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Summary

MaXXXinehas beat a franchise box office record during its opening weekend. The new Ti West slasher movie starring Mia Goth is a 1980s-set sequel toX, in which Goth played both the youthful final girl Maxine and the elderly killer Pearl, who squared off on the grounds of a Texas farmhouse in the 1970s. Goth reprised her role as Pearl in the same year’sPearl, which was a prequel that took place in 1918. TheMaXXXinereleasecomes two years after the release of the first two movies, which were shot back to back.

PerDeadline, as ofSundaymorning,MaXXXineis projected to take in a 3-day opening weekend total of$6.7 millionat the domestic box office. While this is considerably lower than the roughly $75 million earned by the weekend’s No. 1 title, the animated sequelDespicable Me 4, it is by a significant marginthe best debut of the entireXtrilogy. In fact, it earns more than one-and-a-half times the opening weekend ofX, which opened with a $4.3 million take.

Mia Goth as Maxine making a phone call from a payphone in MaXXXine

UPDATE: 2025-06-20 08:15 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN

MaXXXine Falls Slightly Below Projections

While the original Saturday projections forMaXXXinehad it earning between $7 and $8 million, its 3-day total has been updated in bold as of Sunday AM.

Why Is MaXXXine Outperforming The Previous X Movies?

The New Movie Faces Greater Challenges Than X Or Pearl

It is somewhat unclear why the new movie is performing so much better than the previous installments in the trilogy. By all means, it shouldn’t be performing as well, especially considering the fact thatit only opened in roughly 2,200 theaters, which is about 700 fewer than bothXandPearl. Additionally, whileMaXXXinereviewsare largely positive, it has a significantly lower Rotten Tomatoes score than the previous movies. Below, see a comparison of the reception and theatrical release of all three movies:

of Theaters (Opening Weekend)

Moses Sumney and Elizabeth Debicki in MaXXXine

2,865

94%

MaXXXine Film Poster

2,935

92%

~2,200

75%

One reason the new movie has performed better could be the fact that there was a hiatus of about two years between therelease ofPearlandMaXXXinerather than the scant five months between the first two installments. This may haveallowed audiences more time to discover both of the previous movieson VOD and become invested in the ongoing storyline. The fact that it is a direct sequel toXfollowing the original final girl, which is somewhat unusual in the slasher genre, could also be a strong enticement.

MaXXXine Cast & Character Guide

The MaXXXine cast includes the familiar star of the X trilogy, Mia Goth, alongside iconic supporting actors like Kevin Bacon and Halsey.

MaXXXine’s opening weekend could also be a result of the box office has shaking off the pandemic-era doldrums that were still causing issues with theatergoing in 2022. While the 2024 slate has been limited and compromised after studios delayed many planned 2024 movies amid the 2023 industry strikes, individual movies have been able to perform better than their 2022 counterparts. Regardless of the provenance of this strong debut, if the new movie can maintain this level of interest and eventually earn just slightly more than double its opening weekend, it will become the highest-grossing movie of the franchise overall.

MaXXXine

Cast

In 1980s Hollywood, adult film star and aspiring actress Maxine Minx lands her big break, but her rise to stardom is jeopardized by a mysterious killer targeting starlets. As the body count rises, secrets from Maxine’s past threaten to surface, intertwining her quest for fame with a deadly game of survival.