Disney’s animated adventure Raya and the Last Dragon, featuring Kelly Marie Tran as the voice of the titular character, has led the US box office in its third weekend of release.
“Raya and the Last Dragon” collected $5.2 million from 2,261 theaters through Sunday, representing a scant 5% decline. Disney can thank the reopening of Los Angeles movie theaters for the stellar hold in ticket sales. Cinemas in the City of Angels were given permission to resume operations on March 12, but most film exhibitors weren’t able to get up and running until now.
Capacity in Los Angeles area movie theaters will be capped at 25%, or 100 people per auditorium, which is double the limit in New York, where its restricted to 50 people. Even with restrictions, Los Angeles accounted for nearly 9% of all movie tickets sold this weekend, according to Comscore.
“This weekend showed solid results from holdovers, demonstrating the revenue generating horsepower of opening the biggest box-office market in North America,” said Paul Dergarabedian, a senior media analyst with Comscore. “Eager movie fans in Los Angeles showed up in solid numbers to enjoy the big screen experience once again.”
In a sign that moviegoing is on the mend, AMC Theatres, the cinema chain with the biggest footprint in the country, has reopened 98% of its locations, including 40 venues in California, as of March 19. The circuit expects to reopen even more locations by March 26.
“It was exactly one year ago that we closed all AMC locations in the United States,” said Adam Aron, the CEO of AMC. “It gives me immense joy to say that by the end of next week we expect that 99% of our U.S. locations will have reopened.”
“Raya and the Last Dragon” amassed another $8 million overseas from 29 countries. The film, which is available to Disney Plus subscribers for an additional $30, has generated $71 million globally to date.
Without much in the way of competition, “Raya and the Last Dragon” was able to easily repeat No. 1 in North America. Two new movies — “The Courier” and “City of Lies” — opened theatrically while several awards season hopefuls got a post-Oscar nomination boost.
You can also watch Raya and the Last Dragon on Disney+ with Premier Access.
