Mean Girls repeats on a slow weekend, while the one newcomer, I.S.S., fails to reach escape velocity.
There is now one achievement that Mean Girls'24 can boast over its predecessor, namely that it was able to repeat at #1 for a second weekend. Of course, timing is everything. The new Mean Girls opened in mid-January, with its second weekend the slowest weekend in months, with only one new film that immediately crashed and burned. Mean Girls'04 opened in late April and ran headlong into the beginning of the summer movie season and the release of Universal's attempt to replicate the success of their Mummy movies, Van Helsing, starring Hugh Jackman as the legendary monster hunter. Of course, Mean Girls would have the last laugh, as it is still beloved while no one has probably voluntarily watched Van Helsing since 2008. But still, Mean Girls spent it second weekend at #2 (though it did beat the opening weekend of another teen comedy, New York Minute, the Olsen Twins' last stab at movie stardom).
At any rate, the new Mean Girls took in $11.7 million for a ten-day total of $50 million. That's an alarming 60% slide, putting its second weekend gross under what Mean Girls'04 did on its second weekend, suggesting the real possibility that '24 might end up making less than '04 did. However, with the next teen appeal movie, Lisa Frankenstein, not opening until February 9, it's possible that Mean Girls'24 could stabilize in the coming weeks and come fairly close to hitting $100 million.
By contrast, the Jason Statham action extravaganza, The Beekeeper, held up surprisingly well in its second weekend, dipping less than 50% to $8.6 million for a ten-day total of $31.3 million. This keeps it ahead of Transporter 2, which is currently Statham's highest-grossing non-Expendables R-rated vehicle, suggesting that Beekeeper might be able to buzz its way upwards of $50 million.
Two holiday family movies pushing toward milestones occupied the next positions. In third for the second weekend in a row, Wonka continues to move toward $200 million, picking up another $6.7 million for a total of $187.4 million. Meanwhile, Migration continues to fly toward $100 million, as it earned $5.5 million for a total of $94.8 million. It will likely hit the century mark by the end of next weekend.
In fifth, Anyone But You accomplished the exceedingly rare feat of grossing more than ten times its opening weekend, earning $5.4 million for a total of $64.2 million. How rare is this? The last film that opened wide on a Friday that managed to gross more than ten times its opening weekend total was Miss Congeniality. In sixth, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom continues to swim along, hitting $3.7 million for a total of $114.2 million.
Tiny Bleeker Street would love to be the next Lionsgate, but the distributor simply doesn't have the resources to invest in its titles. Take I.S.S., for example. The sci-fi thriller would likely have been a flop no matter who released it, but a decent ad campaign might have brought in maybe at least twice as much as the $3.1 million it opened to. You better hurry to catch it if you want to see it on the big screen, as it might be all but gone by Groundhog Day.
Night Swim is swimming toward the exit, as the horror film took in $2.8 million for a total of $23.9 million. Also rowing toward the finish line is The Boys in the Boat, which made $2.5 million to bring its gross to $43.9 million.
Ahead of Oscar nominations, Poor Things dramatically expanded, enough for it to hit 10th, with a total of $2.1 million, for a total of $20.5 million.
Outside the Top 10, Queen Rock Montreal, a recording of the legendary band's 1981 concert in the Canadian city, did well on IMAX screens, taking in $2 million. The Book of Clarence was firmly excommunicated, earning only $1.1 million for a ten-day total of $4.7 million. At least it did better than the second weekend of Soul, which made less over the weekend--on more screens--than Trolls Band Together, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and stablemate Wish. It's ten-day total is only $0.9 million. We'll see if the planned theatrical releases of Luca and Turning Red still happen.
This weekend promises to be even quieter, as there are no new wide releases (the widest newcomer is the drama Miller's Girl, starring Jenna Ortega, that's arriving on less than 1,000 screens). However, a number of freshly Oscar-nominated films are returning to wide release this weekend. In addition to Poor Things, multiplexes nationwide are getting back (or getting for the first time) such titles as Oppenheimer, Killers of the Flower Moon, American Fiction, The Holdovers, and Barbie. Will the queen bees of Mean Girls be able to threepeat? Could The Beekeeper be the queen on top instead? Or will an Oscar nominee mount a successful climb to #1? We'll find out next week.
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