Perhaps we should start this dull weekend box office chatter with a critical observation: the very fabric of reality regarding the fantasy imagery presented onscreen is something we wish to embody in our everyday lives, and yet when you’re not getting those moments that scream spectacle, folks’ fantasies seem to wither away while we reminisce about nostalgia from years ago. January 2024 is trading almost half of the case in January 2019. and it’s not much of the fault of distributors, as a recent set of strikes halted much in where titles would be dropped in the 2024 timeline. The other pertinent factor is not everyone will drop their wallets to see “a movie” now; it has to mean something to their time slots and whether the gauge of interest is there for another “save-the-world blockbuster” or another “horror picture that’ll be the best of its generation.”
This month has been very limp in wanting to get some new releases on deck, and no amount of mediocre talk from features like Night Swim, I.S.S., or Mean Girls can change the subject. Next month might be another case of “finally, a hit will arrive from anywhere” when Universal’s (Apple-produced) Argylle and Sony’s Madame Web get into the action while Dune: Part Two waits for March. Still, the inconsistency for the past four years means theatrical venues can’t keep up with this any further; this year will mark whether Hollywood wants to preserve theaters or kill this form of entertainment into oblivion.
The Beekeeper edged out Mean Girls in their third weekend with $7.42 million and $7.3 million for the musical comedy. A low dip like this means Jason Statham’s led feature will pass $100 million worldwide sometime next weekend, while Mean Girls should top $80 million globally by Tuesday. Both are hits, with the former being Statham’s biggest non-star Meg feature ever and passing Transporter 2 in domestic value. Wonka will pass $200 million domestically later this week, while Migration has passed $200 million globally.
Anyone But You should be passing $75 million domestically later this week; score a win for (true) love, it seems. Newcomer Fighter earned $3.65 million in its debut, and Godzilla Minus One was re-released in theaters (in black and white) for $2.6 million. Finally, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has surpassed $400 million worldwide to become the highest-earning DC film since its predecessor in 2018. Sure, it’s a slight victory for the finale of the DCEU, but things could’ve been a lot different in another timeline when HBO Max didn’t become canon fodder, Ezra Miller wasn’t getting booted off the market, and Batgirl wasn’t shelved.
Next weekend sees the release of Argylle, Scrambled, Orion and the Dark (on Netflix), and The Tiger’s Apprentice (on Paramount+).
