Not unexpectedly, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend domestic box-office was once again ruled by both “Avatar: The Way of Water” and “M3GAN,” with the blue aliens and the killer doll taking the top two spots.
However, the real surprise has been “A Man Called Otto,” a character-driven dramedy starring Tom Hanks as a grumpy widower. After doing well in limited release, the film expanded wide this weekend and hopes weren’t high as non-genre films targeted at adults and older audiences hae not been strong performers as of late.
Many platform releases have seen brutal drops as they move from strong limited showings to tepid wide releases – the wider audiences simply not showing up for some fairly high-profile titles. In fact, only a handful of adult-driven films like “Elvis,” “Where the Crawdads Sing,” “Don’t Worry Darling,” and “The Woman King” have scored decent openings in the past two years or so.
Surprisingly, the film has come in well ahead of expectations and is taking in $12.6 million over the traditional three-day weekend and is headed for an estimated $15 million through Monday. That will bring its total to a solid $21.2 million, an excellent number so far. With a $50 million budget, the film will need to sustain momentum in the weeks to come.
It has easily soared above Gerard Butler’s more promoted action thriller “Plane”, and the previously straight-to-HBO Max planned remake of “House Party”, with the newcomers arriving in fifth and sixth place respectively.
“Plane” took off with $10 million for the three-day and is headed for $11.6 million through Monday – a decent start for the $40 million action thriller, which scored solid reviews with a 74% from critics and 95% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
“House Party” was a bust. The reboot of the 1990 comedy just $3.8 million over the weekend and an estimated $4.5 million through Monday. Released with little promotion and bad reviews, audiences just weren’t interested, and the release was treated more as a promotion for the film’s eventual HBO Max premiere.
The top three spots held fast, with “Avatar: The Way of Water” taking the crown for a fifth consecutive weekend with $31.1 million for the three-day and targeting $38.5 million through Monday. The film now sits at $570 million in North America and $1.89 billion worldwide. It currently ranks as the seventh-biggest global release in history and will pass “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.91 billion) this coming week.
“M3GAN” was second with #17.9 million for the three-day and a potential $21.2 million for the four-day. That’s a decline of only 40% from its debut, which is truly excellent for a horror film. So fare the film has pulled in $90 million worldwide off its tiny $12 million budget.
The animated adventure “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” was third with $13.4 million over the weekend and $17.3 million through Monday, pushing its domestic tally to $110 million and worldwide haul just over $250 million.
In limited release, the microbudget “Skinamarink” debuted in 11th place and collected $746,000 for the three days. Costing just $15,000 to produce, the experimental night terror feature is succeeding primarily through word of mouth.
Source: Variety
