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There’s a starman waiting in the sky, and audiences of all ages should flock to see his intergalactic adventures this weekend. 27 years after Pixar launched with Toy Story and revolutionized CG animation, the landmark film’s conceited plastic co-hero, Buzz, finally gets a starring role in Lightyear. The film doesn’t take place in the world of toys, however. Rather, the conceit of the stand-alone sci-fi adventure is that it's the actual 1995 film about the eponymous space ranger (now voiced by Chris Evans) on which the Toy Story "Buzz" toy which Andy received is based. Even if we can’t expect the spinoff to reach the box office highs of the latest Toy Story sequels, it should do strong business over the Father’s Day/Juneteenth weekend.

It’s peak summer movie season, which means what’s old is new again. After two back-to-back first-place finishes for a follow-up to the biggest box-office hit of 1986 (Top Gun), this weekend multiplexes were dominated by the latest sequel to the biggest box-office hit of 1993 (Jurassic Park). Not that anyone at Hollywood’s major studios is complaining about this latest wave of deja-vu. These days their very survival seems to depend on franchise nostalgia. Leaving a monster footprint at home and abroad, Universal’s Jurassic World Dominion, the sixth and latest installment in the dinos-run-amok franchise, stomped the competition over the frame with an eye-popping $143.4 million domestic bow, bumping reigning champ Top Gun: Maverick from the top spot even though Tom Cruise and company held on far better than expected in its third session with a still-impressive $50 million North American haul.

Prehistoric DNA is used to revive extinct species for the purpose of thrilling audiences… is that a Michael Crichton plot or a commentary on the state of cinema? Either way, audiences aren’t complaining. The past two weeks have been dominated by the sequel to 1986’s biggest hit, Top Gun, and now we are moving on to the fifth sequel to 1993’s biggest hit as Jurassic World Dominion roars into theaters. It is the third mega-movie of the summer, though as of now the two tentpole releases have been holding up a tent with little inside of it, with no major releases in the two weeks following Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness or in the week following Top Gun: Maverick. The good news is that from this weekend onwards the summer is packed with big films nearly every week, though the quantity of titles in the slate is still lower than pre-pandemic levels.

Another week, another box-office lesson. While the Memorial Day session reminded us that there are still such things as old-school Hollywood movie stars—the kind whose name on a marquee can single-handedly open a movie—thanks to the blockbuster debut of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, this week we were given a refresher course in the power of positive word of mouth. Cruise’s buzzy sequel just kept soaring at the multiplex with a negligible drop off, taking in another $86 million at North American theaters. It’s especially newsworthy since the smash-hit sequel is one of the few recent out-of-the-gate moneymakers without no connection to either superheroes or comic-book I.P. Meanwhile, another eagerly awaited tentpole follow-up, Jurassic World Dominion, was met by dino-sized returns in its early overseas roll out.

There is no doubt that the box office is flying high after a stratospheric $127 million three-day and $161 million four-day holiday opening for Top Gun: Maverick, which was the biggest non-superhero debut since 2019 and nearly double the previous best Tom Cruise opening. The three-and-a-half decade in the waiting sequel also delivered a new record for Memorial Day weekend, beating Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Despite these highs, the lack of new releases is still holding back the box office, which is why May, despite being the second highest grossing month since the pandemic began with an overall box office of $786 million, was the lowest grossing May since 2006.

After 36 years, Tom Cruise’s daredevil Navy flyboy Pete Mitchell apparently still felt the need…the need for speed. And so, too, did nostalgic moviegoers who flooded the nation’s multiplexes over Memorial Day weekend to propel the star’s long-delayed sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, into the box-office stratosphere with a $124 million domestic haul between Friday and Sunday. When Monday’s receipts are factored in, look for that total to climb to $151 million—making the Paramount sequel the strongest debut of Cruise’s storied career by far. Meanwhile, 20th Century Studios’ The Bob’s Burgers Movie bowed over the holiday frame in third place with $12.6 million.

