For years, Hollywood assumed the answer to the question "Would people go see a comic book movie centered around a woman?" was "No". Then, when they finally made a couple, the combined over $800 million gross of Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel proved that the answer was decidedly "Yes". Unfortunately, in Hollywood, you're only as successful as your last movie, particularly if you're a female, which is why there is serious concern about the significant underperformance of Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), which opened to only $33 million.
To be honest, this is one of the more baffling flops in quite some time. Reviews were solid, and Hollywood cleared the deck for this one, not only not opening anything directly against it, but also largely opening lower budgeted genre fare and dumps the last couple of weekends in order to ensure a huge opening. Then it comes in with an opening that's almost identical to the opening of Dark Phoenix.
There is an upside. The reviews and word of mouth should ensure that Birds of Prey has longer legs (or wings) than Phoenix did, not to mention that competition in February is much lighter than that of June. Warner Bros. is not giving up, as evidenced by the much publicized name change to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (I'm assuming that this is for marketing purposes, and the much longer original title is still the title onscreen). Still, this is a movie that was greenlit with the hope it would make at least $200 million. Instead, it's going to be a minor miracle if it gets to $100 million.
After topping the charts for three weeks, Bad Boys for Life fell to #2, taking in $12 million. Its total now stands at $166.3 million, and the buddy cop action comedy still has a decent shot of cracking $200 million before the end of its run.
1917's weekend ended with a huge disappointment, as it got upset for Best Picture at the Oscars. But before the final envelope was opened late Sunday night, it had another excellent weekend, only dipping by less than 3% from the weekend before, as it took in another $9.2 million for a gross of $132.8 million. 1917 did earn three Oscars, but they were all technical awards, and it seems unlikely that people who hadn't seen it yet will now turn out because of the Cinematography Oscar. Still, this looks to be heading to a very nice final gross of around $160 to $170 million.
Dolittle continues to chug along, as the family comedy brought in $6.5 million for a total of $63.8 million. The fact that it's done so decently despite the withering reviews is probably a testament to both the star power of Robert Downey, Jr. and to the lack of family options at the multiplexes right now. We'll see what happens to its grosses this weekend now that there's some PG-rated competition opening.
In fifth is Jumanji: The Next Level, which, like its predecessor, has the strongest legs of any wide December release. In its ninth weekend, it took in $5.6 million, for a total of $298.5 million. It should hit $300 million before next weekend, and could make it north of $310 million before the end of its run. The Gentlemen came in sixth, with $4.2 million, and while the film isn't a particularly big hit, it should be profitable, as its gross hits $26.9 million.
Gretel and Hansel held up pretty well for a horror film, but it still dropped over 40% from last weekend, to $3.6 million, for a ten-day total of $11.6 million. It is unlikely to make it to $20 million.
Little Women, which would win the Costumes Oscar on Sunday night, hit the $100 million mark just before the weekend, becoming the fifth of this year's Best Picture nominees to hit that mark. That's the most since six nominees passed that mark in 2012. The film took in $2.4 million to bring its gross to $102.7 million.
Rounding out the Top 10, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker brought in $2.3 million for a total of $510.6 million. Knives Out, which fell out of the Top 10 last weekend, rose back in its 11th weekend. The whodunit brought in $2.3 million for a total of $158.9 million.
Just outside the Top 10, unexpected Best Picture winner Parasite had a nice lift in its grosses, making $1.6 million for a gross of $35.6 million. At various points during the fall, the South Korean class comedy/drama/thriller threatened to break into the Top 10, but was never quite able to get over the hump. It currently stands as the 12th-highest grossing film ever to never crack the Top 10, and 4th-highest grossing if you exclude the IMAX films. Now that it has 4 Oscars, including the biggest prize of the night, it might finally hit the Top 10 in its 19th weekend in theaters. However, it's not out of the question that it could see a jump in its total gross and still be on the outside looking in, as four new movies crowd into the nation's multiplexes in time for both Valentine's Day and the four-day Presidents' Day weekend.
The biggest newcomer is likely to be Sonic the Hedgehog, a (mostly) live-action adaption of the video game/cartoon/comic. This was supposed to be out at Thanksgivng, but was postponed after the horrified reaction to the original Sonic design in the first trailer. The newly re-designed Sonic (who does look much cuter) has to go on the run--literally and figuratively--with new friend James Marsdon, as they're being chased by the evil Dr. Robotnik, played with over-the-top relish by Jim Carrey. The comic actor hasn't had a $100 million hit in over a decade now, and could really use this being a smash. Estimates are that it will open somewhere in the $40-50 million range. Also out is the African-American aimed romantic drama The Photograph, starring up-and-comers Issa Rae and LaKeith Stanfield, the horror flick Fantasy Island, which reimagines the cheesy 70s series into something much more sinister, and Downhill, which, despite starring Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, is being positioned as more of a comedic drama, as the SNL vets play a married couple whose relationship starts to unravel after he abandons her and their family and runs away when he thinks they're about to be hit by an avalanche. We'll see if Sonic can outrace expectations this weekend.
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