‘Ship Assist’ Leads Gradual Tremendous Bowl Weekend

SUNDAY AM Writethru: After Saturday replace…What will be as dangerous as a 2,000-mile snowstorm that shutters theaters? Why, Tremendous Bowl weekend.

And whereas it’s not the bottom weekend of the yr, it got here shut with all films doing $61.6M (per ComScore) versus the $55.1M until two weekends in the past when 400 multiplexes turned off the lights on account of snow and ice. As we speak’s enterprise alone for many films within the high 10 is predicted to drop some -60% or steeper off Saturday’s ticket gross sales. It’s very, very clear, the outdated days of a significant studio rolling the cube on a Taken or a Hannah Montana film are far gone, and never well worth the funding. Higher to play into the weekend, and holdover. If you happen to’re going to open in any respect, play to the margins, play to the area of interest demos, play at a low P&A, therefore the hodge-podge of indie style, Okay-Pop and values-based fare (Angel Studios’ Kevin James rom-com Solo Mio which is better of the brand new bunch with $7.2M in 2nd place after a $3.1M Friday/previews) and an A- CinemaScore and Display Engine/Comscore PostTrak exits of 82% particular advocate (superb) and 5 stars/92% optimistic.

Disney nonetheless believes there’s a path for twentieth Century Studios’ Ship Assist to $10M, for one more No. 1 win in its second weekend (others have it decrease at $9.1M).

Markiplier’s Iron Lung is third with a second weekend of $6M, -67%, in weekend 2. That drop was all the time foreseen given how fan-front-loaded the film was on its very low advertising and marketing value. That will get the ten-day on the characteristic take of the indie online game to $31M per ComScore by finish of at this time.

Solo Mio drew 62% ladies to 38% guys. Sixty % of the general crowd was over 45 with ladies over 25 repping 56% of attendees. Variety demos had been 45% Caucasian, 25% Latino/Hispanic, 4% Black and 5% Asian American. The primary rom-com launch by Angel Studios performed to their demos within the South, Midwest and Mountain with The Harkins Estrella Falls 16 (AZ) the main single-location gross at $14.8K. Whereas not a faith-based film per-se, Angel Studios prides itself on values-driven content material, which is what this James lost-in-love-in-Italy film is categorized as. Angel has 2M Angel Guild members (subscribers) who play a month-to-month charge for entry to the Angel streaming platform. They get two film tickets yearly, and the publicly traded distrib markets on to them. By the top of 2025, Angel doubled their Guild membership over a nine-month interval. Solo Mio was a distribution deal, however Angel is on the hook for P&A.

Bleecker Avenue/Crosswalk’s Stray Children: The dominATE Expertise crooned $5.6M in fourth, however on a world stage is the champ with $19.1M as we informed you first this AM. Stray Children was No. 1 on Friday with $3.2M together with previews. No viewers scores apart from that 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. Imax and a few PLFs are driving just a little over half of the weekend with finest markets being South, West, East Canada and South Central. The Santikos Palladium (San Antonio) has change into the film’s highest grossing multiplex for the weekend with $24.7K. The Okay-Pop moviegoing viewers is actual on a distinct segment stage with this weekend’s take not removed from BTS: But to Come in Cinemas which performed over Tremendous Bowl weekend 2023 to a 5-day of $8M.

Vertical posted a report opening for themselves with Luc Besson’s Dracula at $4.5M after a $2.1M Friday/previews. No CinemaScore however PostTrak ain’t dangerous with a strong 64% particular advocate and 4 stars in a film which pulled in 47% ladies over 25 and 33% males over 25. The 25-34 set was the pic’s largest at 39%. Ladies below 25, who solely confirmed up at 13%, gave the film its finest particular advocate at 69%. Caucasians had been 45%, Latino and Hispanic repped 35%, with 6% Black and seven% Asian. The Caleb Landry Jones and Zoe Bleu pic is finest within the West, Mountain and South Central with the AMC Burbank nonetheless the pic’s highest grossing venue with near $15K. No CinemaScore. Pic’s world grows to $33.2M. Vertical acquired U.S. on this.

