There’s a good reason why studios do not want to release their new movies on Super Bowl weekend, knowing that most of America will be at home watching football, or the commercials, or maybe just trying to catch a glimpse of America’s most famous celebrity, Ms. Taylor Swift.
This weekend was no different, although today’s box office report is based on Sunday morning studio estimates, which may not fully reflect the effect the year’s biggest football game had on the movies. Some numbers may be over or underestimated from where they actually land on Monday afternoon when actuals are reported.
UPDATE: Just about every single movie was overestimated on Sunday with The Chosen having the biggest discrepancy as it ended up falling all the way down to 6th place after opening in 2nd place last weekend.
Despite the release of Focus Features‘ Lisa Frankenstein into 3,144 theaters, Matthew Vaughn‘s action-comedy Argylle was able to hold onto first place, despite having a huge 63% drop from its opening weekend. It added an estimated $6.5 million this weekend to bring its domestic total to $28.8 million, which is awful considering the reported cost Apple Studios paid to pick the star-studded movie up. Argylle grossed another $9.4 million overseas this weekend for an international total of $31.3 million and global total of $60.1 million.
Kathryn Newton (Freaky) and Cole Sprouse (Riverdale) starred in Zelda Williams‘ horror-comedy-romance Lisa Frankenstein, written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody (Juno), and though reactions from early previews seemed positive, and reviews were mixed, it only made $700,000 in early previews which were compiled into its $1.7 million Friday take, which was already behind Argylle‘s $2 million Friday. Focus’ weekend estimate of $3.8 million also points to the movie being far more front-loaded than movies towards younger women tend to be over Super Bowl weekend. I guess we can blame Swift for that one, unless the actual box office is higher. Lisa Frankenstein received a “B” CinemaScore, which was better than what “Argylle” received from audiences a week earlier.
Jason Statham‘s action movie, The Beekeeper, continues to do well, holding onto third place with $3.5 million, down 34% from last weekend with $54.7 million grossed since opening in January.
Angel Studios‘ release of the first three episodes of The Chosen Season 4 took fourth place with $3.1 million, down 47% from its opening weekend, with $12.6 million grossed so far, ahead of the release of the next three episodes starting on Thursday.
As of now, that’s in fourth place just slightly ahead of Warner Bros‘ Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet, which dropped 33% to fifth place with $3.1 million and $205.2 million grossed domestically. It made another $8.5 million overseas this weekend to bring its global total to $587.6 million, making it the WB’s second-biggest hit of 2023 after Barbie.
Universal‘s animated Migration took sixth place with an estimated $3 million, followed in seventh by Sydney Sweeney and Glenn Powell‘s rom-com Anyone But You, which has been a huge hit for Sony. This weekend, it added $2.7 million (down 22%) to bring its domestic total to $80.1 million, with an expected bump on Wednesday’s Valentine’s Day with a special “Valentine Encore” edition adding more footage and an intro from the stars. Overseas, it added another $9.7 million this weekend to bring its global total to $170.1 million. Migration is up to $110 million so far, with no new family animated movies until Kung Fu Panda 4 on March 8.
Warner Bros. also re-released Denis Villeneuve‘s 2021 Oscar-winner Dune back into 2,100 theaters on Friday, including IMAX screens, where it took in an estimated $1.7 million to break back into the top 10 ahead of the release of Part 2 on March 1.
Disney didn’t have as much luck with its re-release of Pixar Animation‘s Turning Red into 1,560 theaters where it ended up outside the top 10 with just $535,000 or $342 per theater.
Otherwise, it was a terrible weekend at the box office where the top 10 barely made $30 million, which is something that we haven’t seen since the height of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Bleecker Street gave Andrew Cumming‘s Stone Age horror film, Out of Darkness, a moderately wide release into 897 theaters, enough for it to rack up a million and open in twelfth place.
France’s Oscar submission, Anh Hung Tran‘s drama The Taste of Things, starring Juliette Binoche, was released by IFC Films into three theaters in New York and L.A. where it grossed $126,000, averaging $42,000 per theater. Also, Wim Wenders‘ Oscar-nominated Japanese film, Perfect Days, hit five theaters in select cities where it made $100,000, averaging $20,000 per location.
In possibly one of the strangest release strategies of all time, Spring Breakers director Harmony Korine released his experimental film, Aggro Dr1ft, into just a single location, the Crazy Girls “gentleman’s club” (translation: It’s a strip club) in Los Angeles. With tickets costing $100 per person and Korine on-hand to DJ, the movie brought in an estimated $46,300 over the weekend… in case anyone wondered whether a strip club might report box office.
