Universal/DreamWorks’ “Dog Man” will hold on to the No. 1 spot as the annual slowdown in business on Super Bowl weekend is expected to take its toll.
The animated family film is earning an estimated $13.5 million in its second weekend, dropping 62% from its $36 million opening weekend. With a $54 million 10-day total, the film now will face competition from the four-quadrant “Captain America: Brave New World” and the family threequel “Paddington in Peru” next week.
Overall grosses for Super Bowl weekend reflect the trend for 2025 so far: better than last year, but still well short of pre-pandemic levels. In total, the box office has grossed an estimated $59 million this weekend, 51% up from last year’s Super Bowl weekend but 21% down from the $75 million earned in 2019 before inflation adjustment.
In second is the Sony/Screen Gems/Spyglass horror film “Heart Eyes,” which is opening to $8.5 million from 3,102 theaters. Produced by Spyglass on a reported $18 million budget, Sony set the film ahead of Valentine’s Day in the hopes of building word-of-mouth for the film as a date movie for horror lovers.
So far, there is some upside for “Heart Eyes” as the film earned a B- on CinemaScore — same as the recent horror hit “Nosferatu” — while earning solid Rotten Tomatoes scores of 82% critics and 79% audience.
There’s less upside for “Love Hurts,” Universal/87North’s action film starring Ke Huy Quan in his first lead role. Released on 3,055 screens, the film is opening to just $5.8 million.
Also produced on a reported $18 million budget, “Love Hurts” won’t be a major loss for Universal and 87North. But the signs for a comeback aren’t bright as critics panned the film with an 18% Rotten Tomatoes score while audiences are mixed at 64% with a C+ on CinemaScore.
In fourth is Disney’s “Mufasa,” which continues to leg out with $3.9 million in its eighth weekend. With $235 million domestic and $671 million worldwide, it has passed Paramount’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” as the top grossing release of December 2024.
Warner Bros./New Line’s “Companion” completes the top 5 with a $3 million second weekend. The strong reception for the sci-fi horror film has not translated into wider interest as the film has sunk 68% from its opening weekend, grossing just $15.4 million domestically.
Just below “Companion” is Sony Pictures Classics’ “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” a documentary about the rise of the famed 70s rock band that earned $2.6 million from just 369 Imax screens. The documentary space has become increasingly celebrity-driven, as distributors search for docs about musicians and pop culture rather than the more politically-driven films of the 2010s.
One such film is the Oscar-nominated doc “No Other Land,” which chronicles the destruction of the Palestinian West Bank community by occupying Israeli soldiers. An award winner at last year’s Berlin Film Festival, “No Other Land” has been unable to secure a distributor and has instead released in 22 theaters in 16 cities via independent bookings. The film grossed $96,150 for a total of $144,613 including its exclusive weeklong run in New York last weekend.
