It might be apropos to say that newcomers sometimes don’t radiate as much in today’s world, as the landscape has become dominated by tentpoles, would-be tentpoles, and the occasional breakout (yes, horror tends to have that engaging quiddity). So, while it is good news that Sony’s One of Them Days (a non-IP, non-franchise, black women-led comedy) tops the weekend, it only seems like a retread of what was once a bygone era.
On the same weekend last year, Jason Statham’s Beekeeper started with $19 million, while Mean Girls remained with the crown at $33 million. This weekend’s numbers are the worst since 2006, so it is a miserable tone to pass along as this writer remains morose about where we’ve come. Keke Palmer and SZA are known names for those aligned with the past years of musical songs, while Palmer has been a slow star in the making, coming off of recent hot breakout heels with Hustlers and Nope. High reviews and an A- from CinemaScore can get this film more mileage, although Sony could’ve put more pressure into marketing to make this perform along the lines of Girls Trip‘s debut in 2017 with $31.2 million. With MLK day, it’ll probably reach $15 million domestically to kick off the three-day weekend.
Wolf Man, on the other hand, snagged a bit lower at $10.55 million (probably a $13 million MLK weekend performance). This isn’t necessarily a thud regarding landing, but it isn’t a sign of rejoicing for Universal. Folks won’t remember this reboot fondly as it earned a C- from CinemaScore; the $25 million budget could’ve been reduced, but it’s not a cry for wolf (yet).
Mufasa: The Lion King missed out on keeping the coveted king atop, so it slid to second place in a (most likely) $14 million MLK weekend earnings. It had already passed $200 million domestically and is pulling powerful legs after the “folks might put this off till later” trend was prevalent at the start when folks were more inclined to witness the Blueball Speedstar and Jim Carrey’s looniness in Sonic 3. Speaking of Sonic, the threequel has passed $420 million worldwide, which means it is now the highest-earning chapter of the series thus far.
Capping it off with fifth place, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera took a bit more of a hit than was expected (around $7.5 million over the MLK frame), but it’s not too far off when its predecessor took $8.6 million in its second weekend (without any significant holiday variables).
Moana 2 has passed $1 billion worldwide, while Wicked has topped $700 million globally. Funny how the former was once poised to go straight to streaming, while the latter is the highest-earning domestic film (since Star Wars) that will not have a remote chance to seek the $1 billion benchmark. And Nosferatu might have a chance at toppling Interview with the Vampire’s domestic total ($103 million).
Next weekend sees the release of Flight Risk, Presence, Inheritance, Brave the Dark, Into the Deep, and Screamboat.
