Box Office Report for the Week of January 26

It was a relatively slow weekend once again at the movies, with few new releases that didn’t make a considerable impact despite two big names releasing their latest directorial efforts. For Mel Gibson, whose reputation has been tainted by a series of controversies, Flight Risk ended up as the highest-grossing production of the weekend despite largely negative reviews and poor public perception of Gibson’s stature in Hollywood. 

I personally do not feel comfortable giving my money to Gibson. However, his filmmaking projects have always been incredibly successful, from the Academy Award-winning Braveheart and Hacksaw Ridge to The Passion of the Christ and Apocalypto, which still linger within the public consciousness (Gibson keeps touting that a sequel to his Jesus Christ film will be made, and split in two! Whether or not the cameras will roll remains to be seen). Flight Risk’s result as the top film of the week showcases that he still has some pull in drawing audiences in the cinema, but perhaps not as much as he did in the past. 

Still, the movie will be a moderate success for Lionsgate, as its small budget may ensure a small profit. And for a studio that has unfortunately been hit with one commercial flop after the next, having two films open at #1 in the month of January with Den of Thieves 2: Pantera and Flight Risk may feel rewarding. And with Antoine Fuqua’s Michael Jackson biopic being one of the most hotly-anticipated titles of the year, their biggest commercial success may be just around the corner, despite behind-the-scenes concerns, as was outlined by Matthew Belloni earlier this week. 

For Steven Soderbergh, however, his Presence didn’t have much of a…well…presence this weekend. Still, it was able to recoup its entire $3 million budget in one week, so it will not be a considerable loss for NEON, even though it isn’t one of their most successful commercial endeavors. However, one thing is for sure: Soderbergh’s film will have a much more considerable impact long after its release than Mel Gibson’s Flight Risk, which has Mark Wahlberg (in a bald cap) say, “I just made a Jackson Pollock in my pants!” The bar has never been lower. 

We are also now seeing the effects the Oscar-nominated films have on the box office, with Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist experiencing a rise in attendance, with a 46% increase from last week and a $2.8 million tally in 1,118 theatres. This is despite its gargantuan 215-minute runtime being a hard sell for many moviegoers. Of course, it helps that an intermission is built in, whether you’ll see it in IMAX, 70mm, or not, but it’s great to see so many moviegoers having a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a journey that, in this case, rewards as much as the destination. 

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

1. Flight Risk (Lionsgate): $12.0M – 3,161 theatres
2. Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney): $8.7M (-28%) – 3,420 theatres
3. One of Them Days (Sony): $8.0M (-32%) – 2,675 theatres
4. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Paramount): $5.5M (-36%) – 3,097 theatres
5. Moana 2 (Disney): $4.3M (-28%) – 2,550 theatres
6. Presence (NEON): $3.41M – 1,750 theatres
7. Wolf Man (Universal): $3.4M (-69%) – 3,354 theatres
8. A Complete Unknown (Disney): $3.1M (-17%) -2,010 theatres
9. Den of Thieves 2: Pantera (Lionsgate): $3.0M (-55%) – 2,108 theatres
10. The Brutalist (A24): $2.8M (+46%) – 1,118 theatres

Source: Comscore