Box Office Report for the Week of February 4

This week, audiences finally found out who the REAL agent Argylle is after months of anticipation (and by that, I mean the trailer playing in front of every single movie). Audiences certainly wanted to know, as Argylle opened at number one, but it’s also a cataclysmic flop for Apple, with the film only making a meager $18 million tally on a budget of…$200 million. Yikes.

Credit where credit is due: at least they put it in theatres and collaborated with Universal Pictures to put it out on the big screen, including IMAX, which is something Netflix isn’t currently doing. Be honest, who wants to see Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F at home? Because of this, the film isn’t going to be a total loss since it was initially designed to be released on Apple TV+ before they ultimately decided to give it the big screen treatment. Time will tell if the streamer will continue with the Argylle franchise, but my gut feeling tells me it’ll likely be on the small screen from now on.

On the other hand, Amazon is continuing to experience great success with The Beekeeper, which will soon reach the $50 million domestic mark after crossing the $100 million mark internationally last week. If this isn’t sending them signals to release Road House in theatres, I don’t know what will. Easy money is left on the table with these short-sighted decisions. Not every movie deserves the big screen treatment, but a remake of a highly popular 1980s flick starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Connor McGregor, from the director of Mr. & Mrs. Smith (which just had a Prime remake TV series with Donald Glover release) and The Bourne Identity sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Wonka has also reached the top ten highest-grossing films of 2023 and benefitted from a Christmas corridor release, whose momentum has sustained itself after a lack of new releases for the first few months of the year. There will be more films released down the line, but January and February have been quieter than usual due to the effects of the SAG-AFTRA strike. As it stands, however, The Beekeeper has so far dominated the theatrical landscape in 2024, released by a streamer, which will hopefully send signals to Netflix to please release their biggest films in cinemas.

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend

1. Argylle (Universal/Apple TV+): $18.0M – 3,605 theatres
2. The Chosen: Season 4 – Episodes 1-3 (Fathom Events): $6.0M – 2,263 theatres
3. The Beekeeper (Amazon MGM Studios): $5.2M (-20.9%) – 3,277 theatres
4. Wonka (Warner Bros): $4.7M (-15.8%) – 2,901 theatres
5. Migration (Universal): $4.1M (-16.1%) – 2,830 theatres
6. Mean Girls (Paramount): $4.0M (-42%) – 3,107 theatres
7. Anyone But You (Sony): $3.5M (-24.3%) – 2,619 theatres
8. American Fiction (Amazon MGM Studios): $2.3M (-11.4%) – 1,902 theatres
9. Poor Things (Disney): $2.1M (-26.9%) – 1,950 theatres
10. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Warner Bros/DC): $2.0M (-26%) – 1,742 theatres

Source: Box Office Mojo