Box Office Report for the Week of March 9

As the film world is recovering from the Anora sweep at the Academy Awards (more on that in a few), this week at the movies was still a relatively slow one, and is likely going to be that way for some time. Hell, I’m not remotely convinced Snow White will do good business, and I have a feeling the next true blockbuster to watch out for is Ryan Coogler‘s Sinners. We’ll see if smaller films like Novocaine or Black Bag can make an impact next week, but as it stands, the blockbuster season isn’t off to the best of starts.

Case in point: Bong Joon Ho has finally returned to the big screen with Mickey 17, after the sweep of a generation with Parasite (funnily enough, NEON distributed both Anora and Parasite, which led to the Palme d’Or to Best Picture pipeline twice in five years! Not a bad track record, if you ask me). While many ardent cinephiles were eagerly anticipating his return, one can’t say the same for the average moviegoer, with the adaptation of Edward Ashton‘s sci-fi novel raking in only $19 million on a…$118 million budget. Ouch.

I personally liked the movie but didn’t love it as much as his other efforts. That seems to be the general consensus, but it has soured as more eyes saw it, and many viewpoints of the picture are fairly negative. You could say it was dead on arrival, but one can’t blame Joon Ho for burning Warner Bros’ money like this after winning an Academy Award.

Truth be told, this is probably one of the most hilarious post-Oscar blank checks I’ve seen from a filmmaker intent on having the time of his life adapting a complex but thoughtful piece of science-fiction. It doesn’t always work, but I had fun. However, anyone who thought this would be a massive box office hit was kidding themselves. Perhaps it could leg out, but with such a hefty price tag, it’s definitely going to need lots of help in turning a profit, which I doubt it will.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom for the movie industry. Look at Anora, which was released in October of last year, now enjoying a post-Best Picture win boost, with a 595% increase from last week, and has rejoined the top 10 at the box office for the first time since the fall. The film was re-released in many cinemas this week, and currently stands at a $46.2 million tally, one of the highest-grossing independent films of 2024. Could it reach $50 million? With a Best Picture win in its pocket, it may now be possible!

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

1. Mickey 17 (Warner Bros): $19.1M – 3,807 theatres
2. Captain America: Brave New World (Disney): $8.5M (-42.7%) – 3,480 theatres
3. Last Breath (Universal): $4.2M (-47%) – 3,090 theatres
4. The Monkey (NEON): $3.9M (-39%) – 2,955 theatres
5. Paddington in Peru (Sony): $3.8M (-14.8%) – 3,085 theatres
6. Dog Man (Universal): $3.5M (-18%) – 2,753 theatres
7. Anora (NEON): $1.8M (+595%) – 1,938 theatres
8. Mufasa: The Lion King (Disney): $1.7M (-14%) – 1,460 theatres
9. Rule Breakers (Angel Studios): $1.5M – 2,044 theatres
10. In the Lost Lands (Vertical): $1.0M – 1,370 theatres

Source: Comscore