Box Office Report: ‘Beauty and the Beast’ Shatters Records

Beauty and the Beast Dan Stevens and Emma Watson
Dan Stevens and Emma Watson in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ ( (Photo (c) 2016 Disney Enterprises inc.)

Disney’s live-action Beauty and the Beast broke multiple records over its opening weekend, including the largest opening for a PG rated film. Beauty and the Beast starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens also moved into first place for the biggest opening of a March release at $170 million, knocking Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and its $166 million take into second place. The opening weekend numbers were also big enough to snag the seventh spot on the highest grossing domestic openings of all time list. Audiences embraced the romantic musical, awarding it an “A” on CinemaScore while critics were a tad less enthusiastic. (It’s currently sitting at 70% fresh on RottenTomatoes.com.)

Disney’s got to be extremely happy with Beauty and the Beast‘s opening weekend box office (both domestic and international) and the film is likely to remain in or close to the number one spot over the next few weekends. Beauty and the Beast also reinforced the fact that females can drive films to box office success, with females making up 70% of the film’s Friday audience.


Box Office Top 10: March 17-19, 2017

  1. Beauty and the Beast – $170,000,000
  2. Kong: Skull Island – $28,850,000
  3. Logan – $17,500,000
  4. Get Out – $13,249,475
  5. The Shack – $6,130,000
  6. The LEGO Batman Movie – $4,700,000
  7. The Belko Experiment – $4,051,000
  8. Hidden Figures – $1,500,000
  9. John Wick: Chapter Two – $1,200,000
  10. Before I Fall – $1,034,425