Before Wuthering Heights begins its global rollout with Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie, this past weekend clearly belonged to K-Pop powerhouse Stray Kids.
Their concert film Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience stormed the global box office with a revised $19.9 million debut across 61 territories — instantly claiming the No. 1 spot worldwide for the weekend.
And this wasn’t just a fan screening. It was a full-blown theatrical event.
A Global Party In Theatres
International markets powered the film’s success, delivering $14.2 million of the total, while North America contributed $5.7 million across 1,724 locations.
IMAX alone accounted for $3.9 million — roughly 20% of the global total — marking the format’s biggest opening weekend ever for a Korean-language film.
Mexico led the charge with $2.3 million, followed by Germany ($1.7M) and the UK & Ireland ($1.5M), where it became the highest-grossing K-Pop event release ever. Peru, Chile, Argentina and Poland even saw No. 1 market finishes.
Reports from Latin American cinemas described screenings turning into full-fledged fan celebrations — singing, dancing, repeat viewings. This wasn’t passive moviegoing. It was participatory.
The film also outperformed several previous K-Pop and concert movie benchmarks, including past BTS concert titles and even some Taylor Swift concert-event comps in select markets.
For distributor Bleecker Street’s event cinema label Crosswalk, this marked a high-profile first release — and a strong one at that.
Disney Still Rules The Bigger Picture
While Stray Kids claimed the weekend crown globally, The Walt Disney Company continued its long-term domination.
Zootopia 2 added another $16.8 million worldwide, pushing its global haul to a massive $1.8 billion. Internationally, it has now crossed $1.388 billion — officially overtaking Avengers: Infinity War in overseas earnings and ranking among the top MPA international releases of all time.
China and Japan remain strongholds for the animated sequel, keeping it steady deep into its run.
The Housemaid, Avatar & Send Help: The Mid-Table Battle
Meanwhile, The Housemaid continued its impressive momentum, flying past $350 million globally. With $354.6 million worldwide so far, it has now edged past the lifetime earnings of It Ends With Us.
James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash added $15.7 million globally in its eighth weekend, bringing its total to $1.439 billion. The film now ranks among the top international MPA releases of all time and remains the biggest global title of 2025 behind Zootopia 2.
On the other hand, Sam Raimi’s thriller Send Help pulled in $15.3 million globally this weekend. Though it stayed No. 1 domestically for a second consecutive frame, Super Bowl weekend dampened U.S. turnout, with a $9 million three-day total.
The Concert Film Era Is Officially Here
What makes The dominATE Experience especially notable is timing. Concert films are no longer niche fan-service events — they’re global theatrical revenue drivers.
IMAX screens heavily over-indexed in multiple territories, particularly in Australia where 32% of earnings came from the format. The movie’s performance in Germany also marked the best debut ever for a K-Pop theatrical release in that market.
For Universal International and Live Nation, it signals that global fandoms are ready to show up physically — not just stream.
Final Words
This wasn’t just another box office weekend. It was proof of how diversified theatrical revenue has become.
A K-Pop concert film led the globe. An animated sequel marched toward $2 billion. A long-running sci-fi epic kept climbing past $1.4 billion. And mid-budget thrillers battled through Super Bowl fatigue.
The takeaway? Theatres aren’t relying on one genre anymore.
And right now, Stray Kids aren’t just topping music charts — they’re owning the global box office stage too.