After 36 years of waiting, Top Gun is finally getting a sequel, and it could not have come at a more opportune time. While the month of May got off to a terrific start led by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the box office has been in a free-fall since then, with last weekend’s overall gross of $75.6 million being lower than any pre-pandemic May weekend since 1999. Revving the summer box office back up this Memorial Day weekend is one of Hollywood’s last true movie stars, back in the role that first launched him into the stratosphere.

Even the strange sight of the lock-jawed Crawley clan frolicking on the French Riviera proved to be no match for the three-week-old Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness over the weekend as Downton Abbey: A New Era failed to unseat Marvel’s latest hand-over-fist blockbuster from the top spot in the battle of fan-service sequels. Landing slightly below expectations, Downton 2 debuted in the runner-up spot with a so-so $16 million while Benedict Cumberbatch’s superhero follow-up held onto first place for the third straight frame with a $31.6 million haul. Meanwhile, A24’s psychological horror film, Men, baffled audiences and bowed quietly in fifth place.

After two weeks dominated almost entirely by Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, we get some new blood this weekend with the sequel to Focus’ specialty box office blockbuster Downton Abbey and A24’s latest with genre auteur Alex Garland, Men. Neither will have the sort of fireworks we hope for in May, and Doctor Strange should rule the roost once again in its third weekend, but there’s enough to keep audiences coming until Top Gun: Maverick swoops in next weekend and takes the top spot and the premium screens.

A week after storming multiplexes with a superheroic $185 million domestic bow, Disney’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness picked up right where it left off, grossing an additional $61 million over its second weekend in North America. Not surprisingly, rival studios for the most part chose to steer clear of Marvel’s latest box-office behemoth—all except for Universal, which unveiled its Zac Efron-led remake of the 1984 Stephen King adaptation, Firestarter, and failed to produce any sparks in the marketplace, bowing to a truly scary $3.8 million.

After dominating the box office last weekend with 84% of the entire weekend’s gross, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will remain the major story in its second frame. The Marvel Cinematic Universe film, which opened to $187 million, crossed $200 million on Monday (not to mention $500 million worldwide on Tuesday), and it is on the verge of besting the first Doctor Strange’s $233 million domestic cume. By the end of the weekend it should be past or very close to $300 million, with its next milestone being the $369 million gross of The Batman, the biggest thus far this year and the second biggest since the start of the pandemic.

While the calendar says it’s still technically spring for another month and a half, the summer blockbuster season officially kicked off over Mother’s Day weekend thanks to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ whopping $185 million domestic bow. With no new major competition (who in their right minds would even dare to go up against it?), the latest chapter in the hand-over-fist Marvel Cinematic Universe instantly became the biggest box-office debut of 2022, trouncing its cross-town DC rival, The Batman, and its $134 million opening just two months ago.

The summer box office season is finally arriving, and kicking it off is the latest from Hollywood’s biggest moneymaker, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The franchise’s four 2021 releases made up nearly 30% of the combined domestic gross of all 2021 releases, and the total gross of those four films is just 10% behind the combined gross of everything that came out in the first four months of 2022. The extended universe’s success shows no sign of flagging with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the first MCU release since Spider-Man: No Way Home shattered box office records in the winter.

Consider it the calm before the storm. With Marvel’s eagerly awaited Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness officially kicking off the summer blockbuster season next weekend, the nation’s multiplexes were sleepier than usual… unless, of course, you were a kid (or the parent of one). As the top five movies in North America remained largely unchanged from the previous frame—with The Bad Guys taking top honors again—it’s worth noting that the weekend’s three biggest grossers were all family-friendly titles. Meanwhile, on the other end of the age spectrum, Liam Neeson served up the weekend’s only major new release, Memory. But the action-thriller’s soft, eighth-place opening raised questions whether his once-loyal fanbase has finally grown tired of his “particular set of skills.”

