Box Office Report for the Week of February 9

It’s the big game, but a relatively slow weekend at the movies today, before the juggernaut that could be Captain America: Brave New World. Reviews will pour in for that movie during the middle of the week, which could shift box office projections depending on how positive or negative they are. Still, it’ll likely contribute to a nice boost in attendance in movie theatres, with the addition of the very family-friendly Paddington in Peru drawing in a younger crowd. 

This is a boost that they desperately need, especially in my neck of the woods, with the news of Cinémas Guzzo, the biggest independent chain of cinemas in Québec, being forced to close down its doors after a superior court judge ruled that its financial situation is untenable to keep the business as it is. One is slated to reopen under new ownership in the summer once it completes a million-dollar overhaul, but the future of the nine closed locations remains uncertain. 

This week marked a few new releases, both original movies, but they couldn’t match the power of Dog Man, which retains the top spot with a tally of $13.7 million, taking its global cume to $66 million. Family films are still doing considerably well at the box office, with Mufasa: The Lion King crossing the $670 million mark this weekend, but purely original work like Companion is having difficulty finding an audience, dropping at 68% with a $3.02 million tally this weekend. I fully expect Paddington in Peru and Captain America to do well, but for original films, the bar keeps rising week after week. 

Case in point: Heart Eyes, which was critically well-received and had positive word-of-mouth, didn’t do well and opened below expectations, with a $8.5 million cume. With an $18 million price tag, the Josh Ruben-directed slasher could potentially turn a profit, but with The Monkey right around the corner, it might be more challenging than one thinks. As for Love Hurts, Ke Huy Quan’s debut film as a leading star, negative reviews completely tanked its potential, currently sitting at 18% on Rotten Tomatoes. Ouch. 

Hopefully, Ke will bounce back from this unfortunate result and have a movie worthy of his talents, but it is still disappointing to see that most of the original films released nowadays don’t hit as much as do well-established franchises. There needs to be a balance between independent and tentpole work, but the landscape these days isn’t as strong as it was before the pandemic. It’ll take a miracle to return to a semblance of normalcy within the moviegoing industry, and it starts by extending the theatrical window to a pitiful 17 days to 45, and potentially 90, if we’re being serious. Who will be the first studio to move forward with this?

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

1. Dog Man (Universal): $13.7M (-62%) – 3,887 theatres
2. Heart Eyes (Sony): $8.5M – 3,102 theatres
3. Love Hurts (Universal): $5.8M – 3,055 theatres
4. Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney): $3.9M (-38%) – 2,945 theatres
5. Companion (Warner Bros.): $3.02M (-68%) – 3,285 theatres
6. One of Them Days (Sony): $3.0M (-49%) – 2,051 theatres
7. Becoming Led Zeppelin (Sony): $2.62M – 369 theatres
8. Flight Risk (Lionsgate): $2.6M (-52%) – 2,740 theatres
9. Sonic The Hedgehog 3 (Paramount): $1.7M (-46%) – 2,061 theatres
10. Moana 2 (Disney): $1.5M (46%) – 1,785 theatres

Source: Comscore