UPDATE: 2025-07-23 08:00 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN
Karate Kid: Legends Hits The Lower Bound Of Its Saturday Range With A Projected $21 Million Debut
This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with up-to-date box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.
Karate Kid: Legendshas set a franchise record in spite of failing to defeat either of the previous weekend’s chart-topping hits. The movie, which is the sixth installment of theKarate Kidfranchise, features the 1984 movie’s original protagonist, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) working with the 2010 reboot’s martial arts mentor Mr. Han (Jackie Chan) to train a new student in need, Li Fong (Ben Wang). It is the final major release of May after the summer movie season kicked off in grand fashion with the record-breaking Memorial Day debuts ofLilo & StitchandMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
PerVariety, as of Sunday morning,Karate Kid: Legendsis projected to close out its opening weekend with a 3-day total of$21 millionat the domestic box office. This will markthe best debut for anyKarate Kidmovie featuring Daniel LaRusso, beating his previous high of $12.6 million for 1986’sThe Karate Kid, Part II. However, it will earn less than half of the $55.7 million debut of the 2010 reboot, giving it the second-best opening of the franchise overall.
Karate Kid: Legendsis expected to debut at No. 3on the domestic chart, with Memorial Day’s holdover hits maintaining their positions at No. 1 and No. 2. Disney’s live-actionLilo & Stitchremake is projected to follow its opening weekend (which was the best-ever debut over Memorial Day) with a sophomore weekend of$63 million, dropping 57%. Meanwhile,The Final Reckoningwill maintain its spot at No. 2, also dropping 57% for a projected$27.3 millionafter earning the best debut of the eight-film franchise. See the full domestic Top 5 for the weekend below:
1
$63 million
$280 million (weekend 2)
2
$27.3 million
$122.6 million (weekend 2)
3
$21 million
$21 million (weekend 1)
4
$10.8 million
$111.7 million (weekend 3)
5
$7 million
$7 million (weekend 1)
At the bottom of the chart, the new A24 horror movieBring Her Backlanded at No. 5 with a $7 million debutthat falls behind the $10.4 million debut ofTalk to Me, which was the previous genre outing from directors Danny and Michael Philippou, but is still not a bad take considering its relatively slim reported budget of $20 million. Meanwhile, the new martial arts movie knocked the holdover horror hitFinal Destination Bloodlinesto No. 4 during its third weekend, during which it fell roughly 43%.
With two new titles on the chart, a pair of holdover titles had to exit in order to make room. This includes Ryan Coogler’s smash horror hitSinners, which fell from No. 5 to No. 6 during its seventh weekend with an estimated 40% drop. Marvel’sThunderbolts*fell past it with a 51% drop seeing it slip from No. 4 to No. 7.It is possible that one of these titles could resurface at No. 5next weekend ifFinal DestinationorKarate Kidhas a strong drop, but last weekend may have been their final outing on the chart.
What This Means For Karate Kid: Legends
It Doesn’t Need To Hit The Level Of Lilo & Stitch
Although the fact that theKarate Kid: Legendsreleasehas kicked off with the movie premiering at No. 3 might seem like an inauspicious beginning, it was never expected to defeat the tentpoles at No. 1 and No. 2. Nor does it have to.The movie’s reported budget of $45 million gives it a lot more financial wiggle roomthan the Memorial Day blockbusters, asLilo & Stitchreportedly cost $100 million andMission: Impossible - The Final Reckoninghas a reported budget of up to $400 million, making it one of the most expensive movies of all time.
WhileThe Final Reckoning’s reported budget ranges between $300 million and $400 million, that would see it land somewhere between the 15th and fourth most expensive movie in history.
Because movies typically need to earn back two and a half times their budgets in order to turn a profit in theaters, the newKarate Kidmoviehasan estimated break-even point of $112.5 million, so it still has a way to climb. However,Part IIearned $115.1 million worldwide by the end of its run, and the fact that the new installment is set to make roughly $10 million more than that previous installment during its debut could be a good sign for its theatrical performance.
Additionally, while reviews forLegendsare middling, earning it a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score,audiences are much warmer on it, giving it an 88% Popcornmeter score and an A- CinemaScore that could potentially help it build word of mouth as its release continues in the coming weeks.
Our Take On The Weekend Box Office
Karate Kid: Legends Keeps Summer Rolling
Even thoughKarate Kid: Legendsdid not debut at No. 1, the fact that all three of the top movies came out in the past two weekends and had record-setting debuts is a solid kickoff for the summer movie season. It remains to be seen if the remainder of summer can keep up this level of performance, butthere is at least one promising title set to debut each weekend between Memorial Day and the middle of August, includingSuperman, thelive-actionHow to Train Your Dragon,The Fantastic Four: First Steps,Jurassic World Rebirth,28 Years Later, andF1.
