Box office: ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ wins second weekend, followed by ‘Demon Slayer’
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The last full weekend of February was another dour and dreary time at the box office as none of the three new wide releases made much of a mark. Read on for the weekend box office report.
Despite the release of three new movies, Paramount’s biopic, “Bob Marley: One Love,” starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch, remained atop the box office despite a fairly large 53% drop from Presidents Day weekend. It took first place with an estimated $13.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $71.2 million. Over the weekend, it hit $100 million globally in less than two weeks of release, adding another $15 million internationally for a global total of $120.6 million.
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Opening in 1,949 theaters, Crunchyroll’s Anime “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – To The Hashira Training” was actually a combination of episodes from the previous season of the series and a preview of the upcoming season. It gave fans a first look of what’s to come while also screening in many IMAX and other premium formats. The movie amassed $1.8 million in Thursday previews, and then it won Friday with $5.5 million, including those previews. As is often the case with these Anime releases, it was very frontloaded, ending up in second place with an estimated $11.6 million. That is slightly more than last year’s “Demon Slayer” installment, which opened with $10.1 million in March 2023 with the latest installment receiving a similar “B+” CinemaScore as the previous one.
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The widest new release of the weekend was Lionsgate’s true-life inspirational drama, “Ordinary Angels,” starring two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank and Alan Ritchson (“Reacher”), which Lionsgate opened in 3,020 theaters with mixed positive reviews at 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie opened with $2.3 million Friday (including $285,000 in previews) and ended up with an estimated $6.5 million for the weekend to open in third place with an average of $2,152 per location. “Ordinary Angels” received an “A+” CinemaScore, which isn’t so rare for faith-based films, but it may mean that those who saw the movie might recommend it to others.
As expected, Sony’s “Madame Web” took a pretty steep plunge in its second weekend, dropping 61% from its opening weekend down to fourth place with $6 million for a domestic total of $35.5 million.
The animated “Migration” held on with an astounding 10th week in the top 5, pretty amazing for a movie that never made it to first or second place in any single weekend. It added another $3 million this weekend (down 21%) to bring its domestic total to $120.5 million. For a comparison, that’s more than Pixar’s “Toy Story” spin-off “Lightyear” made domestically during the summer of 2022.
Matthew Vaughn‘s action-comedy “Argylle” dropped to sixth place with $2.8 million (down 43%), followed by “Wonka” with $2.5 million (down 28%) in seventh place. “Argylle” has grossed just $41.7 million in North America since opening earlier this month, while “Wonka” continues to be one of the bigger theatrical hits, with $214.6 million grossed domestically. “Argylle” hasn’t done much better overseas with just $44.8 million, so it’s yet to cross the $100 million ala “Bob Marley: One Love.”
Oscar-winning filmmaker Ethan Coen went solo for his road comedy, “Drive-Away Dolls,” starring Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo and more. It received mixed reviews with 66% on Rotten Tomatoes, and didn’t do much better in its release into 2,279 theaters by Focus Features. It made just over a million on Friday and ended up with an estimated $2.4 million for the weekend, putting it in eighth place. “Dolls” also received a terrible “C” CinemaScore, so the few people that went out to see it were not thrilled enough to recommend it to others.
Although most players in the box office prediction game had “Bob Marley” winning the weekend with under $25 million and “Demon Slayer” taking second place, the next three slots were all over the place. Not to throw shade at anyone, but how did 69 players think “Lisa Frankenstein” would bounce back to third place after almost dropping out of the top 10 last week? And “Argylle” and “The Beekeeper” were still first choices to take fourth and fifth places as well. 22 players picked “Migration” to stay in the top 5, and they definitely should benefit from that decision.
No players got a perfect score in the Feb. 16 game, though “Couch Potato” went five-for-six, the only player to do so.
This coming week sees the release of one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Denis Villeneuve‘s “Dune: Part Two” and the last episodes of Season 4 for “The Chosen.” Check back on Wednesday for the weekend preview on how they might do, but also look for our March box office preview before then.
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