The US box office has enjoyed its best weekend since the pandemic shut down theaters across the country nearly a year ago. This follows the 25% capacity reopening of the theaters in New York City for the first time since March last year.

　　According to Box Office Mojo, the estimated domestic box office gross was $25 million. This is obviously well below the $101 million that was made in the equivalent weekend in 2020, but nevertheless is an encouraging sign that life is starting to return to the theatrical sector. The second best weekend in the past year was at Christmas, when Wonder Woman 1984 helped push the box office take to $23.8 million.

　　However, despite the impressive overall gross, the results for the most popular film, Disney's Raya and the Last Dragon, were disappointing. It made an estimated $8.2 million in its first three days, which was way below the $14.1 million take for Warner's Tom and Jerry last weekend.

　　This result is even worse when you consider that Tom and Jerry is also available on HBO Max for no extra cost, while Raya can only be seen on Disney+ for an additional $30 premium charge. As Deadline notes, Cinemark, the US's third biggest exhibitor, has refused to screen Raya because of Disney's refusal to alter their terms for the film even though it is available on streaming. Conversely, Warner made a deal with exhibitors over the movies it is also releasing onto HBO Max.

　　However, the shortfall from Raya was made up by Tom and Jerry, which made another $6.6 million, and the much-delayed Chaos Walking, which opened with a $3.8 million take. Further down the Top 10, the coming-of-age drama Boogie and animated sequel The Croods: A New Age helped push the numbers too.

Top 10 Films in the US for the weekend of March 5 - March 7 (via Box Office Mojo):