INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Katherine Legge started Sunday by taking in the colorful prerace scene on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's front straightaway as her team monitored the weather forecasts in two cities.
It's become a familiar theme for anyone attempting to complete "The Double,” racing in the Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day. Two-time NASCAR champion Kyle Larson tried it each of the past two years, but a rain-delayed start in Indianapolis caused him to miss the start in Charlotte in 2024, and he crashed out of both races last year after another rain-delayed start in Indy.
Only one person, Tony Stewart, has completed all 1,100 miles, and that was a quarter-century ago. Legge is the first woman to attempt "The Double.”
“She’ll stay here throughout,” her father, Derek Legge, said while texting from a golf cart outside her garage. “We’re keeping an eye on the weather. It might even be delayed here an hour at a time.”
By then, Legge’s car was already on the Brickyard as the sold-out grandstands filled in and hundreds of people surrounded the cars on the track.
The English driver is starting from the No. 26 spot, the middle of the ninth row, at Indy, where she's driving for HMD Motorsports with A.J. Foyt Racing team. Legge will drive for Live Fast Motorsports at the Cup race, where she'll start 37th after qualifying was rained out Saturday.
Rain was in the mix again Sunday in both places, too.
Less than 90 minutes before Indy's scheduled start, radar showed rain all around the iconic 2.5-mile oval, with ominous-looking dark clouds hovering over the track's first turn. But the precipitation held off and the remaining afternoon forecast had a several-hour window before there was a significant chance of rain again.
In North Carolina, meanwhile, the forecast was brighter for the start of the Coca-Cola 600. But the chance of rain increased significantly throughout the race.
Legge is certainly hoping for better luck than she had earlier this week. Her flight from New York to Indianapolis was delayed, causing her to miss Indy's annual media day. Then she had a communications problem in the final practice for the 500 on Friday. And after flying to Charlotte for qualifying, she flew back to Indy on Saturday night after more rain.
"Hopefully, we get all of the travel woes out of the way now before the weekend, and this weekend goes smoothly,” Legge told The Associated Press on Thursday. “My management has been speaking with Kyle’s management about how to get the logistics sorted out, how they did it and we’re trying our best to copy and paste what they had and they’re just keeping me in the loop.”
While the other five drivers who attempted "The Double” had months to prepare, Legge's teams didn't announce her attempt until last week. Since then, those behind the scenes helped Legge line up the helicopter ride she'll take from the speedway to Indianapolis International Airport and the private jet that will take her to Charlotte for the second race of the day.
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FILE - Katherine Legge, of Britain, drives through the third turn during qualifications for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Sunday, May 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy, File)
FILE - Katherine Legge (78) is introduced before a NASCAR Cup Series auto race on May 10, 2026, in Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)
After nearly seven years away from the big screen, a new Star Wars movie drew healthy but not record-breaking crowds to global theaters this weekend. According to studio estimates on Sunday, “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” made $82 million in ticket sales from 4,300 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. By the end of Monday’s Memorial Day holiday, it’s expected to have earned $102 million domestically and $165 million globally.
It exceeded opening weekend expectations for the movie, a continuation of Disney+ spinoff series “The Mandalorian,” but it’s also on the low end of Disney-era Star Wars releases, closer to “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which made $103 million over the four-day Memorial Day frame in 2018. While “Solo” was considered a disaster, the metrics around “The Mandalorian and Grogu” are a little different.
The production budget for “Solo” was in the $300 million range, while “The Mandalorian and Grogu” was made for significantly less — a reported $165 million, not accounting for marketing and promotion costs. It makes the journey to profitability more likely, especially when factoring in positive audience scores. Although critics were mixed to negative on the movie (it currently carries a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes), ticket buyers overall gave it an A- CinemaScore. Boys under the age of 13 are especially high on the movie: They gave it an A CinemaScore and a perfect five on PostTrak. Parents also gave it a five out of five.
The Jon Favreau-directed movie stars Pedro Pascal as the titular bounty hunter and puts him and his tiny green companion on a mission to save Jabba’s son Rotta the Hutt, who is voiced by Jeremy Allen White.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” could also be graded on a bit of a curve because of the streaming component, both that it started as a series, and that it will eventually end up as a value add on Disney+, which was only about a month old when the last Star Wars movie, “The Rise of Skywalker,” debuted in December 2019.
Star Wars as a brand is in a time of transition under its new leadership team of Dave Filoni and Lynwen Brennan; Earlier this year it was announced that Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, who produced “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” was stepping down after 13 years. The question for the industry is whether audience interest in Star Wars on the big screen might have cooled slightly, and if next year’s “Star Wars: Starfighter,” starring Ryan Gosling, will provide a definitive answer. Until then, the hope is that strong audience and exit scores will propel word-of-mouth generated enthusiasm in the coming weeks.
“The moviegoers rule," said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Comscore. "I think given the audience reaction and the scores that are coming from parents and kids, this is going to be in it for the long haul."
Word-of-mouth certainly helped Curry Barker’s relationship horror movie “Obsession” defy the standard box office trajectory and do better business in its second weekend. The Focus Features had an astonishing 30% uptick in ticket sales, earning $22.4 million from 2,655 theaters.
“That’s really unheard of,” Dergarabedian said. “And it is a testament to how this social media buzz from younger viewers is fueling the FOMO factor."
The studio, which acquired the microbudget movie for some $15 million, is projecting that it will have made $28.2 million by the end of Monday, bringing its running total to $58.5 million. It snagged the second-place spot, while “Michael” landed in third place with $20 million for the three-day weekend. The Michael Jackson biopic has now earned $782.4 million.
“Obsession” also did better than the new horror movie “Passenger,” a Paramount Pictures release with Melissa Leo, which grossed an estimated $8.7 million from 2,534 locations. It’s expected to earn $10.5 million over its first four days. The movie received poor reviews from both critics (44% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (B- Cinema Score).
Boots Riley's colorful shoplifting caper meets surreal social satire “I Love Boosters” also opened this weekend to $3.7 million. The Neon release stars Keke Palmer and Demi Moore.
The mix of movies this year didn’t hold a candle to last year’s record Memorial Day weekend, which was led by Disney’s live-action “Lilo & Stitch” and “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” The overall four-day frame this year will net out around $211 million, down about 36% from last year’s $330 million. It’s also far from the disastrous 2024 Memorial Day weekend box office, a 30-year low, when “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” opened.
With final domestic figures being released Tuesday, this list factors in estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu,” $82 million.
2. “Obsession,” $22.4 million.
3. “Michael,” $20 million.
4. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” $12.6 million.
5. “The Sheep Detectives,” $9 million.
6. “Passenger,” $8.7 million.
7. “Mortal Kombat II,” $6.2 million.
8. “I Love Boosters,” $3.7 million.
9. “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie,” $3.2 million.
10. “Project Hail Mary,” $2.7 million.
Jon Favreau arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
The character Grogu arrives at the premiere of "Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu" on Thursday, May 14, 2026, at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)
