Box office: ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ pulls off a huge victory over ‘Madame Web’ over Presidents Day weekend
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What keeps writing about the box office fun and interesting for me is that there are always unexpected surprises. This Presidents Day weekend, what could have been a close race between two very different movies went in a completely different direction than I was expecting, with one of those movies absolutely demolishing the other. Read on for the weekend box office report.
Paramount’s biopic “Bob Marley: One Love,” starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch, opened in 3,539 theaters on Valentine’s Day to mixed-to-negative reviews, but it ended up with an astounding $14 million opening day, building on word-of-mouth and a fantastic “A” CinemaScore to achieve an estimated three-day weekend of $27.7 million, $33.2 million when you include Monday, which brings the film to a whopping $51 million in its first six days. That makes it unquestionably the best showing for a 2024 release after many months of disappointing results. With that kind of haul, it would be crazy for Paramount not to give the movie some form of awards push later this year, at least for Ben-Adir and Lynch.
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Meanwhile, Sony’s introduction of “Madame Web,” starring Dakota Johnson, didn’t fare nearly as well, further supporting the notion that superhero movies no longer have the strength they’ve shown in recent years. The movie was destroyed by critics, ending up with just 13% on Rotten Tomatoes by its Valentine’s Day opening, but still made $6 million that day to finish second to “Bob Marley.”
Co-starring Sydney Sweeney, Isabela Merced, Celeste O’Connor, Tahar Rahim, and Adam Scott, the action-thriller had grossed $8.2 million before the weekend, then brought in an estimated $15.2 million over the three-day weekend and $17.6 million including Monday. With just $25 million grossed in its first six days, things aren’t looking bright for its future, with its terrible “C+” CinemaScore almost seeming positive compared to the reviews. We probably can expect a huge plunge over the next few weeks, as this follows in the footsteps of “The Marvels.” Overseas, it made roughly the same amount for a $49.1 million global gross through Sunday.
Universal took the next two places with Matthew Vaughn‘s star-studded action-comedy “Argylle” dropping to second place with $4.7 million three-day (down 24%) and $5.6 million including Monday, bringing its domestic total to $37.3 million.
Proving unequivocally how being the only game in town can lead to success, the lone animated film in multiplexes, “Migration,” has now been in the top five for 10 weeks, taking fourth place this weekend with $3.8 million three-day (up 21% from last weekend) and a projected $5 million including the Presidents Day holiday on Monday. It has grossed $116 million domestically and another $140 million overseas, for a global take of $254.8 million.
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Episodes four through seven of “The Chosen” season four were released into 2,221 theaters on Thursday, but as expected, the decision to premiere the series in theaters first is leading to diminished returns. After making less than $800,000 on Thursday, it added another $3.4 million estimated for the three-day weekend and a projected $4.2 million including Monday for a $5 million total, compared to the $7.4 million made over the same period by the first three episodes.
After 10 weeks in the top five, Timothée Chalamet‘s popular musical prequel “Wonka” dropped to sixth place with $3.4 million, which was actually up from last weekend, with $209.8 million grossed domestically through Sunday. (That amount is so close to “The Chosen’s” weekend total that “Wonka” could end up taking fifth place, though we won’t know for sure until Monday.) It’s still one of the bigger holiday-released hits, as it surpassed $600 million worldwide this weekend with another $7.8 million made internationally, bringing its global total to $605 million.
Jason Statham‘s “The Beekeeper” also finally dropped out of the top five, taking seventh place this weekend with $3.3 million (down just 6%) with just under $60 million grossed through Sunday.
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Besides co-starring in “Madame Web,” Sydney Sweeney also appeared in the rom-com “Anyone But You,” which released a special “Valentine Encore” edition over the past week, allowing it to add another $2.8 million over the four-day weekend for a total of $85.1 million grossed domestically so far. Internationally, the movie has grossed $104.2 million for a global take of $189 million.
With the biggest drop in the top 10, Focus Features’ “Lisa Frankenstein” seemingly got a bump on Valentine’s Day Wednesday but then tanked after that ending up in ninth place (from its second place opening) with $2 million for the three-day weekend (down 46%). It is projected to end up with $2.4 million for the four-day holiday, although that would only put it at $8 million total.
A bit of a surprise wide release was that of The Avenue and Variance’s military thriller “Land of Bad,” starring Russell Crowe, Liam Hemsworth, Luke Hemsworth and Milo Ventimiglia, which hit 1,120 theaters on Friday. It ended up sneaking into the top 10 with an estimated $1.8 million over the three-day weekend and a projected $2 million including Monday.
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More players had “Madame Web” beating “Bob Marley” in this week’s box office prediction game, but also, 85 players had “Lisa Frankenstein” taking third place rather than bombing in its second weekend. Only five players had the latest “The Chosen” installment opening in fifth place, but zero players had “Migration” taking fourth place.
Four players went six-for-six in the February 9 game, although “paulhardister” ended up well ahead with 11,216 points by putting his picks and Super Bets in early when they were at 100/1 odds. Congrats to one of last season’s top players.
On Friday a number of new releases will try to save what’s left of the February box office with a new “Demon Slayer” animated feature, Hilary Swank in the real-life drama “Ordinary Angels,” and the solo directorial debut of Ethan Coen, “Drive Away Dolls.” Check back on Wednesday for the weekend preview.
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