A Solid Debut for "The Last Rodeo" on a Busy Holiday Weekend at Theaters

The faith-based picture lands in the Top-10 despite opening against heavy competition from big-budget movies.

Lead actor Neal McDonough (left) and Mykelti Williamson appear in a scene from "The Last Rodeo." Image: Angel Studios.

The Last Rodeo brought in $5.4 million over Memorial Day weekend - with the holiday itself still to come on Monday - according to The Numbers website. That was good enough for it to open in sixth place overall in North America, and the result came despite releasing the same weekend as the Disney's Lilo & Stitch and the final installment of the Mission Impossible franchise; those two came in first and second, respectively, and drummed up a whopping $208 million between them.

The cowboy action picture features Christian actor Neal McDonough in the lead role, playing a former champion bull rider who comes out of retirement in an effort to win a top competition to help pay for his grandson's medical care. The star of numerous faith-based films, like Homestead (2024), The Shift (2023), and Greater (2016), McDonough is also one of the writers and producers of this film, which is the latest production from Utah-based Angel Studios.

The Last Rodeo was also well received by moviegoers, earning an A rating from those questioned by CinemaScore, a market research company that surveys opening-night audiences and assigns pictures a grade on an A+ to F scale.