Box Office Recap: February 3-5, 2023
Knock at the Cabin dethrones Avatar from the top of the box office, despite underperformance.
After seven straight weeks of dominating the box office in first place, Avatar: The Way of Water finally got bumped down to third, with the two new releases, Knock at the Cabin and 80 for Brady, taking first and second place, respectively. Yet, despite the box office victory, Knock at the Cabin’s numbers still fell slightly short of pre-release expectations, and its opening weekend reception could suggest a tepid overall run. Meanwhile, the faith-based series The Chosen received a limited release for its season 3, episodes 7 and 8 finale over the weekend, and managed to crack the top ten with a domestic haul of over $3.5 million.
Universal’s Knock at the Cabin eked out a win over its box office competition with debut domestic haul of $14.2 million. However, even with the win, the M. Night Shyamalan psychological thriller fell slightly below industry expectations that had it scoring an opening somewhere between $15-17 million. For comparison, Shyamalan’s previous 2016 thriller Split, which earned a worldwide total of $278.5 million against a modest $9 million production budget, opened with $40.0 million and even by its third weekend, still took in slightly more than Knock at the Cabin’s opening with $14.6 million. Overseas, the Dave Bautista-led film earned an additional $7.0 million for a worldwide opening of $21.2 million. While critical reception was somewhat mixed, but mostly positive, the lukewarm “C” CinemaScore from opening weekend moviegoers could weaken its legs over the course of its run, especially with Magic Mike’s Last Dance and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania opening this weekend and the next, respectively. Still, a silver lining here is that the film has already surpassed its reported production budget of $20 million, so while it may not be matching the box office success of Split, depending on its continued performance, it may also not be a complete loss for Universal.
In the runner-up spot, Paramount’s 80 for Brady finished with $12.5 million domestically, slightly surpassing its $10 million pre-release expectations. Critical reception was divided, but opening weekend viewers gave the sports comedy starring Oscar winners Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno and Oscar nominee Lily Tomlin a big “A-” CinemaScore. It still has more than halfway to go before it matches its reported production budget of $28 million, but the positive response from viewers and Super Bowl season being in full swing could help give the film strong enough legs to surpass that mark.
Despite, being knocked down to third place, Avatar: The Way of Water still received only a modest drop of -32.4% from its prior frame, taking in $10.8 million domestically for a domestic cume that, so far, is at $636.4 million. This now moves it into the top ten all-time domestic earners, surpassing 2012’s The Avengers ($623.4 million). Altogether, the James Cameron-directed sci-fi actioner has earned $2.17 billion worldwide, and is now roughly $20 million shy of surpassing James Cameron’s other box office juggernaut Titanic ($2.19 billion) for third place on the all-time worldwide box office chart.
Landing in fourth place, Universal and DreamWorks’s Puss in Boots: The Last Wish continued its steady run with a seventh weekend domestic haul of $7.9 million, which pushes its domestic total to $151.3 million. Internationally, the animated adventure sequel/spin-off has also brought in $217.3 million for a worldwide cume that currently stands at $368.6 million against a reported production budget of $90 million.
Rounding out the top five, BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas received its North American release and brought in $6.3 million domestically, earning an impressive $5,637 per-theater average at only 1,114 locations. Overall, the K-pop (Korean popular music) concert film has earned $9.1 million worldwide.
Elsewhere within the top ten, in ninth place, The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 7 & 8 received a limited run through Fathom Events and pulled in $3.6 million domestically. While initially scheduled just for a quick Thur-Fri release, theaters ended up extending the event due to ticket demand, which included fans of the faith-based series about the lives of Jesus and his followers crashing the Fathom website once ticket sales opened. Altogether, including last fall’s other Fathom-run release for episodes 1 & 2 of the same season, the series has earned $18.3 million worldwide.
Opening this weekend, Warner Bros. will release the third and final installment of their Channing Tatum-led Magic Mike franchise, Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
* Total worldwide gross listed in parenthesis.
1) Knock at the Cabin – $14.2 million, Week 1 ($21.2 million)
2) 80 for Brady – $12.5 million, Week 1 ($12.5 million)
3) Avatar: The Way of Water – $10.8 million, Week 8 ($2.17 billion)
4) Puss in Boots: The Last Wish – $7.9 million, Week 7 ($368.6 million)
5) BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas – $6.3 million, Week 1 ($9.1 million)
6) A Man Called Otto – $4.2 million, Week 6 ($83.4 million)
7) M3GAN – $3.8 million, Week 5 ($158.6 million)
8) Missing – $3.7 million, Week 3 ($23.0 million)
9) The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 7 & 8 – $3.6 million, Week 12 ($18.3 million)
5) Pathaan – $2.7 million, Week 2 ($24.6 million)
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