330 screens for a $752 PSA. Co-starring Diego Luna, the Bill Condon film earned a respectable 77% on RT despite opening outside the Top 10.
Amazon/MGM’s Julia Roberts-led #MeToo movie After the Hunt was given a platform kickoff on 6 screens to earn $154.46K for a $25,745 PSA, the biggest of the weekend. The Luca Guadagnino film co-stars Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Chloë Sevigny.
Next Weekend
Universal and Blumhouse are bringing us the sequel to Scott Derrickson’s 2022 sleeper The Black Phone, which tallied $90.1M domestically. The entire original cast returns for The Black Phone 2, including Ethan Hawke’s deceased killer taking revenge from the spirit realm, with movie having earned 81% critical on RT so far. Aziz Ansari makes his directorial debut with Good Fortune, a comedy revolving around a guardian angel (Keanu Reeves) and the LA denizens he tries to help. Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer co-star, with an 85% on RT so far. Two Netflix films, Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and the Colin Farrell starrer Ballad of a Small Player are both getting limited bows in theaters, while Ethan Hawke shows up again for select engagements of Richard Linklater’s Lorenz Hart biopic Blue Moon from Sony Pictures Classics.
Sunday Studio Estimates | Weekend 41 – 2025
Total 3-Day Domestic Gross: $70,403,439 | (-3.7% vs 2024)
| Title | Weekend Estimate | % Change | Locations | Location Change | PSA | Domestic Total | Week | Distributor |
| Tron: Ares | $33,500,000 | 4,000 | $8,375 | 33,500,000 | 1 | Walt Disney | ||
| Roofman | $8,000,000 | 3,362 | $2,380 | 8,000,000 | 1 | Paramount Pi… | ||
| One Battle After Another | $6,675,000 | -39% | 3,127 | -507 | $2,135 | 54,501,000 | 3 | Warner Bros. |
| Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie | $3,350,000 | -37% | 3,049 | -458 | $1,099 | 26,432,000 | 3 | Universal |
| Soul on Fire | $3,000,000 | 1,720 | $1,744 | 3,000,000 | 1 | Sony Pictures | ||
| The Conjuring: Last Rites | $2,935,000 | -29% | 2,334 | -419 | $1,257 | 172,442,000 | 6 | Warner Bros. |
| Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Infi… | $2,250,000 | -37% | 1,834 | -713 | $1,227 | 128,637,000 | 5 | Sony Pictures |
| The Smashing Machine | $1,796,992 | -69% | 3,321 | -24 | $541 | 9,807,449 | 2 | A24 |
| The Strangers: Chapter 2 | $1,550,000 | -45% | 1,878 | -812 | $825 | 13,497,799 | 3 | Lionsgate |
| Good Boy | $1,360,000 | -42% | 1,650 | n/c | $824 | 4,863,007 | 2 | IFC Entertai… |
| The Long Walk | $1,040,000 | -40% | 1,204 | -726 | $864 | 33,905,691 | 5 | Lionsgate |
| Kiss of the Spider Woman | $1,000,000 | 1,330 | $752 | 1,000,000 | 1 | Roadside Att… | ||
| Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale | $700,000 | -48% | 1,075 | -975 | $651 | 43,963,000 | 5 | Focus Features |
| Him | $460,000 | -65% | 755 | -1,382 | $609 | 24,517,000 | 4 | Universal |
| The Bad Guys 2 | $430,000 | 152% | 487 | 194 | $883 | 81,693,000 | 11 | Universal |
| Casper | $268,000 | -67% | 415 | -685 | $646 | 102,240,000 | 1,586 | Universal |
| Eleanor the Great | $170,000 | -43% | 239 | -222 | $711 | 2,138,000 | 3 | Sony Picture… |
| After the Hunt | $154,467 | 6 | $25,745 | 154,467 | 1 | Amazon MGM S… | ||
| Bone Lake | $144,298 | -83% | 598 | -461 | $241 | 1,277,929 | 2 | Bleecker Street |
| Anemone | $136,000 | -80% | 879 | 14 | $155 | 1,067,000 | 2 | Focus Features |
| Orwell: 2+2 = 5 | $100,000 | 286% | 56 | 55 | $1,786 | 133,357 | 2 | Neon |
| If I Had Legs I’d Kick You | $89,164 | 4 | $22,291 | 89,164 | 1 | A24 | ||
| Freakier Friday | $79,000 | -12% | 100 | -60 | $790 | 94,142,633 | 10 | Walt Disney |
| The Fantastic Four: First Steps | $61,000 | -17% | 95 | -35 | $642 | 274,246,696 | 12 | Walt Disney |
| Urchin | $42,236 | 3 | $14,079 | 42,236 | 1 | 1-2 Special | ||
| The Senior | $35,492 | -74% | 132 | -353 | $269 | 5,245,368 | 4 | Angel Studios |
| The Roses | $20,700 | -2% | 115 | -10 | $180 | 15,280,509 | 7 | Searchlight … |
| Re-Election | $6,683 | 1 | $6,683 | 6,683 | 1 | Picturehouse | ||
| CatVideoFest 2025 | $3,758 | 32% | 3 | 1 | $1,253 | 1,022,892 | 11 | Oscilloscope… |
| Peacock | 525 | -84% | 4 | -2 | $131 | 13,353 | 4 | Oscilloscope… |
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