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 a 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 many guys get pulled away today on Sunday. It’s quite the holy day when it comes to the NFL, with the Chiefs and the Ravens fighting for the AFC Championship and Justin Kroll’s Lions and 49ers in a battle for the NFC that will determine who goes to Feb. 11’s Super Bowl.
Both studios are calling a close Sunday, with Paramount believing the Tina Fey musical will do $2.145M, -34% from Saturday’s $3.2M. Amazon MGM sees the Jason Statham action Miramax movie at $2.2M, -35% from yesterday’s $3.4M.
As of this AM, I’m hearing Mean Girls is pacing 11% better than Beekeeper, so the popular girls could have the upper hand in the end.
Talking about boring weekends at the box office, do you remember the last weekend of September 2017? That’s when there was a three-way runoff for No. 1 between It, Tom Cruise’s American Made, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle with $16M+ apiece, a battle that was settled Monday AM with the latter winning.
That said, by today’s standards, that amount of money for each movie would be considered to be a robust weekend. But dull times at the B.O. often yield the most nail-biting moments.
With zero wide releases, there was nothing going except for expansions of Oscar Best Picture nominees. Here’s how they fared, ranked by weekend percent jumps:
Even though Warner Bros’ wide expansion of Barbie at 1,500 theaters in weekend 28 didn’t make much money at an estimated $218K (the studio didn’t report official figures), the eight Oscar nominated Greta Gerwig directed movie surged +10,792% over last weekend, which made only $2k. Note: HBO subscribers can watch this movie at home on Max.
Apple Original Films’ Killers of the Flower Moon via Paramount went from 16 locations last weekend, where it made $5K, to 941 sites, where it made $220K, a +3,811% rise in weekend 15, which gets the Martin Scorsese film’s running stateside cume to $67.6M. The movie is available to stream on Apple TV+
Focus Features’ The Holdovers saw the third-biggest percent jump at +568%, with a 1,140 theater spike to 1,267 with $520K; current cume of $19.3M in weekend 14. Impressive, considering the movie is playing on Peacock. The Alexander Payne directed, Paul Giamatti starring movie counts five Oscar noms.
NEON’s Anatomy of a Fall was +440% in weekend 16 at 380 theatres with $211,5K. The running total for the five Oscar- nominated feature, which can also be watched in homes, is $4.1M.
Universal also had bragging rights with the +1,008 theater jump (to 1,262) on the 13 Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer, which was +284% in weekend 28 to $1M, and a running total of $328.1M. Also impressive, considering the movie is available on digital/DVD, but not available on Peacock until Feb. 16. The Christopher Nolan directed-3 hour biopic drama counted $900K stateside in Imax for a total cume of $90M domestic for the large format exhibitor, $187M WW. Globally, that’s No. 5 on the Imax all-time biggest title list.
A24’s Nazi concentration camp movie, Zone of Interest, after a 233 theater increase to 315 in weekend 7, posted $1.08M, +141%, for a running total of $3M. The movie is playing exclusively in theaters.
Amazon MGM’s American Fiction was up 852 theaters to 1,702 in weekend 7 for a 3-day of $2.897M, +65%, for a running total by EOD of $11.8M. The Cord Jefferson directorial debut counts five Oscar noms. American Fiction can only be seen at this time in cinemas.
Searchlight’s Poor Things, only available in theaters, swelled 45% in weekend eight to $3M after hitting its highest point of release of 2,300 theaters, an uptick of 900 locations. Running total is $24.7M. While that’s 15% ahead of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s previous Oscar darling, The Favourite, in weekend 8, it begs to be seen whether Poor Things ultimately beats that pic’s domestic final of $34.3M, as that movie went wide later in its theatrical run. Poor Things has the second-most Oscar noms at 11 behind Oppenheimer. At the end of the weekend, it’s Poor Things that made the most money out of the Best Picture Oscar noms.
Netflix’s Maestro didn’t report grosses. The seven Oscar nominated, Bradley Cooper starring and directed Leonard Bernstein biopic is available to watch on the streamer. No grosses were reported for A24’s Past Lives, which is available on DVD and digital.
The chart:
1.) The Beekeeper (AMZ MGM) 3,337 (+7) theaters, Fri $1.8M Sat $3.4M Sun $2.2M 3-day $7.4M (-14%), Total $42.2M/Wk 3
2.) Mean Girls (Par) 3,544 (-282) theaters, Fri $1.9M Sat $3.2M Sun $2.145M 3-day $7.3M (-37%), Total $60.8M/Wk 3
3.) Wonka (WB) 3,014 (-122) theaters, Fri $1.35M Sat $2.85M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.9M (-12%), Total $195.1M/Wk 7
4.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 2,962 (-132) theaters, Fri $1M Sat $2.54M Sun $1.57M 3-day $5.15M (-6%), Total $101.2M/ Wk 6
5.) Anyone But You (Sony) 2,885 (-43) Fri $1.5M Sat $2.1M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4.8M (-11%),Total $71.1M/Wk 6
6.) Fighter (Viva) 662 theaters, Fri $1M Sat $1.5M Sun $1.15M 3-day $3.74M/Total $4.3M Wk 1
7.) Poor Things (Sea) 2,300 (+900) Fri $849K Sat $1.3M Sun $899K 3-day $3.04M (+43%)/Total $24.7M/Wk 8
8.) American Fiction (AMZ MGM) 1,702 (+852) theaters, $791K Sat $1.27M Sun $829K, 3-day $2.89M (+65%), Total $11.8M/Wk 7
9.) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) 2,423 (-318) theaters, Fri $650K Sat. $1.36M Sun $810K 3-day $2.82M (-23%) /Total $118.1M/Wk 6
10.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,051 (+1516) theatres, Fri $761K Sat $1.2M Sun $616K 3-day $2.6M (+276%), Total $55M/Wk 9