The X-Men film series helped kick off the superhero boom of the 2000s, but after a string of critical disasters with X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, things had changed. Here are the biggest Memorial Day movies based on opening weekend box office. These movies have some high-profile films they are competing with, because it's just such a profitable weekend. 2022 will see The Bob's Burgers Movie and Top Gun: Maverick both compete for audiences over the four-day holiday, and Disney has already set The Little Mermaid remake for Memorial Day 2023. Both films did well at the box office over the holiday, an indicator that audiences were wanting to return to the theaters after the pandemic. Memorial Day weekend got its time in the sun again last year, as the summer movie season officially kicked off on Memorial Day with the release of A Quiet Place Part II and Cruella on May 28, 2021. While the summer movie season has become more flexible, extending out even earlier and studios releasing big tent pole films during spring and fall as well, there still remains a special prestige around being a Memorial Day release movie. Star Wars obviously went on to become one of the most successful films of all time, and since then Hollywood has released some of the biggest movies of the summer on Memorial Day weekend. This is commonly associated with the release of Star Wars, which opened in theaters on May 25, 1977, the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend.
With all that extra free time, Hollywood likes to cash in, with Memorial Day for years correlating to the beginning of the summer movie season.
Many schools across the country get out for summer break at that time, and many people have the Memorial holiday off, meaning a four-day weekend for families to spend together. Traditionally in the United States, Memorial Day weekend is used as the indicator for the start of the summer.