Movies

Dog Man to the Rescue — Weekend Box Office Report for January 31st-February 2nd 2025

It may be Groundhog Day, but it’s a dog who’s ruling the weekend.

Our number one movie–and arguably the first true hit of the new year–is Dog Man, which sent the competition to the hoosegow with a glorious take of $36 million. Some will be quick to point out that this is lower than DreamWorks Animation has pulled off in the past, but at the end of the day, Dog Man was targeting a very specific audience: young kids. And kids adore the book series, which is more popular than many are probably aware. Still, adults are having a good time too–those reviews aren’t too shabby, even if they admit it might be too manic for its own good–and the concept of a dog becoming a human cop is just funny.

Was money left on the table? You tell me. Universal ran an oddly restrained marketing campaign for Dog Man, only ever releasing one trailer. But it was a very good trailer, and sometimes, that’s enough to get the job done. From what I gather, Dog Man crams the plots of several of the books into its 90-minute runtime, so will there be enough material left for sequels? I’m sure they’ll find a way, as Dog Man, like 2017’s Captain Underpants, was made on the cheap at $40 million. Even better, Dog Man should win next weekend with ease, as I don’t see Heart Eyes or Love Hurts (which are both aiming for the same audience, but more on that later) opening anywhere above $10 million.

And speaking of not opening above $10 million, Companion made a “fine” debut of $9.5 million. And really, that’s only “fine” because this one had absolutely abysmal tracking a few weeks ago, which projected it coming in at under $5 million. The good news is it got a boost once Warner Bros. released a trailer that revealed the actual plot. The bad news is…that trailer is actually one giant spoiler, and I’ve heard many complain it takes away from the experience. Maybe this was a lose/lose situation for Warner Bros. in that regard, but hey, a B+ CinemaScore is a lot better than Wolf Man’s C- from a few weeks back, so maybe it will have legs.

This poster is terrible. Why does the gun look like clip art???

Or maybe not, since Companion is really a gory black comedy, and next week, Heart Eyes and Love Hurts are also gory black comedies, so I’m not sure if any of them will have room to breathe. But maybe I’m being too pessimistic. By the way, marketing would lead you to believe that Companion is from “the director of Barbarian,” which is true in a way, except that he’s only a producer here. Instead it’s writer Drew Hancock at the helm, who penned not only Companion, but also….Fred the Movie 3: Camp Fred and several episodes of Mr. Pickles. Seriously, what the fuck?

Already out of the top ten is Wolf Man, which opened only two weeks ago. Universal is going to have to do some damage control here, as I worry this has tarnished the reputation of their classic monster movies brand by…not delivering a classic monster movie. Seriously, when you promise audiences a wolf man, you gotta give them a wolf man! Love them or hate them, The Invisible Man and Wolf Man aren’t remakes in any sense of the word outside of their titles. And when you’re dealing with iconic properties, that is going to eventually backfire on you. As a side note, good on One of Them Days for showing some real staying power. The R-rated raunchy comedy genre might not be totally dead after all.

Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline

  1. Dog Man (Uni) 3,855 theaters, Fri $10.8M, Sat $15.1M Sun $10M 3-day $36M/Wk 1
  2. Companion (WB/NL) 3,285 theaters, Fri $4M Sat $3.1M Sun $2.3M 3-day $9.5M, Wk 1
  3. Mufasa (Dis) 3,180 (-240) theaters, Fri $1.34M, Sat $3M Sun $1.77M 3-day $6.1M (-29%), Total $229.5M/Wk 7
  4. One of Them Days (Sony) 2,306 (-369) theaters, Fri $1.67M Sat $2.7M Sun $1.63M 3-day $6M (-25%), Total $34.4M/Wk 3
  5. Flight Risk (LG) 3,161 theaters, Fri $1.5M (-65%) Sat $2.5M Sun $1.62M 3-day $5.62M (-52%), Total $20.9M/Wk 2
  6. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Par) 2,665 (-432) theaters, Fri $670K (-39%) Sat $1.6M Sun $950K 3-day $3.22M (-39%), Total $230.5M/Wk 7
  7. Moana 2 (Dis) 2,200 (-350) theaters, Fri $585K (-33%) Sat $1.4M Sun $851K 3-day $2.83M (-33%), Total $453.8M/Wk 10
  8. A Complete Unknown (FSL) 1,515 (-495) theaters, Fri $580K (-32%) Sat $1M Sun $584K 3-day $2.16M (-30%), Total $66.7M/Wk 6
  9. The Brutalist (A24) 1,612 (+494) theaters, Fri $425K (-41%) Sat $800K Sun $640K 3-day $1.86M (-39%), Total $12.1M/Wk 7
  10. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (LG) 1,471 (-637) theaters, Fri $430K (-49%) Sat $730K Sun $450K 3-day $1.6M (-46%), Total $34.4M/Wk 4