Lionsgate’s The Strangers – Chapter 3 has a scary low begin out of the vast entries with $3.5M in a tied seventh place with twentieth Century Studios’ Avatar: Fireplace and Ash. In the long run, the threequel wraps up as an entire rejection by followers with a D CinemaScore. That’s the bottom of the three films (Strangers 2 was C- and Strangers‘ C). Put up Observe is a don’t advocate with a 26% particular advocate (a low determine we hardly ever ever see) and a half star. Those that confirmed had been 53% males/47% ladies with 32% between 25-34. Variety demos had been 40% Caucasian, 35% Hispanic/Latino, 15% Black and 4% Asian American. We’ll get into the economics of this in a bit, however your complete trilogy was shot altogether by Renny Harlin for a reported internet $20M manufacturing value (overseas gross sales delivered round 50% to the gross manufacturing value which is way larger than $20M internet). Within the books, Lionsgate appears to be like on the trilogy as one movie not damaged out as three. The primary two films grossed $70M worldwide. P&A was low at $5M. The publicly traded Lionsgate claims the trilogy is worthwhile regardless that this third one is DOA. How? Provided that the trilogy was shot at one movie, every installment’s earnings spill over into the following. That is par for the course for Lionsgate (and myriad different indie distribs these days). Some pics eek out a little bit of theatrical, solely to amplify positive aspects within the PVOD window. It’s simply the way in which of the world now: Theatrical is the commercial for PVOD/the house window.

A24’s growth of Charli xcx’s mockumentary The Second from 4 NYC/LA theaters to 581 is seeing $1.68M outdoors the highest ten after $891K Friday and close to $500K Saturday. Ten-day whole is just below $2.3M.

The 2026 field workplace for Jan. 1-Feb. 8 counts $748.8M, +9.7% forward of the identical interval in 2025.

Up to date Sunday figures:

One final phrase on the First Girl’s documentary….Some are having a cow that Melania fell -67% in its second weekend. What was everybody anticipating right here over Tremendous Bowl weekend? An growth of the viewers? It’s Tremendous Bowl weekend and clearly the documentary had a frontloaded viewers ala Iron Lung. Good on Amazon MGM Studios for retaining the numbers sincere. There can be higher concern and suspicion if we noticed an incredible spike in ticket gross sales or started to get phrase that there was extreme group gross sales by proper wing teams with auditoriums left empty ala the controversy that surrounded Sound of Freedom.

FRIDAY PM: We all the time knew it was going to be sluggish, the query is by how a lot. Proper now, twentieth Century Studios’ Sam Raimi film Ship Assist is eyeing $10 million in its second weekend at 3,475 websites after a $3M second Friday. If that retains in line, that’s a -48%, which is fairly rattling good for a style film. Pic’s ten-day whole would transfer as much as $35.8M in North American.

Second for the weekend, is Angel Studios’ Kevin James rom-com Solo Mio, which can be eyeing $3.1M at this time, together with yesterday’s $744K previews, for a $7.6M opening at 3,052 theaters.

Third goes to Bleecker Avenue’s Okay-pop live performance film Stray Children: The dominATE Expertise with $3.2M at this time (together with $900,000 from 351 Imax Wednesday previews), and round $5M for this weekend at 1,724 websites. Once more, 100% viewers rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics haven’t dared sit by way of this but.

Fourth is Vertical’s Luc Besson-directed Dracula with $2.3M at this time and an $4.8M opening, which might be the distributor’s finest but forward of We Bury the Useless‘s $2.5M. As we informed you, audiences on Rotten Tomatoes prefer it higher than critics, 75% to 57% Rotten.

Fifth is the second weekend of Markiplier’s Iron Lung with an estimated $4.65M at 2,930 theaters, which might rep a 74% drop after a second Friday of round $1.5M. Working cume by Sunday appears to be like to be $29.45M.

Lionsgate’s The Strangers – Chapter 3 at 2,565 is $1.7M at this time and a couple of $3.7M opening. Strangers 2 final September opened to $5.8M, whereas The Strangers – Chapter 1 posted the perfect starting of three at $11.8M in Could 2024. No RT viewers rating but for the critically panned horror pic at 19%.

The place’s Amazon MGM Studios’ second weekend of Melania? She’s seeing $3.5M, off 51%, with a working 10-day whole by Sunday of $14.5M.

Final yr, Tremendous Bowl weekend was led by the second body of DreamWorks Animation’s Canine Man ($13.8M), with all titles grossing $54.2M, the second worst weekend of 2025.