Tim Burton’s second live-action Disney remake opened in theaters around the world this weekend, but it looks as though his take on the beloved 1941 film Dumbo is not going to reach anywhere near the heights of his 2010 Alice in Wonderland adaptation.
Dumbo topped the domestic box office with $45 million, knocking Jordan Peele’s Us down to second in its second weekend, while it added a further $71 million from international markets (including $10.7 million from China and $7.4 million from the UK) for a worldwide take of $116 million.
The first of three Disney animated remakes this year alongside Aladdin and The Lion King, Dumbo had been tracking a global debut of around $155 million. It came in well below expectations, and at this point it may struggle to reach the $299.5 million gross of 2016’s Burton-less Alice in Wonderland sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass.
SEE ALSO: Read our review of Dumbo here
Disney’s new live-action feature film “Dumbo” introduces Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell), a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (Danny DeVito) enlists Holt to care for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holt’s children (Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins) discover that Dumbo can fly, persuasive entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton) and an aerial artist named Colette Marchant (Eva Green) swoop in to make the peculiar pachyderm a star.
Dumbo sees Tim Burton directing a cast that includes Colin Farrell (The Lobster), Michael Keaton (Beetlejuice), Danny DeVito (Batman Returns), Eva Green (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children), Joseph Gatt (Z Nation), DeObia Oparei (Game of Thrones), Roshan Seth (Gandhi), Sharon Rooney (My Mad Fat Diary), Alan Arkin (Edward Scissorhands) and Douglas Reith (Downton Abbey), as well as newcomers Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins.
