Box Office Discussion: "Man" Over "Woman"

 Liam Neeson's latest action flick gets a not-unexpected victory over the rapidly fading Amazon.

Only three months after Liam Neeson's previous Old Man of Action movie, Honest Thief, opened at #1, his latest, The Marksman, pulls off the same feat.  The thriller, in which Neeson plays a former Marine with a ranch on the border who takes it on himself to escort an orphaned Mexican boy to Chicago ahead of a vicious cartel that wants him dead, didn't get great reviews.  But it is the first brand-new movie to get a wide release in the new year, and, coupled with the faster-than-expected fall-off of Wonder Woman 1984, it took the top spot this week at the box office with $3.1 million for the Friday-Sunday portion of the long weekend (throwing in Monday, it took in $3.5 million).  This is actually about a million less than what Honest Thief opened to (at a time when the pandemic seemed to finally be beginning to abate), but is an improvement on what Monster Hunter did the weekend before Christmas, and about on par with what Come Play did over Halloween.

Despite early reports suggesting that Wonder Woman had fallen all the way to third, it did come in second, with $2.6 million.  As this was a fairly small drop, it suggests that the film's weekend grosses, which have been in free fall since it's big Christmas weekend opening, are finally stabilizing.  The film will be available for only one more week on HBO Max, so we'll see how it does in the marketplace when the only way to watch it is to head to the local multiplex.  The film has grossed $35.8 million so far.

Universal has made The Croods: A New Age available on PPV since mid-December, but hasn't exactly gone out of the way to advertise that fact.  That's probably because the film is still doing strong business in theaters, despite opening at Thanksgiving.  The grosses actually jumped this week to $2 million, bringing its overall gross to $39.3 million.  As Wonder Woman's weekend grosses aren't too much more than The Croods are now, it's looking unlikely that the Amazon will pass the cavemen in total domestic box office, an upset that no one saw coming.

News of the World came in fourth, making just under $1 million, for a total of $8.5 million.  While passing Tom Hanks's 1985 flop The Man With One Red Shoe (which grossed $8.7 million) seems assured at this point, it will likely be a stretch to reach the grosses of his 1990 bomb The Bonfire of the Vanities, which wrapped with $15.4 million.

Looking likely to top $10 million is Monster Hunter, which finished just over $0.9 million and has now grosses $9 million.  It has already passed Freaky, and should also top Let Him Go and Come Play by the time all is said and done.

Two movies about vengeful females, Fatale (which is not headed toward Oscar nominations) and Promising Young Woman (which likely is) came in 6th and 7th, bringing their grosses to $4.7 million and $3.4 million, respectively.  Disney's latest re-release, of the 2000 animated comedy The Emperor's New Groove, opening in 8th, taking in $160,000.  The War With Grandpa spent its 15th weekend in the Top Ten (still very impressive, even in the midst of the pandemic), running its gross to $19.2 million.  Rounding out the Ten is the Italian remake of Pinocchio, which has now grossed $1.3 million domestically.

Next weekend could see a three-way fight for #1 between The Marksman, Wonder Woman, and The Croods, as the widest new release, the comedy-drama Our Friend, starring Casey Affleck and Dakota Johnson as a couple who receive a devastating medical diagnosis, and Jason Segal as the titular friend, doesn't seem to be getting that wide of a release.  We'll see what happens next week.