Expect Dumbo to fly high in theaters this weekend.
The Tim Burton-directed remake of the 1941 Disney classic is expected to make at least $50 million when it opens on March 29, according to Variety. That’s notably less than the opening-weekend hauls for such recent Disney remakes as 2016’s The Jungle Book and 2017’s Beauty and the Beast. Yet it’s still an elephantine figure, one that will likely help Dumbo land at the No. 1 spot.
Starring Colin Farrell, Eva Green, and Michael Keaton—whom Burton directed in such hits as Beetlejuice and Batman—the new Dumbo is Disney’s latest attempt to lure moviegoers with an updated take on an animated classic. In May, the studio will release a new version of Aladdin starring Will Smith, and this summer will see the highly anticipated remake of The Lion King, featuring the voices of Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Seth Rogen, and Donald Glover, among others.
A jumbo-sized Dumbo would be a relief for studio execs and theater-owners, who got off to a slow start in 2019, as high-profile films as heavily promoted films like The Lego Movie 2failed to connect with audiences, while several smaller films sputtered out. Relief has come in recent weeks, thanks to smashes as the superhero adventure Captain Marvel and the Jordan Peele-directed Us.