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SUNDAY AM: Refresh for more..and chart.. Boring weekends always make for intense times at the box office, and this morning, Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper is looking to steal Paramount’s Mean Girls honey, in third weekend call of $7.4M to $7.3M between the two films. Even if one does the math on both films, Beekeeper has a shot to squeeze ahead by literally a matter of cents, however, all of this hinges on how much guys get pulled away today on Sunday, and this is quite the holy day when it comes to NFL with the Chiefs and the Ravens fighting for the AFC Championship and Justin Kroll’s Lions and 49ers in a battle that will determine who goes on to Feb. 11’s Super Bowl.
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SATURDAY AM WRITETHRU: The fourth weekend of the year at the domestic box office is looking like $59M, -12% from last weekend’s $67.2M, and -19% off from the same period a year ago.
Still, this weekend’s total box office in a marketplace sans wide entries is not as low as 2023’s bottom of $51.8M for all movies (Sept. 22-24) and 2022’s floor of $35M (Jan. 28-30).
And there’s no winter storms to blame for this. Rather, this is the outcome of prolonged dual strikes, which greatly delayed the feature film pipeline.
Next weekend, with the arrival of Apple Original Films’ Matthew Vaughn-directed Henry Cavill action title, Argylle, via Universal, should put some juice back in the box office. But not much, as it’s expected to open in the teens.
We won’t get action until the Valentine’s Day-Presidents Day stretch, with Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love, and Sony/Marvel’s Madame Web, which respectively are looking at $30M+ and $25M+ over the six-day frame. While those figures are low for any Presidents Day holiday, note, nobody wants to get over their skis in projections, given the extremely dull marketplace.
Paramount’s Mean Girls currently has the upper hand over Amazon MGM Studios’ The Beekeeper, $6.7M to $6.4M. Beekeeper beat Mean Girls in daily grosses on Monday ($802K), Tuesday ($1.25M), and Thursday ($770K) this past week.
The girls in pink will see a 43% slide from Weekend 2 at 3,544 theaters, for a $60.2M running total. Friday came in at $1.88M, -43%. The Jason Statham action movie, at 3,337 venues, clocked a third Friday of $1.8M, -26%. It will be off from Weekend 2 by 25%, for a running total of $41.3M by Sunday.
The seventh weekend for Warner Bros.’ Wonka is in third with $5.8M at 3,014, -14%, for a running total of $195M. Friday is $1.35M.
Illumination/Universal’s Migration, the animated movie rivals bet against over the holidays, will be up to $101M in its domestic cume through Sunday at the end of Weekend 6. Friday is $1M at 2,962 theaters, for a $5M 3-day, -8%, in fourth place.
Fifth belongs to Sony’s sixth weekend of Anyone but You, the Sydney Sweeney-Glen Powell rom-com, with a 3-day of $4.65M, -14%, for a running cume by Sunday of $71M at 2,885 locations. That total zips past the other notable post-pandemic romantic comedy, Ticket to Paradise, starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, which finaled at $68.2M in U.S./Canada. Anyone‘s Friday is an estimated $1.5M, -14%.
You can always count on Bollywood to buoy the domestic box office, and that was true even during the pandemic, when major cities were closed.
Viva’s Fighter, in Hindi, from Siddharth Anand, follows IAF aviators who come together in the face of imminent danger to form Air Dragons. It looks a lot like Top Gun, and the action movie put up big numbers in Toronto, San Francisco, NYC, DC, Boston, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Chicago, with $1M on Friday and $3.5M estimated for the weekend at 662 venues.
One of a few titles on the chart is a Jenna Ortega film from Lionsgate Premiere: Miller’s Girl. Written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett and starring Martin Freeman, the pic follows a complex relationship between a student and her teacher. Booked at 350 theatres, the 3-day is around $321K, with a per theater of $917.
What about the Oscar nominations’ halo at the box office: You can see below what’s happening in the top 10. Warner Bros.’ isn’t reporting any figures on its Barbie re-release (though one rival has it around $170K for the weekend at 1,500 theaters. Remember, the Greta Gerwig movie is streaming on Max). Universal’s Oppenheimer is at 1,262 theaters, and doesn’t hit Peacock until mid-February. It is faring significantly better with $1.1M and a running cume of $328.2M.
Saturday estimates:
1.) Mean Girls (Par) 3,544 (-282) theaters, Fri $1.88M (-42%), 3-day $6.7M (-43%), Total $60.2M/Wk 3
2.) The Beekeeper (AMZ MGM) 3,337 (+7) theaters, Fri $1.8M (-26%) 3-day $6.4M (-25%), Total $41.3M/Wk 3
3.) Wonka (WB) 3,014 (-122) theaters, Fri $1.35M (-13%) 3-day $5.8M (-14%), Total $195M/Wk 7
4.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 2,962 (-132) theaters, Fri $1M (-8%) 3-day $5M (-8%), Total $101.1M/ Wk 6
5.) Anyone But You (Sony) 2,885 (-43) Fri $1.5M (-14%) 3-day $4.65M (-14%),Total $71M/Wk 6
6.) Fighter (Viva) 662 theaters, Fri $1M 3-day $3.5M/Wk 1
7.) Poor Things (Sea) 2,300 (+900) Fri $849K (+37%), 3-day $2.8M (+35%)/Total $24.6M/Wk 8
8.) American Fiction (AMZ MGM) 1,702 (+852) theaters, $791K (+56%), 3-day $2.74M (+57%), Total $11.7M/Wk 7
9.) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) 2,423 (-318) theaters, Fri $650K (-25%) 3-day $2.7M (-26%) /Total $118M/Wk 6
10.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,051 (+1516) theatres, Fri $752K (+330K) 3-day $2.5M (+264%), Total $54.7M/Wk 9 — Big boost here because this is the black-and-white re-release.
