Super Bowl weekend is always terrible for the weekend box office. Last year Magic Mike’s Last Dance topped the charts with only $8.2 million. Studios tend to think that women don’t watch the Super Bowl, so they lean into counterprogramming. But not only do women watch the Super Bowl, this year, more than ever did because Taylor Swift’s boyfriend was playing in it. I’ll get back to counterprogramming in a second.
The number one movie was Argylle, a male-skewing movie that opened last weekend and got a poor reception from both critics and audiences. It generated an additional $6.2M, dropping over 60%. It’s actually not that bad for a film to drop that much in its sophomore frame. Most major blockbusters (like superhero flicks) do the same, but those movies open in the $100M range. Argylle only made $16.5M in its opening frame, so this drop is a lot more crushing.
In terms of counterprogramming, the only wide release this weekend was Focus Features’Â Lisa Frankenstein. But this horror/dark comedy isn’t just counterprogramming. It’s targeted at a female audience, and it’s targeted at a very niche female audience. This was never going to be a massive hit, but it wound up at #2 with a meager $3.7M.
This is the film directing debut by Zelda Williams, the daughter of Robin Williams, and was written by Diablo Cody, who penned the cult favorite Jennifer’s Body, also a horror/dark comedy. Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse star.
Critics have not been favorable to Lisa Frankenstein. The film only mustered 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. But going back to the fact that this picture is aimed at a very specific audience, those who turned out for it seemed to enjoy it pretty well. It scored an 82% RT audience score and a B CinemaScore.
Overall, the box office accounted for around $40M and that includes every movie. That’s down from last year when Super Bowl weekend took in $52.6M. But once again, a lot of the weak box office returns of late are due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes last year which delayed a lot of projects. But late winter/early spring is always slow anyway. Things should bump up next weekend, but we’ll see.
Here are the Top Five:
- Argylle (Apple/ Universal) – 3-day $6.2M/ Total $28.8M/ Wk 2
- Lisa Frankenstein (Focus Features) – 3-day $3.4M/ Wk 1
- The Beekeeper (Amazon MGM) – 3-day $3.4M/ Total $54.6M/ Wk 5
- Wonka (Warner Bros.) – 3-day $3.125M/ Total $205.2M/ Wk 9
- Migration (Illumination/ Universal) – 3-day $2.9M/ Total $110.1M/ Wk 8
Next week will likely go to Bob Marley: One Love, which is forecasted to open in the $30M-$35M range. Kingsley Ben-Adir stars as the legendary reggae singer, while Marvel star Lashana Lynch plays his wife, Rita. Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard) directed.
Also opening is Sony’s Madame Web, which is already getting awful reviews. This is the latest Spider-Man-free Spider-Verse movie and it sounds as though Sony needs to give up on this concept.
S.J. Clarkson directed. Dakota Johnson leads the cast as Cassandra “Cassie” Web, a clairvoyant who must protect three teens played by Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, and Isabela Merced, who all develop their own spider powers. Tahar Rahim portrays the film’s villain, Ezekiel Sims.
This picture is expected to open in the $20M-$25M range, which isn’t great but it’s better than a lot of movies lately.
Will you be checking either of these out? What other movies are you looking forward to?
