Box Office: Elvis & Top Gun: Maverick are currently tied for a first-place finish

The King and Maverick are currently sitting at the top of the box office with the exact same figures according to estimates. Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick grossed identical numbers over the weekend although when actuals are released tomorrow, one film is likely to come out ahead.

Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick grossed $30.5 million, according to estimates released by Deadline. The $30.5 million figure is very close to my $30 million predictions but we will have to wait and see if its placement will match what I predicted as well. There are signs that Maverick will eventually top Elvis as box office analytics EntTelligence says Top Gun: Maverick has 2.5 million admissions while Elvis came in at 2.4 million. Top Gun: Maverick’s Saturday gross was also higher at $12 million versus the $10 million for Elvis. Even if Elvis slips to second place, this is a stellar start that exceeded its $20 million+ tracking, and its “A-” CinemaScore also indicates that word of mouth could be strong. The other good news for current fellow number one champ Top Gun: Maverick is that the Tom Cruise release has cleared $1 billion worldwide wide with a global haul of 1.006 billion.

Landing in what we’ll call third place, for now, is Jurassic World: Dominion with a gross of $26.4 million. That’s a dip of 55% as the film continues to perform like its predecessor, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. That film fell 53% in its third weekend which is virtually similar to the current performance of Dominion. After three weeks of release, Jurassic World: Dominion has grossed $302.7 million at the domestic box office.

Debuting in fourth place and overperforming is The Black Phone, which grossed $23.3 million over the weekend. That bests the $20 million that film has been tracking ahead of the weekend as word of mouth seems to be glowing for the Blumhouse horror effort. The movie earned a good for horror “B+” CinemaScore and with an estimated $18 million budget, it’s already on its way to profitability.

Rounding out the top five, and denying us of having five films grossing $20 million+ over the weekend is Lightyear, which took a mighty 65% tumble to $17.6 million. This is one of the biggest second-weekend drops for a Pixar movie after the 73% tumble for Onward but that came as the pandemic shuttered theaters nationwide. What’s clear here is that Lightyear just didn’t connect with families or those nostalgic for Toy Story. This is probably one of the more shocking box office performers and I’m sure Disney Pixar will be trying to figure out where the ball was dropped. To date, Lightyear has grossed $88.7 million domestically.

What are YOUR thoughts on this weekend’s box office results?