It was another sleepy box office weekend, and Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle was only able to inject a little bit of energy. Despite its star power with a cast including Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Ariana DeBose, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, and Samuel L. Jackson, the film only delivered $16.5 million over its opening weekend.
And unfortunately, the few that did check it out didn’t really like it. It only earned a C+ CinemaScore and three out of five stars via PostTrak. On Rotten Tomatoes, its audience score is a lowly 71% but its critical score is even worse at 35%.
Argylle is an Apple Studios project, so maybe folks just viewed this as something they can watch at home in a month or so, along the lines of Killers of the Flower Moon.
It’s also possible that the action audience was split. The Jason Statham entry The Beekeeper held in there at #2 in its fourth week. Meanwhile, Mean Girls which reigned supreme for three weeks straight, plummeted to #5.
Once again, Wonka holds the #3 position, while Migration continues to draw families and kept the #4 position. Argylle‘s arrival pushed out Anyone but You, the surprising hit rom-com featuring Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney.
Here are all the numbers:
- Argylle (Apple/ Universal) – 3-day $16.5M/ Wk 1
- The Beekeeper (Amazon/ MGM) – 3-day $5.1M/ Total $49.3M/ Wk 4
- Wonka (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $4.7M/ Total $201M/ Wk 8
- Migration (Illumination/ Universal) – 3-day $4.2M/ Total $106.2M/ Wk 7
- Mean Girls (Paramount) – 3-day $3.85M/ Total $66.2M/ Wk 4
The only wide release next weekend is Lisa Frankenstein, the directorial debut by Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robin Williams, written by Diablo Cody, the scripter behind Juno and the cult favorite Jennifer’s Body. Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse star.
Is a quirky quasi-horror movie going to dethrone a mainstream action-comedy like Argylle? We’ll have to wait and see.
The following week will see the release of two more highly anticipated films. Will they be enough to shake off the winter doldrums? First is Bob Marley: One Love, the life story of the legendary reggae artist, which could benefit from the Martin Luther King holiday. Kinglsey Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch star.
And then there’s… hmmm… Madame Web, the latest Sony attempt to mine its Spider-Man catalog… y’know, minus Spider-Man. Dakota Johnson stars and recently hosted Saturday Night Live, so maybe that will help. Also starring is Sydney Sweeney coming off the success of Anyone but You. Once again, maybe that will help. The cast also includes Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced, and Tahar Rahim.
Are you braving the winter chill to head to the cinema?
