At a certain point, we just have to accept that the box office is in such terrible shape that covering it on a weekly basis could be seen as a lesson in frustration and futility, since very few movies have been able to shake theatrical out of its doldrums. One movie that has broken that mold is Paramount Pictures‘ Bob Marley: One Love, a biopic that won the box office over Presidents Day weekend, and held relatively strong in its second weekend to remain #1 for a second weekend.
Although the musical biopic, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch, dropped 53% from its Presidents Day opening, it still made an estimated $13.5 million to win the weekend with $71.2 million grossed domestically. That puts it just behind Paramount’s other 2024 release, Mean Girls, to become the highest-grossing domestic release of the year. Overseas, Bob Marley: One Love has grossed $49.4 million with another $15 million added in 59 international markets this weekend to bring its worldwide total to $120.6 million.
For a second year in a row, Crunchyroll released what is essentially a “clip reel” into theaters with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – To the Hashira Training Ground hitting 1,949 theaters with Thursday previews that racked up $1.8 million. Those previews for this theatrical release, made up of episodes from the previous season of the Anime series and first episode of the upcoming season, were pulled into its Friday take of $5.5 million, and it has estimated to gross $11.6 million in its first weekend to take second place. That’s slightly better than last year’s To the Swordsmith Village, which opened with $10.1 million in 1,774 theaters.
Lionsgate released the true-life drama, Ordinary Angels, starring Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson (Reacher), into 3,020 theaters on Friday, and though it didn’t do much in terms of previews, it grossed $2.3 million on Friday and is estimated to make $6.5 million to take third place for the weekend. As with many faith-based films, audiences loved it, giving it an “A+” to audience poller CinemaScore, and even notoriously finicky critics didn’t hate it, going by its 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the other hand and considering the scathing reviews and bad word-of-mouth, it was little surprise that Sony Pictures‘ Madame Web took a massive plunge in its second weekend, dropping 61% to fourth place with $6 million for a twelve-day total of $35.4 million. It added another $10.5 million overseas to bring its global total to $77.4 million.
On the other hand, Universal‘s animated Migration continued to hold up well with its tenth weekend in the top five, taking fifth place with $3 million to bring its domestic total to $120.4 million. Overseas, it added another $4.9 million for an international total of $148.3 million and global take of $268.8 million. Considering the disappointing opening weekend for the latest from Illumination Entertainment before Christmas, it has really rebounded thanks to the lack of other strong animated family fare in theaters. In fact, it should continue to do well until Universal releases Kung Fu Panda 4 on March 8.
Things aren’t going quite as well for Matthew Vaughn‘s action-comedy Argylle, released by Universal for Apple Studios, which dropped to sixth place (down 43%) with $2.8 million for a domestic total of $41.7 million. It’s not doing much better overseas, where it has grossed $44.8 million for a global total of $86.5 million.
Timothée Chalamet‘s musical Wonka took seventh place with $2.5 million (down 28%) to bring its domestic cume to $214.5 million. The Warner Bros‘ hit has crossed the $400 million mark internationally, adding another $5.2 million overseas this weekend for a global total of $617.3 million, still one of the bigger hits from the holiday movie season.
Similar to Bobby Farrelly‘s Champions in 2023, filmmaker Ethan Coen made a break from his Oscar co-winning brother Joel Coen to co-write and direct the comedy Drive-Away Dolls with his wife and editor, Tricia Cooke. Starring hot young actors Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, and Beanie Feldstein, as well as Oscar nominee Colman Domingo and recent SAG winner Pedro Pascal, the movie was released by Focus Features into 2,280 theaters, but it failed to find much of an audience, opening in eighth place with $2.4 million or $1,053 per theater. Reviews were mixed at best with 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, but its “C” CinemaScore doesn’t bode well for any word-of-mouth business, unlike Ordinary Angels.
IFC Films released the horror film Stopmotion into 384 theaters, but with very little promotion, it didn’t stand a chance, bringing in just $330k and averaging just $860 per theater.
Other limited releases included Nuri Bilge Ceylan‘s About Dry Grasses, Turkey’s Oscar submission, which Janus Films/Sideshow released into three theaters to make $14,400 or $4,800 per location.
Sony Pictures Classics released Fernando Trueba‘s animated music-related doc, They Shot the Piano Player, into single theaters in New York and L.A. where it brought in just $8,075 or $4,037 per location.
At this point, it’s all about Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune: Part Two, which will finally open in theaters on Friday, March 1, with previews on Thursday night, and it’s expected to be quite huge.
