There’s an image I can’t seem to get out of my head since checking out this weekend’s box office numbers, and that’s of Meryl Streep nut-punching Karl Urban, Mortal Kombat-style, accompanied — of course — by the video game’s “Finish him!” voiceover. The box office fight might not have gotten physical, but it was a close one, with The Devil Wears Prada 2 maintaining the top spot over the video game sequel in a battle that was nearly too close to call. We’ll have to see how those dollar amounts shake out when they become final on Monday.
Possibly more impressive, however, was the latest record broken by Michael, the hit 2026 movie schedule entry starring the King of Pop’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson.
Take a look at the Top 10 list for the past three days, then we can break down all of the numbers.
Weekend Box Office: May 8-10, 2026
* denotes new release
TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LAST WEEK | THEATERS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1. The Devil Wears Prada 2 | $43,000,000 | $144,844,258 | 1 | 4,200 |
2. Mortal Kombat II* | $40,000,000 | $40,000,000 | N/A | 3,503 |
3. Michael | $36,500,000 | $240,490,000 | 2 | 3,550 |
4. The Sheep Detectives* | $15,916,000 | $15,916,000 | N/A | 3,457 |
5. Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft — The Tour* | $7,500,000 | $7,500,000 | N/A | 2,613 |
6. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie | $6,600,000 | $412,116,000 | 3 | 3,075 |
7. Project Hail Mary | $6,069,867 | $327,776,840 | 4 | 2,417 |
8. Hokum | $3,303,615 | $12,457,025 | 5 | 1,900 |
9. Deep Water | $780,274 | $3,672,521 | 8 | 1,301 |
10. Animal Farm | $663,624 | $5,000,377 | 6 | 2,140 |
Mortal Kombat II Loses The Battle Of The Sequels, Settling For Second Place In Its Debut
Mortal Kombat II earned $40 million in its first three days domestically, which falls on the lower end of projections. Ultimately, that wasn’t good enough to dethrone The Devil Wears Prada 2, which fell just 44% from its opening three days to finish with an estimated $43 million.
Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep’s sequel has now earned $144.8 million domestically, and international markets have added generously to that, giving the flick $433.2 million globally after 10 days. That’s good enough, per The Numbers, to surpass Hoppers for the fifth-best global release this year.
The video game adaptation, meanwhile, also got some help from outside North America, adding $23 million for a worldwide total of $63 million. Hopefully, its positive reception from audiences (more on that further down) and critics’ reviews lauding one scene-stealing performance can keep it in theaters long enough to earn back its reported $80 million budget. ScreenRant reports that after marketing and promotion costs, the sequel’s break-even point is around $200 million.
Mortal Kombat II Outperforms Its Predecessor
Johnny Cage may have been no match for the Devil, but the sequel's $43 million is close to double what 2021’s Mortal Kombat earned. That movie, also from Simon McQuoid and starring much of the same cast, earned $23.3 million, though we have to remember that people hadn’t fully returned to theaters that year, and Mortal Kombat was given a simultaneous streaming release on HBO Max.
Mortal Kombat II has a lot going for it, and it should easily surpass the $84.4 million its predecessor made worldwide by the end of its run.
New Releases Round Out The Top 5
The Sheep Detectives and Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft — The Tour were able to push The Super Mario Galaxy Movie and Project Hail Mary out of the Top 5. The Hugh Jackman book-to-screen adaptation brought in $15.9 million, which was on the higher end of projections from a week ago. Billie Eilish’s 3D flick, meanwhile, was only slightly under experts’ predictions with $7.5 million.
Both got international boosts, too, with the James Cameron-directed concert film garnering $12.6 million outside of the U.S. and Canada for a global total of $20.1 million — in good shape to recoup its reported $20 million budget. The Sheep Detectives, meanwhile, got an extra $12.1 million to finish its first weekend with $28 million worldwide toward its $75 million budget.
Let’s take a look at what critics and moviegoers thought of this week’s movies:
RANK/TITLE | RT CRITICS | RT AUDIENCE | CINEMASCORE |
|---|---|---|---|
2. Mortal Komat II | 65% | 89% | B |
4. The Sheep Detectives | 93% | 96% | A- |
5. Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft — The Tour | 93% | 99% | A |
It’s impressive to see The Sheep Detectives and Billie Eilish scoring in the 90th percentile with both critics and audiences, and Mortal Kombat II seems to be a much bigger hit with moviegoers than critics. It will definitely be interesting to see how these fare next week — especially with Karl Urban’s fantasy fighting film having a pretty good chance of trading in silver for gold.
Michael Moonwalks Past Freddy Mercury
All of the new releases aside, Michael continues its box office dominance, falling just one spot — and not by much, either — as it brought in another $36.5 million in its third weekend. That gives the Michael Jackson biopic $240.5 million, meaning it has officially surpassed Bohemian Rhapsody’s $216.7 million to become North America’s highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
Globally, Michael crossed the $500 million milestone and, while it stands as the second-best music biopic of all time on a worldwide scale, it still has a ways to go before taking that crown from Queen. The 2018 Freddy Mercury movie ended its run with $910.8 million, per Billboard, while MJ’s story so far totals $577.4 million.
Hokum Has A Decent Second Weekend, But It’s Bad News For The Other Sophomores
Hokum’s positive reception appears to have garnered it some goodwill with moviegoers, as it fell just 49% from its debut weekend. Sure, it dropped to eighth place with just $3.3 million but, so far it’s made $12.5 million, and with a reported budget of just $5 million, that’s not too shabby. It’s also got a stronger chance of more Top 10 appearances than Deep Water or Animal Farm.
Neither of these second-week releases managed to reach the million-dollar mark. Renny Harlin’s survival film dropped one spot and 63% to earn $780K, which puts it at $3.7 million after two weekends toward its $40 million budget. But even that’s not as dire as what happened to Animal Farm.
The George Orwell adaptation dropped from No. 6 to No. 10, with its $663K a whopping 80% plunge from its premiere weekend. It looks like this animated flick is stalling out at $5 million toward its $35 million budget.
What Does Next Weekend Look Like?
New movies hitting theaters May 15 don’t look like they’ll challenge for the Top 3, which makes that an interesting battle, with just $7 million separating gold from bronze this weekend. There are some highly anticipated offerings, though, including the upcoming horror movie Obsession, which holds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score after thrilling and disturbing audiences at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. That’s projected to open to about $7 million, per Box Office Theory.
We’ve also got Guy Ritchie’s In the Grey and Is God Is, a thriller with an impressive cast that includes Kara Young, Janelle Monáe, Erika Alexander, Vivica A. Fox and Sterling K. Brown. Which of the above movies that we’ve discussed this week is piquing your interests? Get to the theater, then come back next Sunday to see what happens to that Top 10 list.
