With the box office as slow as it usually is on Super Bowl weekend, 20th Century’s “Send Help” was able to hold on to the No. 1 spot on the charts with $10 million grossed in its second weekend.
The R-rated Sam Raimi thriller has earned $35.8 million domestically and $53.7 million worldwide after 10 days in theaters as it looks to turn a modest theatrical profit against its reported $40 million budget. It is Raimi’s first R-rated film since “The Gift” in 2000 and his first original film since “Drag Me to Hell” in 2009.
In second is Angel’s new romantic dramedy “Solo Mio” starring Kevin James, which is opening to $7.2 million from 3,052 locations. Among the Utah distributor’s past releases, “Solo Mio” is opening on par with the $7.1 million launch of its 2024 faith-based biopic “Cabrini” and is enjoying strong reception with an A- on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 81% critics and 95% audience.
Markiplier’s “Iron Lung” is in third with $6.25 million in its second weekend, a 66% drop from its $17.8 million opening weekend. While it is having a frontloaded theatrical run, the self-distributed horror film from YouTuber Mark Fischbach is already turning a profit with a $31.2 million 10-day total against a production budget of just $4 million and a marketing campaign largely driven by the director’s fans.
In fourth is Bleecker Street’s “Stray Kids: The dominATE Experience,” a K-Pop concert film that earned $5.5 million from 1,724 locations. The film marks the launch of Bleecker’s new event film label Crosswalk, which has a slate that includes “Spinal Tap at Stonehenge: The Final Finale” from the late Rob Reiner.
Completing the top 5 is Vertical’s “Dracula” from director Luc Besson with $4.5 million from 2,050 locations. It marks the first time ever that Vertical has opened a film in the top 5 and tops last month’s “We Bury the Dead” for the studio’s best opening weekend ever.
Disney’s “Zootopia 2” takes sixth with $4 million in its 11th weekend, and in doing so has now passed $1.8 billion in global grosses. It stands behind only “Ne Zha 2” as the second highest grossing animated film ever before inflation adjustment and ninth among all films.
Behind “Zootopia 2” is Lionsgate’s “The Strangers: Chapter 3” with a $3.5 million opening from 2,565 locations. The film has been panned by critics and audience with a D on CinemaScore and a 20% RT score.
The good news for Lionsgate is that the remake horror trilogy was developed as a single production with a $20 million budget, making the combined $70 million global total for the first two chapters enough for the studio to turn a small theatrical profit on the project.
Amazon MGM’s “Melania” has fallen to ninth on the charts with $2.37 million, a 67% drop from its $7 million opening and behind the $3.5 million eighth weekend of “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” The First Lady documentary now has a 10-day total of $13.3 million.
Finally, A24 has released the critically acclaimed erotic comedy “Pillion” in New York and Los Angeles and grossed $241,769 for a per theater average of $60,442. Starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård as a pair who enter an unexpected BDSM relationship, “Pillion” received the Un Certain Regard Screenplay Award at Cannes last year and sports a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.
A24 will slowly expand “Pillion” as it is for Charli XCX’s “The Moment,” which added $1.69 million from 561 theaters in its second weekend for a $2.28 million total.
