Box Office Update: Novocaine & Mickey 17 too close to call for number 1

2025’s box office woes just seem to be getting worse and worse. According to Deadline, as it stands now, the week’s number one movie – which is still a toss-up between Novocaine and Mickey 17 – isn’t likely to cross the double-digit mark. So far, Novocaine seems to have the edge, but it’s too close to call, with both movies looking on track to gross $8 million. While that’s an underwhelming number for Novocaine (a notch less than we predicted earlier this week), considering the low budget, it’s not a terrible result. However, the B CinemaScore is middling. 

However, even if the week-to-week fall for Mickey 17 is less than 60%, the movie is shaping up to be a major bomb for Warner Bros. The movie is unlikely to cross the $40 million mark domestically, which is a horrible result for a film that cost north of $118 million. Focus Features’s Black Bag isn’t performing well either, with the star-studded spy-flick only on track for a $6 million opening. That’s not too far off from what Conclave made in its first weekend, but it was playing on 1000 fewer screens and had a lot of Oscar buzz propelling it throughout the fall movie season.

Other new releases, like Ketchup’s The Day the Earth Blew Up or A24’s Opus, aren’t making much of a dent. The Looney Tunes movie (which was bought from WB) is on track for a $2.15 million opening (on over 2000 screens) while Opus, following its middling reception at Sundance, is only on track for a $1.5 million opening, despite the presence of The Bear’s Ayo Edebiri in the lead role. A24’s cult of fans seems to be giving this one a pass so far. The CinemaScore is a pretty bad C+.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a full round-up!