The box office report comes real late this week since it takes a while for the coins to settle after holiday weekends. But here we go with the long weekend estimates (which probably aren't all in).
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are both in their 50s but there's no aging out of action franchises (as we saw with Hamilton & Schwarzenegger last summer in Terminator Dark Fate). The first Bad Boys arrived in 1995 as an instant smash and its sequel waited until 2003 but audiences haven't fallen out of love in the long gaps. They came back in droves 17 years later for round three.
Since this was the first weekend after the Oscar nominations and most of the Best Picture nominees (re) expanded their screen counts, let's check in with EVERYTHING in wide release... and their counterparts in platforming.
Weekend Box Office
January 17th-20th (ESTIMATES)
🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = recommended |
WIDE RELEASE (800+ screens)
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PLATFORM TITLES
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1 🔺 BAD BOYS FOR LIFE $73.4 *NEW*
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1 🔺 WEATHERING WITH YOU $1.7 on 486 screens *NEW* REVIEW ★ |
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2 🔺 DOLITTLE $29.5 *NEW* THIS ODD FRANCHISE
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2 CHHAPAAK $142k on 100 screens (cum. $572k) |
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5 STAR WARS RISE OF SKYWALKER $10.5 (cum. $494.1) VISUAL FX, REVIEW, OSCAR HISTORY
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5 🔺 THE SONG OF NAMES $117k on 76 screens (cum. $509k) |
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7 JUST MERCY $7.5 (cum. $21.1)
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7 A HIDDEN LIFE $48k on 55 screens (cum. $1.6) REVIEW |
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8 FROZEN II $5.3 (cum. $466.5) REVIEW , BEST SONG?
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8 ASHFALL $42k on 18 screens (cum. $320k) |
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10 LIKE A BOSS $4.8 (cum. $17.9)
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10 CLEMENCY $17k on 10 screens (cum. $126k) INTERVIEW, REVIEW ★ |
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11 UNDERWATER $4.3 (cum. $13.5)
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11 CITIZEN K $9k on 1 screen (cum. $36k)
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12 SPIES IN DISGUISE $3.9 (cum. $59.8)
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12 SYNONYMS $3k on 6 screens (cum. $200k) REVIEW, INTERVIEW ★
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15 FORD V FERRARI $1.3 (cum. $113.1)
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15 RECORDER THE MARION STOKES PROJECT $2 (cum. $43k) REVIEW ★
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NOTABLES...
• Parasite moves into wide release (843 screens) for the first time and is approaching the grosses of Pan's Labyrinth and Amelie - W O W
• Dolittle outperformed expectations a bit but cost a fortune to make so breaking even will be difficult. The last major remake starring Eddie Murphy in the 1990s was a huge hit. The 1967 musical starring Rex Harrison was hugely expensive but not so profitable... though its probably best remembered today for its much criticized / heavily campaigned for Best Picture nomination and for being one of the pictures that signalled the decline of movie musical popularity.
• Once Upon a Time in Hollywood even tried the reexpansion FOR A SECOND TIME in its 26th week in theaters moving back into 651 locations. It's had a really long run now in theaters but it's out of steam and couldn't conjure up much of a per screen average.
• Despite countless years of the media trying to sell the story that the Oscars are out of touch with the general pubic, here's another year where all the Best Picture nominees are at least modest hits and some much more so. Oscar campaigns have become a defacto marketing wing for adult dramas. You know, whatever it takes to keep getting movies for adults without visual effects and superpowers made. The December glut kills us because it makes moviegoing so lopsided for such movies but this is why it happens: Instant Christmas time hits (Little Women and 1917) can crest just as ballots go out; Best Picture November releases (Ford V Ferrari and Knives Out) can get a second wind just as they're starting to dwindle with Oscar noms; Specialty October releases (Pain and Glory, Jojo Rabbit, and Parasite) can have lengthy runs when they carefully meter themselves out on that long road to Oscar; Even summer blockbusters (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) can re-release for another couple of million when Oscar comes calling. (Of course trusting in Oscar notices and awards to keep people interested and buying tickets doesn't work for every movie and there are multiple sorry casualties every year. )
NEXT WEEK: The next two weeks are the dead zone for movies until Oscar season plays out but the gangster comedy The Gentleman and the horror mystery The Turning both open in wide release while Zombi Child, Panga, Detective Chinatown 3, The Last Full Measure, and Blind Eyes Opened open in select cities.
Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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