Box Office Recap: February 24-26, 2023
Ant-Man and the Wasp holds on to #1 at the box despite hefty second weekend fall, while Cocaine Bear and Jesus Revolution surpass expectations.
It may have been another weekend at the top for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but its massive drop in performance more than suggests that its reign will be quickly coming to an end, as it fell from a debut of over $100 million to a sophomore run of just over $30 million. Meanwhile, both of the weekend openers, Cocaine Bear and Jesus Revolution, earned healthy debuts that exceeded their pre-opening projections.
Winning back-to-back weeks at #1, Marvel’s Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania scored a sophomore domestic haul of $32.2 million, pushing its total domestic run to $167.3 million and earning a per-theater average of $7,410 at 4,345 locations. Despite the repeat victory at the top of the box office, its second weekend performance does mark a high -69.7% drop from its debut frame. Overseas, the MCU superhero sequel has made $196.3 million for a worldwide cume that currently stands at $363.3 million.
While it’s perfectly normal for a film’s box office performance to drop roughly between 30-50% over its second weekend, a drop of 70% should be a cause for concern. Again, time can only tell how this will affect its overall run, but if there was ever a post-debut weekend for Quantumania to fully capitalize on its lifetime box office run, this was the weekend to do it. Looking just around the corner, March is literally highly anticipated franchise sequel month, with Creed III kicking off the first weekend, followed by Scream VI, then Shazam! Fury of the Gods and then John Wick: Chapter 4.
In the runner-up spot, Universal’s Cocaine Bear surpassed its opening weekend projections of $15-20 million with a domestic debut of $23.1 million, earning a per-theater average $6,533 at 3,534 locations. Critical response was fairly solid, but the response from opening weekend viewers was slightly less flattering, giving the film a “B-” CinemaScore, which could impact its overall theatrical run. Altogether, the film earned $28.4 million worldwide against a reported production budget ranging between $30-35 million.
Landing in third place, Lionsgate’s faith-based biographical drama Jesus Revolution opened with $15.5 million domestically. This is a rather strong debut for a film that was expected to only gross about half of that at around $6-7 million, but ended up grossing $7 million on just its opening day alone. Screening in 2,475 locations, the film, which stars Joel Courtney, Jonathan Roumie and Kelsey Grammer, earned a per-theater average of $6,272. While the critical response was mixed, the response from moviegoers was far more positive, giving the film the rare “A+” CinemaScore, which should give the film strong legs to help its earnings put some distance between it and its modest production budget of $15 million.
In fourth place, 20th Century Studios’s Avatar: The Way of Water took in a eleventh weekend haul of $4.7 million domestically for a domestic cume of $665.4 million. Internationally, the James Cameron sci-fi action sequel has brought in a staggering $1.6 million, which moves its third place all-time ranking worldwide total to $2.27 billion.
Rounding out the top five, Universal and DreamWorks’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish earned $4.1 million domestically over its tenth weekend in release, pushing its domestic total to $173.4 million. Overseas, the animated adventure sequel/spin-off has made $269.1 million for a global cume that currently stands at $442.5 million against a reported production budget of $90 million.
Opening this weekend, United Artists Releasing will open Creed III, the highly anticipated third entry from their Rocky spin-off series starring Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson and Jonathan Majors; and Lionsgate debuts Guy Ritchie’s spy action comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, which stars Jason Statham, Aubrey Plaza, Josh Hartnett and Hugh Grant.
* Total worldwide gross listed in parenthesis.
1) Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – $32.2 million, Week 2 ($363.6 million)
2) Cocaine Bear – $23.1 million, Week 1 ($28.4 million)
3) Jesus Revolution – $15.5 million, Week 1 ($15.5 million)
4) Avatar: The Way of Water – $4.7 million, Week 11 ($2.27 billion)
5) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – $4.1 million, Week 10 ($442.5 million)
6) Magic Mike’s Last Dance – $1.89 million, Week 3 ($46.9 million)
7) Knock at the Cabin – $1.87 million, Week 4 ($52.1 million)
8) 80 for Brady – $1.83 million, Week 4 ($36.4 million)
9) Missing – $1.0 million, Week 6 ($36.5 million)
10) A Man Called Otto – $850.0k, Week 9 ($103.5 million)
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