The past month was the year’s busiest at the box office with three of the year’s top five openers, and the past weekend saw four films gross above $10 million, a feat that surprisingly has not been achieved since last June. Things slow to a crawl this weekend, though, as we are one week out from the Marvel-in-waiting Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness which will kick off the summer box-office season. Though this week’s only new wide release is expected to open soft, there is still juice left to squeeze out of the current slate before the arrival of the first MCU film since Spider-Man: No Way Home. This may be the lowest grossing weekend since February, but a blockbuster packed summer is right around the corner.

Farewell Fantastic Beasts, we hardly got a chance to know you. In what can only be called one of the most daring box-office heists of the spring, Universal’s new animated comedy, The Bad Guys, stole the weekend’s top spot in broad daylight, making off with a hefty $24 million haul. The multiplex larceny came at the expense of Warner Bros.’ latest big-budget Harry Potter spin-off, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which nosedived to third place in its sophomore frame—an ominous sign for the long-running wizarding franchise. Meanwhile, two other new wide releases joined them at the top of the charts: the arty, mud-and-blood-soaked Viking saga The Northman and the Nicolas Cage meta-action-comedy The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

After four weeks in a row of big ticket releases opening above $30 million, the momentum is keeping up with three new wide releases that, though they are smaller in scope than the past month’s big releases, all have solid mid-range box office potential. It may not be enough to make April beat March as the biggest month yet this year (or to give us another $100+ million weekend), but the new releases should keep the seats in the theaters warm as we await the arrival of the summer blockbuster season in two weeks with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore could have used a little more magic on its opening weekend. Strike that, make that a lot more magic. The third chapter in Warner Bros.’ Harry Potter spin-off saga debuted to a less-than-fantastic $43 million in North America over the long Easter frame—the lowest roll-out in the series to date. However, some good news came from overseas, where the wizarding tale has been able to conjure significantly more enchantment, taking in $150.4 million in its first two weekends of release. Bereft of any magic all together was Sony’s fifth-place finisher Father Stu,, the inspirational story of a boxer-turned-priest starring Mark Wahlberg. Despite the religious-themed film’s Easter arrival, it laid an egg with a $5.7 million bow.

AfterSonic the Hedgehog 2 dashed into theaters for a $70 million opening and gave 2022 its third $100+ million overall weekend gross, there is hope that the momentum keeps up this weekend with the release of Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore. Whether or not the film lives up to previous installments, this long Easter weekend should continue the hot streak from the past three weekends, which are all in the top five for this year.

Paramount’s kid-friendly follow-up, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, exceeded even the most bullish industry expectations in its debut weekend and blew past the box-office competition with a sonic boom thanks to a massive $71 million bow. The SEGA videogame-inspired sequel marked the studio’s fourth 2022 film to open in the top spot, while easily trouncing the frame’s other high-profile rookie, director Michael Bay’s action-thriller Ambulance, which stalled coming out of the gate, selling a surprisingly soft $8.7 million in tickets despite the star power of Jake Gyllenhaal. Sonic 2, which features Jim Carrey, James Marsden, and the voice of Ben Schwartz as its eponymous blue cartoon critter, had some big sneakers to fill. The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie opened to $58 million back in February of 2020 and went on to rack up $320 million worldwide before having its theatrical run cut short by the COVID pandemic (it still ended up becoming the third-biggest domestic grosser of that challenged year). Paramount’s own estimates for the new sequel’s debut weekend were in the neighborhood of $50 million. But Sonic 2 zipped right past that number and just kept going. Unspooling in 4,234 theaters, the PG-rated sequel scored a $16,789 per-screen average and seemed to click with ticket-buyers of all ages (who rewarded it with a straight-A CinemaScore grade). Critics were slightly less impressed, handing the film a 67% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While some may interpret Sonic 2’s success as an indication that family audiences are ready to return to the multiplex, the smash hit Sing 2 already seemed to prove that point. Overseas, where Sonic 2 opened in some markets a week earlier, the film has pulled in $70 million so far, bringing its current worldwide cumulative box office to $141 million.