Numbers have finally come in for this weekend and much like we said in our Thursday predictions, this weeks top five will be a repeat of last weeks champs. That leaves Mean Girls coming in first place with what is looking like an $11 million weekend, representing a drop in the 60% range which makes sense when you consider the films so-so audience score (currently at a 66%). Luckily many studios backed off this weekend due to the NFL playoffs and Mean Girls seems to reap the benefits of a smart counter-programming move.
That brings the Jason Statham starring The Beekeeper to continue being a bridesmaid with what is looking to be around an $8.5 million weekend, which would represent a drop just shy of 50% which is actually really good when you consider the state of adult oriented action films in the past few years. It seems that 94% audience score is helping sell some tickets to this “fun time at the movies” as our own Tyler Nichols called it in his 7/10 review.
Wonka continues its stellar run with what is looking like an additional $6-$7 million added to its nearly $190 million domestic run while the R rated comedy Anyone But You continues to ride a wave of great word of mouth to land in fourth place with a projected weekend between $5-$6 million. Having seen this one just last week, I can say I am quite happy this one has found an audience. It doesn’t set out to be anything ground breaking, just a solid R rated comedy that is fairly predictable yet endlessly enjoyable. Rounding out the top five will be the animated birds of Migration with a little over $5 million as families continue to embrace the Kumail Nanjiani/ Elizabeth Banks/ Danny DeVito/ Keegan-Michael Key voiced film.
Sadly, it was no laughing matter for Ariana DeBose this weekend as her I.S.S has crashed and burned with a weekend looking to be just around $3 million. The writing seemed to be on the wall with this one as Tyler Nichols gave it a 5/10 in his review and audiences have slapped it with a horrible C- cineimscore. I saw this one on Thursday and while I cant say I out and out hated it, I will say that the first half is far better than the second half. At a certain point it did seem the writers realized they didn’t have enough to sustain a full movie, despite their great premise, and resorted to a bunch of space movie cliche’s that, for me, just didn’t work. This one will likely be forgotten about in a few weeks time. It is a shame too, because the director’s last film, 2019’s Our Friend was a genuinely enjoyable drama starring Casey Affleck, Jason Segal and Dakota Johnson.
Do you plan on seeing a movie this weekend or will you be staying in to catch the divisional rounds of the NFL playoffs (Bang Bang Niner Gang!) Let us know in the comments and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have the full rundown on this weekends box office numbers.