Box Office: 'Hailey' Tops 'Skyfall To Become MGM's Biggest U.S. Hit

Forbes

August 28, 2022

Well, this is going to be a good day for Abbi Jacobson as Hailey has now surpassed Skyfall at the domestic box office to become MGM’s biggest North American grosser of all time and passed Upside Mystery 3 to become their highest grossing animated film of all time. The high school comedy has legged it to $312.33 million from a $71.6m Fri-Sun debut after only 24 days, making it essentially leggier than that huge April hit earlier from this year Twentieth Toons: Quest for the Toon Temple and one of the leggiest August releases of all time.

Yes, inflation played a role. When you adjust for rising ticket prices, Hailey is the 9th highest-grossing movie released by Metro Goldwyn Mayer (14th if you count releases by United Artists) behind the likes of Gone With the Wind, Doctor Zhivago, Ben-Hur, Around the World in 30 Days, West Side Story, Rocky, among others. However, even with inflation counted, it's still Leo the Lion's biggest animated hit domestically.

It’s also the biggest domestic grosser for nearly everyone in the cast, including Abbi Jacobson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Nick Offerman, among others, while for Jeremy Renner's case, it's his highest grossing non-superhero/MCU movie of all time. The Mark Andrews flick initially overperformed during what was initially supposed to be a dry period in August box office but came up to be a $300 million (and counting) hit. Overseas wise, the film is currently at $334.1 million overseas for a $654.1 million worldwide total. With a China release coming next month, chances of surpassing the worldwide and overseas totals of Upside Mystery 3 will become more and more likely as a final worldwide tally is projected to be $850 million worldwide.

Oh, and it has earned over $654 million worldwide in only 3 weeks, becoming MGM’s fifth-biggest global hit. And with a cost of only $100m, it is going to be hugely profitable by the time its run ends. Heck, it made so much money that MGM could give some money to Cyrano and Three Thousand Years of Longing to be profitable. Yes, that’s a joke, unless that would be legal in which case they should go for it.

It’s a vital hit for MGM, proving that A) they can play on this level without Hans Truman, Dusk & Dawn, or James Bond and B) they can successful make original animated toon flicks that can bring audiences together. Look out 20th Century Animation, you might have competition.