Not counting the 2021 pandemic year when all theaters were closed, it’s the second lowest MLK 4-day weekend of the last 10 years with the marketplace now estimated to do $96.3M.

The last time it was this low was 2022 with $85M, and that’s when Paramount/Spyglass’ Scream led with a $33.8M Friday-Monday opening. Pin that overall low weekend total for all movies back then to a lack of product, even though Spider-Man: No Way Home was second with $24.2M, and some Covid jitters.

You can’t complain and say people don’t go to movies over MLK weekend: There’s just nothing they’re craving to see this year. The MLK 4-day weekend with the right movies has the power to do $200M-plus; 2020 led by Bad Boys for Life amassed an overall weekend total of $205.3M while 2015 remains the holiday’s record for the entire marketplace at $250.8M; that’s when Clint Eastwood’s highest grossing movie American Sniper was No. 1 with a wide break of $107.2M; still the wide opening record for the holiday frame.

Despite the sluggish weekend, Comscore reports that the 2025 U.S./Canada box office through EOD today stands at $395.9M, +8% ahead of the Jan. 1-19 period a year ago.

This weekend, it’s about limited attraction to what’s out there. Mufasa‘ $15.5M 4-day tally is the lowest for a No. 1 movie over MLK (again, not counting 2021) since 1997 when the Chris Farley comedy Beverly Hills Ninja opened to $12.2M. Since the pic’s opening five weekends ago, this is the second time that Mufasa has led the weekend box office. The prequel is far from being any kind of Lion King, but on some meter, with a $200M production cost and near $600M take ($588M global now), Mufasa may just be near breakeven.

Take that Bob Chapek: Moana 2, which was originally conceived as a streaming series, pivoted to theatrical under the Bob Iger second era of Disney and now counts $1 billion at the global box office. It’s the third Disney 2024 release to do so after Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine. The studio now counts 32 movies which have crossed $1 billion. Box office dollars are a good thing. While we’re always writing up a fight between theatrical and streaming, the two can’t live without each other. Disney+ subs indicated in their viewership that the original Moana was still as hot as a volcano. Hence worthy of theatrical. Moana 2 will then go on the service and become a most-viewed hit. Then Moana 3 in theaters. It’s the circle of life.

One of Them Days is second with $14M over 4-days with an A- CinemaScore, 84% positive and 63% definite recommend on PostTrak. Why this R-rated comedy isn’t doing more with these exits, that’s on you, Sony. One of Them Days counts a social media universe across TikTok, X, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube of 116.6M. Girls Trip, the last R-rated female Black comedy counted 71M in its social media reach before debuting to $31.2M in the summer of 2017. Heck, One of Them Days has a better Rotten Tomatoes critical and audience score (96%, 94%) than Girls Trip (91%, 78%). The CinemaScore on Girls Trip was a rare A+.

OK, ok, so, One of Them Days‘ start here is higher than the tracking of $8M-$10M, but these excellent exits should be creating more of a stampede. The hope by the Culver City lot is that more audiences will find their way to the movie. The marketing campaign clearly didn’t create electricity, however, One of Them Days apparently has wowed in early screenings. Once audiences are inside, they have a great ride. Women are giving it 93% on PostTrak, while women under 25 are rolling in the aisles with a 97% grade. Sony wants to return audiences to cinemas for genres that were lost to streaming, ala rom coms and comedies (the Jennifer Lawrence R-rated comedy opened in the summer of 2023 to $15M over 3-days and reached $50.4M). The difference here between One of Them Days and Sony’s romcom sleeper Anyone But You is that the latter had the Christmas-New Year’s bump a year ago.

At least we can understand that sour exits (C-) are to blame for the lower-than-expected opening for Blumhouse/Universal’s lackluster Wolf Man at $12M over 4-days. I mean, the 1994 Jack Nicholson-Michelle Pfeiffer wolf man movie, Wolf, opened to more money unadjusted for inflation with $17.9M! (That was a Mike Nichols directed movie!).

One of Them Days is drawing a 69% female audience that’s 46% Black, 24% Latino and Hispanic, 22% Caucasian, and 4% Asian. The 25-34 year old set is the biggest demo at 41%, followed by 18-24 at 30%, and 25% of the audience over 35. One of Them Days is playing best in the West, South Central, South and East with LA’s AMC Grove 14 the top venue in the nation to date with north of $36K.

Wolf Man is no ape, ape man as the Kinks would say with audiences on PostTrak giving the R-rated horror pic 54% positive and a very low 34% definite recommend (yikes). Mostly men here at 60% with the largest demo being 25-34 at 38% and 24% between 18-24. Diversity demos are 47% Caucasian, 29% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, 8% Asian, and 4% Native American/other. Imax and PLFs are driving 41% of the weekend, but clearly it’s not giving this Leigh Whannell directed movie more testosterone (Imax says stateside screens grossed $1.55M). Best markets for Wolf Man are West, South Central and Mountain areas with the AMC Burbank 30 the best cinema so far for the pic with $30K.

One indicator of how strongly a studio is pushing their movie is in the number of one-sheets they generate. Guess who has the most? Lionsgate’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera with 8 posters. Wolf Man has five, one touting the film in 4DX, while One of Them Days only has two. PostTrak says that 56% went to One of Them Days for SZA and Keke Palmer, whereas close to 50% went to Wolf Man because it’s a horror movie.

Among limited mentions, Sony Pictures Classics’ Walter Salles directed I’m Still Here opened in five locations in NYC (AMC Lincoln Square, Angelika NYC, Angelika Cinemas 123) and two in LA (AMC Grove and the Royal). Angelika NYC leads the pack with close to $18K. Friday was $49K with the 4-day at $125,4K and a per theater of $25K for the Golden Globe winning Best Actress drama starring Fernanda Torres. Running total is $153K.

Paramount is keeping their powder dry on thriller September 5 in hopes that it gets some Oscar noms, which would then enable this Republic Pictures acquisition title to be discovered by audiences. The nail-biting movie about the ABC sports control room at the Munich Olympics only increased by a count of 101 theaters to a total of 121 with a Friday of $128K, a 3-day of $365K, 4-day of $440K and a running total by EOD Monday of $852K. Reviews are 92% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and 81% audience score. It’s a much different expansion from last weekend’s bomb Better Man which went from six sites in its second weekend to 1,291 theaters in its third.

via Deadline