Argylle debuts at #1, mostly because there isn't anything else out right now.
That streaming services like to throw tons of money at various projects is not exactly a revelation. Witness Netflix routinely plucking down hundreds of millions for big expensive action movies that make a brief impact before falling back into the churn that makes up most of its inventory. What most streamers have been reluctant to do is give their titles full-scale theatrical releases. Apple TV+ has been no exception. Despite having movies starring the likes of Will Smith, Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Murray, Tom Holland, and not one but two titles starring Tom Hanks, those titles' theatrical releases were intentionally limited, and box office data was not released. Even CODA, which overcame the odds to win Best Picture at the Oscars two years ago, only got a token release to theaters, mainly to qualify it for the Oscars.
That strategy seemed to change last fall when two very expensive titles that Apple produced--Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon--got full-scale, wide releases, along with box office reporting. The films were reported to cost $200 million each, while both films topped out domestically at under $70 million (Moon did snag 10 Oscar nominations, including Picture, Director for Martin Scorsese, and Actress for Lily Gladstone). That said, the two titles will likely get more people to subscribe to Apple TV+ than Emancipation or Spirited did.
And the same will likely be true for Argylle, Apple's latest feature film, which also reportedly cost $200 million. The spy thriller action comedy didn't get great reviews, which might explain its rather muted opening, as it only came up with $17.5 million, below the openings of both Moon and Napoleon. That's still good enough to open at #1 against the rather anemic current lineup at your multiplex, nearly all of which are at least three weeks old, but probably not good enough to earn much staying power. This one is likely to fall short of $50 million, but again, seems likely to motivate people to order Apple TV+ at some point this summer.
At least Argylle, for all its faults, is an actual movie. It's not a great look for Hollywood when the #2 movie in America is a TV show. The Chosen, the indie streaming smash about the life of Christ, premiered the first three episodes into theaters. Enough eager fans turned out to help the film earn $5.9 million over the weekend, and $7.4 million since its Thursday opening (here's some Hollywood math for you: Argylle also started playing at theaters nationwide on Thursday, but those showings were labeled as "previews" ahead of the film's official opening on Friday, which means that the Thursday numbers can be bundled in with Friday's numbers and the weekend's official total. Meanwhile, since The Chosen officially opened on Thursday, its Thursday numbers don't count toward the weekend). Even if you include the Thursday numbers, it's off a bit from the November 2022 theatrical release of the first three episodes of Season 3, which took in $8.8 million on its opening weekend (which started on a Friday). Still, these are good numbers for this kind of thing, and as the remaining five episodes of Season 4 are due out in theaters later this month, we'll see if those totals are sustainable.
In third is The Beekeeper, the latest Jason Statham blow-em-up that has caught on more than any of his other solo vehicles, as it has now passed The Transporter 2. The film took in $5.3 million for a total of $49.4 million, and definitely looks to be heading for a final number between $60 and $70 million. Given that prior Statham vehicles Crank, The Transporter, and The Mechanic were able to get sequels off of considerably smaller grosses, expect Beekeeper 2 to buzz into theaters by sometime in 2026, at the latest.
Wonka spends its 8th weekend in the Top 5, not an unusual accomplishment in the pandemic era, but still one worthy of note, as the musical prequel brought in another $4.7 million for a total of $201 million. With very low weekly declines, it has a decent shot at catching Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for the 7th slot for 2023, but will fall well short of The Little Mermaid sitting at #6. Still, the fact that Wonka has hung in there for so long is quite impressive, even with competition being slow to arrive.
The other family-friendly Christmas release, Migration, also continues to stick around, as the animated comedy flew away with $4.2 million. It is now up to $106.3 million.
After three weeks of #1, despite considerably worse holds than most of the rest of the Top 10, gravity finally caught up with Mean Girls, which plunged all the way to #6 with $3.8 million. The musical remake has picked up $66.2 million, which just barely keeps it ahead of the gross of the 2004 original at the same point in its run.
Ultra-leggy Christmas hit Anyone But You continues its leggy run, bringing home $3.5 million for a total of $76.2 million.
In 8th, 5-time Oscar nominee American Fiction isn't really breaking through to the mainstream, though it is doing better than most of last year's Oscar contenders. The comedy drama, starring first-time Oscar nominees Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown, earned $2.4 million for a total of $15.1 million.
Speaking of Oscar nominees, 11-time nominee Poor Things isn't a huge hit, but it has already outgrossed all of last year's artier Oscar nominees outside of Everything Everywhere All at Once. The horror comedy starring nominees Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo earned $2.2 million for a total of $28.2 million.
Rounding out the Top 10, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom isn't exactly a hit, but like most Christmas releases this year, it has had a surprisingly leggy run, putting most other 2023 superhero films, including Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse to shame. It departs the Top 10 with $2 million, for a total of $120.7 million.
Outside the Top 10, something called Jungle Bunch: Operation Meltdown, an animated French family comedy that is a sequel to a 2017 film (itself a theatrical spinoff of a long-running French animated series) somehow booked over a thousand theaters this weekend, but predictably attracted no business, opening to less than $0.5 million.
Super Bowl weekend is largely a dead zone, with studios generally treating it as a dumping ground the week before the first big spring movies arrive. That said, 11 years ago, Lionsgate had a surprise hit with Warm Bodies, the rare combination of romance, horror, and comedy, about a young zombie who begins to feel alive again when he falls for a living girl (yes, it was a zomromcom). We'll see if history repeats itself this weekend with Lisa Frankenstein, about a teen girl (up-and-comer Kathryn Newton) who becomes the caretaker of a handsome, if undead, guy who has returned from the grave (Cole Sprouse, in his first major role since the end of Riverdale). This marks the directorial debut of Robin Williams's daughter Zelda, and more interestingly, is the first produced script from the formerly ubiquitous screenwriter Diablo Cody since Tully in 2018. Also arriving is Turning Red, the belated (by two years) theatrical release of the Pixar comedy about a tween girl who discovers the women in her family are destined to turn into giant red pandas. Disney's decision to send this straight to Disney+ rather than give it a theatrical release in the spring of 2022 is still confusing, but given that Soul bombed last month, don't expect much from Turning Red. Will Lisa Frankenstein amble over the goal line to win the Super Bowl (weekend)? Or will Argylle be able to spike the ball for another championship? We'll find out next week.
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