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Detective Pikachu’s Opening Was Super Effective

This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information

Pokemon Detective Pikachu had a stellar opening weekend. The movie based on trading cards and the beloved Nintendo video game series raked in $58 million domestically and $112.4 million worldwide at the weekend box office for a combined total of $170.4 million. The estimated production budget was $150 million.

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The earnings are an impressive feat for a project burdened with the stigma of being a video game movie adaptation. According to Box Office Mojo, Detective Pikachu had the best domestic opening weekend for a movie based on a video game property ever. The filmā€™s $58 million exceeded runners up like Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($47.7 million) and The Angry Birds Movie ($38 million). Those numbers are nothing to scoff at, especially when considering that Hollywood has tried to capitalize on the video game scene for years.

However, Detective Pikachu wasnā€™t entirely a runaway success. Despite returning a profit within a few days of release, Ryan Reynolds voicing an electric yellow Pokemon still couldnā€™t compete with the three-week-old Avengers: Endgame. The MCU blockbuster held the number 1 spot for the third consecutive weekend, earning more than $63 million domestically over Motherā€™s day weekend to add to its current worldwide gross of nearly $2.5 billion.

Then again, itā€™s unfair to expect most movies to compete with a movie that has now outgrossed Titanicā€™s entire theatrical run. Superhero movies have become box office gold while Detective Pikachu had to succeed in a much more maligned genre. Ā At least it can now brag that itā€™s the best of that sorry bunch.


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Riley Constantine
Contributor. Riley Constantine is Iowa's third greatest export behind Slipknot and life insurance. She loves to review movies and games while examining how they often mirror the bizarre world we live in.