Tomorrowland, Brad Bird’s tentpole action adventure, premiered this weekend to disappointing earnings, but still managed to come ahead of the previous week’s winner, Pitch Perfect 2. Tomorrowland checked in at $32,3 million at the end of the three-day weekend, meaning its overall four-day debut, counting the early release, comes out to $40,7 million. It’s a disappointing figure for Disney, whose profits from Tomorrowland were predicted to reach and pass the $44 million mark (according to Box Office Mojo) – it’s a miss, but not by much.

Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland offers a glimpse of a futuristic world.

Tomorrowland came in behind expectations in North America, and will need strong word of mouth to end up in the black, considering the live-action fantasy adventure cost $180 million to produce. The worst impact was overseas, where the movie opened to $26.7 million from 65 market .

In the film, George Clooney stars as an inventor who takes along a spirited teen (Britt Robertson) to an alternate world called Tomorrowland. The movie, an ode to Walt Disney's hopes for creating a utopian society, also stars Hugh Laurie. Bird co-wrote the script with Damon Lindelof.

More: George Clooney Travels through Time in Mysterious Tomorrowland [Trailer + Pictures]

As for Pitch Perfect 2, the film continued to hit the right tune this weekend, thank to the large female fanbase, coming back with a vengeance after a slew of beefy action flicks in recent months.

Watch the Tomorrowland trailer below.

On Friday, it even looked like Universal's sequel could end up beating Tomorrowland, but Tomorrowland gained traction on Saturday.

Pitch Perfect 2 earned an estimated $30.3 million for the three days, putting its four-day domestic gross at a projected $37.9 million. Overseas, the sequel earned another $15.2 million from 37 markets for a dazzling foreign total of $61.7 million and worldwide haul of $187 million through Monday.