Weekend Box Office

Weekend Box Office Results: Argylle Repeats over a Dismal Super Bowl Weekend

The Matthew Vaughn action comedy managed to sell the most tickets, but it appears people were more interested in the Big Game.

by Erik Childress | February 12, 2024 | Comments

The box office has not looked this sad since the height of the pandemic. At least then there was an excuse for the lack of releases and poor attendance. Yes, there was a Super Bowl this weekend, and sure, you can blame the whole multiple strike scenario, but the first quarter schedule already looked this weak from the get-go. Studios started shifting things around, worried about publicity. Now they are even taking their streaming premieres and packaging them up as theatrical offerings while Warner Bros. is preparing to just delete entire finished movies. It was so bad this weekend that the only new offering became a studio’s worst widest release showing ever and could not even beat a box office bomb dropping over 60% in its second weekend.

**King of the Crop: Argylle Repeats Over Dismal Super Bowl Weekend**

Hanging on to lead for a second week is Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle. The $200 million film from Apple and Universal fell 62% down to $6.6 million and now has a less-than-commanding total of $28.9 million in 10 days. That is not even in the top 100 of February releases all time; in fact, it’s down with the likes of Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins; Big Momma’s House: Like Father, Like Son; and Isn’t it Romantic, all of which had better second weekends than Argylle. None of those films made it to $50 million, and while theater traffic has been light lately, it will pick up a bit next weekend, thus preventing Vaughn’s film from enjoying the luxury that others have had in cruising through calm waters. The film has made an additional $22.5 million internationally, but it is getting nowhere near the $400+ million it will need to be written off as a theatrical success on the books.

**The Top 10 and Beyond: Lisa Frankenstein Gets Buried, The Beekeeper Hums Steadily**

Focus Features’ release of Lisa Frankenstein is more of a disappointing dud than anything. The film only cost $13 million, a drop in the bucket compared to Argylle. Critics were split on it, but it does feel like a failure on the part of the studio to ignite the fans of Diablo Cody’s work, especially those who helped turnaround initial response to her horror-comedy Jennifer’s Body. Lisa Frankenstein’s $4 million opening is less than the $6.8 million that Jennifer’s Body opened to in September of 2009. It is also the weakest start for a Focus film opening in over 3,000 theaters ever, lower even than last year’s Champions ($5.14 million) and Book Club: The Next Chapter ($6.67 million). Just 11 years ago, Lionsgate opened the similarly themed zombie rom-com Warm Bodies to $20.3 million and a final gross of over $66 million, so it can be done. Focus just couldn’t sell this one.

Doing much better in third place is David Ayer’s The Beekeeper. Another $3.4 million brings its total up to $54.6 million and over $125 million worldwide. It may even have a chance to replace Dog ($61.7 million) as the second-highest domestic grosser under the collaborative UA Releasing banner — last year’s Creed III ($156.2 million) has been their highest to date. Also still making money with its “R”-rating is the rom-com Anyone But You, which has now crossed $80 million with Valentine’s Day on the way.

Families continue to make their way to their only offerings in theaters right now. Wonka made $3.1 million to drive its total to over $205 million domestic. It is inching its way towards $600 million worldwide and is less than $25 million away from it now. Too bad Warner Bros. doesn’t have any other family films with beloved characters in the pipeline that it could release into theaters. Universal and Illumination’s Migration is nowhere near those numbers, but with another $3 million this weekend, it has seen its domestic total go over $110 million and nearly $230 million worldwide.

In the back half of the top 10 this week, last week’s No. 2, The Chosen, fell 57% to seventh place with $2.6 million. The television show has earned $12 million pre-Ash Wednesday. Paramount’s Mean Girls fell back to eighth with $1.9 million, bringing its total just shy of $70 million. Warner Bros. is not releasing Coyote vs. Acme or Batgirl, but it re-released Dune: Part One in theaters ahead of Part Two’s unveiling on Mar. 1. It grossed $1.5 million. Finally, Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction continues to draw pre-Oscars with $1.23 million, bringing its total to $17.4 million.

**On the Vine: Bob Marley and Madame Web Spice up Valentine’s Day**

We don’t even have to wait until Friday this week to get a pair of new releases in theaters. On Wednesday, Valentine’s Day, Sony is hoping that comic book fans are interested in Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney in Madame Web. Then Paramount is trying their first music biopic since 2019’s Rocketman with Bob Marley: One Love. These two films are expected to have a close battle for No. 1 next week.