Take Jason Stathom and glorified violence, and you have another film keeping the R-rated, non-franchise series alive and well. Much like with The Beekeeper last January, Statham arrives to buzz (pun intended) and kick a**. A Working Man, directed by David Ayer and co-written by Ayer and Sylvester Stallone, dropped with $15.21 million in its debut weekend. The film follows an ex-Royal Marines Commando rescuing the daughter of a construction family company from human traffickers; Stallone, don’t try to be derivative of Rambo: Last Blood!
Anyway, Statham knows how to get folks to the theaters for more (justifiable) violence, so even if this is more formulaic than recent outings and is less like John Wick, this will have to do. The film also earned $15 million overseas, bringing its global cume to $30.21 million; yes, it will not leg out like The Beekeeper, but it will remain a win.
In other news, Snow White tumbled 66% in its second weekend, taking silver with $14.2 million. Look, to xertz past this as respectfully and candidly as possible; there is a good chance that Rachel Zegler’s comments regarding the outdated source material, along with slandering MAGA and the overseas conflicts, did as much harm as to her perception as an evolving actress as it did about the rumblings of the films’s collapsing nature. But, yours indeed still wants to preserve the (well-guarded) notion that folks didn’t necessarily cry wolf for another run-of-the-mill remake and that this was another misguided attempt by shareholders, thinking if they want it, audiences will throw dollars too. What’s been repeated for years has come to bite on Disney’s doorstep. No one wants to spend lifeless dollars on lifeless remakes. Yes, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Jungle Book, and The Little Mermaid proved you could take the good-ol’ classics and put them on the big screen, but not for Dumbo, Mulan, and now, Snow White. Could we have done without the political “gaffes”? 3000%. But the critical takeaway is that Hollywood must stop misinterpreting online fandom to correlate with folks going to theaters and to halt these boisterous efforts to dream up another franchise-related flick (sorry!) because someone else wanted it.
If folks don’t want it, they don’t like it. And if your cast leads try to weave in political agendas, maybe ask the PR to step in to shut the efforts down. If you’ve learned the simple lesson, “less is more.”
The Chosen: The Last Supper – Part 1 took third place with $11.49 million in its debut. What’s suitable for a few television shows to weave in at the theaters is a nice bonus before tossing them to the homesteads. The Woman in the Yard took in $9.45 million domestically in its debut (a C- from CinemaScore won’t help this one much with legs). Death of a Unicorn sadly collapsed with $5.78 million, even when buoyed by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega.
Captain America: Brave New World is kissing $200 million domestic, so expect it to miss the mark when it officially exits theaters narrowly. Hopefully, Thunderbolts* will turn the tide in the summer.
Next weekend sees the release of A Minecraft Movie, Freaky Tales, Hell of a Summer, The Luckiest Man in America, and Eric Larue.
