‘Beauty and the Beast’ Breaks Records With $170 Million Debut

Beauty was a “beast” at the box office. Disney’s live-action remake of its 1991 Oscar-nominated musical made a splash with a record-setting March opening weekend. Its estimated $170 million domestic earnings was so large that it topped previous March record holder Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, which scored $166 million last year.

On the heels of Beauty and the Beast‘s monster debut, Disney now owns six of the top seven opening weekends all time. (Those curious, Universal owns spot No. 2 with Jurassic World.) The box office was healthy with theater patrons as the films Logan and Get Out continue to perform well and Kong: Skull Island had a nice hold last weekend. Beauty and the Beast also accounted for the seventh largest opening weekend ever, just a hair above Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Other records include: largest opening for a PG-rated film; largest Spring opening weekend (even though Spring didn’t officially start until March 20th); fourth largest Saturday gross of all-time; sixth largest Sunday gross; and eighth largest theater average for a wide opening release. But the records don’t stop there. Beauty and the Beast made an estimated $21 million on 1,026 IMAX screens in 56 markets worldwide.

As it was said in the 1933 original King Kong, “It was beauty that killed the beast,” it also holds true in 2017 as Kong: Skull Island took silver as it dropped 53% to finish with $28.85 million. Worldwide it has a global cume of $259.3 million.

Hugh Jackman’s last hurrah as Wolverine in Logan added another $17.5 million as it nears $185 million domestically. However, internationally the superhero pic has amassed $340 million to bring its cume worldwide to $524.1 million.

Jordan Peele’s Get Out finally made its international debut over the weekend in nine markets to add $2.9 million to its already incredible $133 million domestic gross. This Blumhouse release wasn’t the only performer in the top 10 as BH Tilt’s The Belko Experiment delivered $4 million its opening weekend.

Oscar holdover Hidden Figures added $1.5 million in its thirteenth week to bring its total to $165 million. For 2016 releases, Figures has outgrossed the likes of Jason Bourne ($162.4 million), Star Trek Beyond ($158.8 million), and X-Men: Apocalypse ($155.4 million).

In limited release, TriStar debuted T2 Trainspotting in five theaters where it brought in an estimated $180k (a per theater average of $36k). Broad Green’s release of Terence Malick’s Song to Song didn’t fare as well. Debuting in four theaters this weekend, it earned estimated $53.9k.

Here’s a complete listing of the Top 10.

1) Beauty and the Beast – $170 Million
2) Kong: Skull Island – $28.8 Million
3) Logan – $17.5 Million
4) Get Out – $13.2 Million
5) The Shack – $6.1 Million
6) The LEGO Batman Movie – $4.7 Million
7) The Belko Experiment – $4 Million
8) Hidden Figures – $1.5 Million
9) John Wick: Chapter Two – $1.2 Million
10) Before I Fall – $1.03 Million