Before we get to our newcomers, we may as well talk about our number one movie, which once again is Captain America: Brave New World. As estimates stand, it dropped 68% for a take of $28 million, and has $141 million in the Marvel bank so far. That’s not great, but hey, it could’ve been worse (funnily enough, those words have also been used to describe the movie itself). I know that the MCU was riding on a high following the massive success of Deadpool and Wolverine, but let’s be real, that film was a hit the moment it got announced. So it may not be fair for us to make it the new standard for the franchise.
That said, it’s more than appropriate to compare this to other Captain America “standalone” entries (except for maybe Civil War, which was really Avengers 2.5), and even there, Brave New World is coming up short. Heck, it might not even beat the $176 million The First Avenger managed, and that film came out in 2011! From a marketing standpoint, it’s hard to know how Disney could’ve won with Red Hulk. He’s obviously a good way to ensure those asses are in seats, but at the same time, he’s in the movie less than Venom is in Spider-Man 3. But maybe I’m being too negative. Brave New World is still a fun time, even if it is “Diet The Winter Soldier” at the end of the day. It’s also…much sillier than it realizes it is, despite trying to be “grounded” for the majority of its runtime.
Anyway, let’s talk The Monkey, which is solid at $14 million, making it the second-best opening for NEON to date, behind only Longlegs. Go figure it has the same director, and hey, critics really like this one, which is yet another gory black comedy to hit cinemas this year, and it’s only February. It remains to be seen if The Monkey has staying power, of course, as this is the sort of thing that may have a niche audience at the end of the day. Basically this movie is Final Destination if it were funny (and, well, a lot more gory). So maybe we’ll get five sequels to this in the future (seriously, is there a demand for Bloodlines this summer? I’m actually asking).
Okay, now we get to the film I’ve been dreading discussing since it’s one of those “hot button” titles that everyone seems to be arguing over, and really, those aren’t much fun for me. For what it’s worth, I thought the trailer for The Unbreakable Boy didn’t look terrible, but then the reviews came out for this thing, and…yup, this movie sounds insane. I’m talking “Zachery Levi has an imaginary friend who gives him parenting advice” insane. Even as a “faith-based” film about an autistic child (that’s a sentence I just wrote), this is tanking hard. With $2 million and a ninth place opening, this is yet another flop for Lionsgate, even after they had two moderate hits in January. But hey, at least it means I won’t have to talk about this again next week, and I’m more than fine with that.
Anyway, the top ten, via Deadline
- Captain America: Brave New World (Dis) 4,105 theaters, Fri $7.2M (-82%) Sat $12.8M Sun $8.2M 3-day $28.2M (-68%)/Total $141.2M/Wk 2
- The Monkey (NEON) 3,200 theaters, Fri $5.9M Sat $5M Sun $3.3M 3-day $14.2M/Wk 1
- Paddington in Peru (Sony) 3,890 theaters, Fri $1.5M (-70%) Sat $2.9M Sun $1.97M 3-day $6.5M (-48%), Total $25.2M/Wk 2
- Dog Man (Uni) 3,179 (-155) theaters, Fri $1.3M (-55%) Sat $2.7M Sun $1.8M 3-day $5.9M (-40%), Total $78.7M/Wk 4
- Ne Zha 2 (CMC) 800 (+140) theaters, Fri $749K Sat $1.3M Sun $993K 3-day $3.06M (-60%)/Total $14.86M/Wk 2
- Heart Eyes (Sony) 3,003 (-99) theaters, Fri $820K (-83%) Sat $1.2M Sun $790K 3-day $2.85M (-71%), Total $26.7M/Wk 3
- Mufasa (Dis) 1,925 (-315) theaters, Fri $572K (-61%) Sat $1.2M Sun $728K 3-day $2.5M (-41%), Total $245.3M/Wk 10
- Unbreakable Boy (LG) 1,736 theaters, Fri $890K Sat $935K Sun $675K 3-day $2.5M/Wk 1
- Chhaava (Yash Raj) 390 (-108) theaters, Fri $401K (-19%) Sat $640 Sun $459K 3-day $1.5M (-21%), Total $4.8M/Wk 2
- One of Them Days (Sony) 1,104 (-253) theaters, Fri $410K Sat $645K Sun $355K 3-day $1.4M (-52%) Total $46M/Wk 6