How to Train Your Dragon has beaten out the new release 28 Years Later during its sophomore weekend at the domestic box office. DreamWorks’ live-action remake of their 2010 animated hit debuted on June 13, earning an $84.6 million debut that marked the best opening weekend of the entire four-film franchise. Its biggest compeтιтion during its second weekend was the anticipated horror sequel 28 Years Later, which is the long-awaited third installment in the rage virus franchise after 2002’s 28 Days Later and 2007’s 28 Weeks Later and features the return of original director Danny Boyle alongside screenwriter Alex Garland.

Per ᴅᴇᴀᴅline, as of Saturday morning, How to Train Your Dragon is projected to take No. 1 at the domestic box office for the second weekend in a row with a 3-day gross above $35 million seeing it drop roughly 58% from its opening weekend. This also sees it becoming the seventh movie of 2025 to pᴀss the $150 million domestic milestone, in a matter of just 10 days. It has taken a clear lead over 28 Years Later, which is projected to debut in a range between $30 and $31 million.

The latter тιтle has put up a good fight, considering the fact that the age-limitations of viewership for the R-rated horror movie give it a smaller audience than a PG adventure movie. Additionally, the movie will earn the third-best opening weekend of 2025 so far for an R-rated movie, behind only Sinners ($48 million) and Final Destination Bloodlines ($51.6 million). It is also set to outgross the entire runs of other R-rated 2025 features, including the airborne thriller Flight Risk ($29.8 million), Alex Garland’s Warfare ($25.8 million), and Blumhouse’s Wolf Man ($20.7 million).

Meanwhile, Pixar’s Elio has not proven to be any sort of compeтιтion for the DreamWorks live-action remake. The new release is projected to premiere at No. 3 with a gross of just above $22 million, which would give it the worst debut of all time for Pixar.

What This Means For 28 Years Later

It Has Had A Promising Start

Though it has been unable to beat How to Train Your Dragon at the domestic box office, the 28 Years Later release has gotten off to a solid start. Even if it hits the lower end of its current projections, it is set to earn the biggest domestic debut of the entire franchise. In fact, it is set to earn more than the opening weekends of both previous installments combined, because Days made $10 million and Weeks debuted with $9.8 million. If it has a similar multiplier, Years could potentially gross $220.5 million worldwide by the end of its run.

That projected total should make the movie profitable, even though it comes with a somewhat high reported budget of $60 million that could place its estimated break-even point as high as $150 million. If the upcoming 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple performs in a similar way, the pair of movies will almost certainly earn the planned third installment in a new trilogy. The Bone Temple, which was directed by Nia DaCosta from a screenplay by Garland, has already been sH๏τ and is set to premiere in January 2026, but the following installment has not yet been funded.

Our Take On The Weekend Box Office

The Summer Season Is Heating Up

Even though Elio has had a disappointing opening, the fact that How to Train Your Dragon and 28 Years Later are both neck and neck shows that the summer movie season is finally able to see movies from multiple genres thrive alongside one another after Lilo & Sтιтch consistently batted away compeтιтors such as Ballerina and Karate Kid: Legends. This could mean that the summer will continue going strong if upcoming tentpoles including F1, M3GAN 2.0, Jurᴀssic World Rebirth, James Gunn’s Superman, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps can perform well in tandem rather than crowding each other out.

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Source: ᴅᴇᴀᴅline