Rocketman, the biographical musical film based on the life of Elton John, performed strongly during its debut weekend in the United States.
Box Office Mojo reported on Sunday, June 2, that it took in $25 million dollars. The movie landed at number three behind Godzilla 2 and Aladdin. Paramount Pictures, the studio that produced the film, thought it would only earn $18-$20 million.
Rocketman’s weekend performance is the fourth largest opening for a music biopic. Only Straight Outta Compton, Bohemian Rhapsody and All Eyez on Me (1-3, respectively) did better.
This is the second weekend overall that Rocketman has been in theaters. It has already taken in a considerable amount of money overseas in the UK, Australia, France and Germany.
Upcoming releases of it will take place in Japan, Korea and Russia. The European country has come under a ton of scrutiny after it was announced that they will be censoring parts of the film that include gay sex. Elton, 72, has publicly criticized them for their decision.
Rocketman’s lead, Taron Egerton, also received backlash from the LGBTQ community who were upset that a hetereosexual male was playing gay. He defended himself in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter back in May.
“I have spoken to gay people for whom it’s not a problem, and I’ve spoken to gay people for whom it is a problem,” he told THR. “I completely understand. But for my part, I’m an actor, and I did not get into acting to just play people like me.”
Rocketman has also performed well so far with fans and critics. It sits at 90 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.7 out of 10 on IMDb. It also has an A- rating on CinemaScore.