Steven Spielberg’s latest sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day debuted at the top of the North American box office, earning an estimated $44 million in ticket sales during its opening weekend, industry tracker Exhibitor Relations reported on Sunday.
Led by Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, the action-packed film follows an effort to expose a decades-long cover-up of extraterrestrial visitations. The project marks Spielberg’s return to alien-themed storytelling decades after Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), this time set in a world shaped by artificial intelligence and social media.
Industry analyst David A Gross described the opening as “very good” for an original sci-fi thriller.
“The film’s success is going to depend on how well it holds,” Gross said, adding that while audience reception has been strong, expectations for a Spielberg production are especially high.
In second place was Focus Features’ indie horror sensation Obsession, which collected another $19 million in its fifth weekend, bringing its domestic total to $188.3 million.
Directed by 26-year-old Curry Baker on a budget of less than $1 million, the film has become one of the year’s biggest surprise hits, generating an estimated $286 million worldwide. According to Variety, it is now Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time.
The film stars Inde Navarrette as a young woman who becomes dangerously infatuated with a man, played by Michael Johnston, after he makes a magical wish for her affection.
Paramount’s reboot of the Scary Movie franchise secured third place with $14.5 million in its second weekend.
A24’s horror feature Backrooms ranked fourth with $11.3 million, lifting its domestic total to $160 million following a record-breaking debut two weeks ago.
Based on director Kane Parsons’ viral YouTube series, the film has earned more than $262 million globally against a production budget of around $10 million. Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve, the story follows a furniture store owner who discovers a mysterious labyrinth beneath his shop.
Rounding out the top five was MGM’s Masters of the Universe reboot, which grossed just $8.7 million in its second weekend, a steep 70% decline from its opening. With a reported production budget exceeding $200 million, Variety described the film as one of the year’s biggest box-office disappointments.
The rest of the top 10 included Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu ($4.7 million), Michael ($4.1 million), BTS World Tour Arirang in Busan ($3.8 million), The Furious ($2.8 million), and Stop! That! Train ($2 million).
