SUNDAY AM: In a motion picture industry crunched by streaming, where studios are watching their ledgers closer than ever, Super Bowl weekend might be worth the spend to drop a tentpole trailer during the big game ($8M for 30 seconds of time this year), but it sure as hell isn’t a place to open a movie anymore.
True, more often than not, Super Bowl weekend is the frame where titles open to single digits, and studios have used the frame over and over again as a dumping ground. This year wasn’t any different.
However, studios have been able to bust through in the past with horror movies and female skewing titles. The biggest opening title ever during Super Bowl weekend remains Disney’s Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: The Best of Both Worlds Concerts back in 2008 with $31.1M. The last time a No. 1 movie crossed $30M over Super Bowl weekend was 2015 with the sixth weekend of Clint Eastwood’s red state tentpole American Sniper. Get this, back in 2012 there were two movies that opened north of $20M+ over Super Bowl weekend: 20th Century Fox’s original superhero Chronicle ($22M) and CBS’ Woman in Black ($20.8M). Will studios ever commit big marketing dollars to get sizeable grosses again over the challenging frame?
This Super Bowl weekend was even slower than expected with Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man dropping -62% in its second frame with $13.7M. That decline is steeper than anticipated: Dav Pilkey’s previous big-screen take, 2017’s Captain Underpants, was only down 49% in its second weekend.
The Screen Gems distributed, Spyglass produced Heart Eyes has a B- but is filing $8.5M. PostTrak audiences were harder on Heart Eyes with 3 stars and a 68% positive.
And nobody is falling in love with Universal’s Ke Huy Quan movie Love Hurts which is seeing $5.8M for the weekend off a C+ CinemaScore.
The whole weekend for all movies is coming in at $59M per Comscore which is the best result for Super Bowl weekend post Covid, ahead of 2022’s $54M (that’s when Death on the Nile led with a $12.8M opening). Before the pandemic hit in 2020, Super Bowl weekend generated $84.1M for all movies per Comscore, which was when Bad Boys for Life in its third weekend led with a $17.6M take.
‘Heart Eyes’
Christopher Moss
50/50 male-female split on Heart Eyes with 35% men over 25 (70% grade), 28% women over 25 (66% grade), 22% women under 25 (67%) and 14% men under 25 (71%). The 18-34 crowd repped 67% of the weekend so far. This is nearly the same turnout a week ago for New Line’s wonderfully reviewed and audience received Companion (which is looking at $3.02M this weekend, -68%; that under $10M feature now at $26.7M WW through yesterday) Diversity demos are 41% Caucasian, 35% Hispanic and Latino, 13% Black and 7% Asian. PLFs are only driving 16% of the weekend on this Josh Ruben directed R-rated horror pic. Most prominent areas for Heart Eyes are South Central and West with the AMC Burbank 30 counting $26K through Saturday night.
Universal
PostTrak really wasn’t any better for Love Hurts at 61% positive and 41% definite recommend. Mostly men showing up at 54% with 18-34 turning up at 50% and the biggest demo being 25-34 at 33%. Diversity demos were 47% Caucasian, 22% Hispanic and Latino, 15% Asian and 12% Black. PLFs repping a third of the 87North production’s ticket sales. Any money being made is out of South, South Central and West with the AMC Burbank 30 counting $30K through Saturday.
We were told both Love Hurts and Heart Eyes were going to be date night movies. But by the look of these grosses, it looks as though they’re destinations for those who want to break up. Heart Eyes pulled in 40% moviegoers who either attended with a spouse or date, again on par with Companion last weekend. There’s the notion that these movies are playing into next weekend, but they’re going to get snow plowed by Disney/Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World even if that comes in at the lower end of expectations with $80M over 3-days.
‘Becoming Led Zeppelin’
Paradise Pictures
A whole lotta love going on in Imax auditoriums with Sony Pictures Classics’ docu-concert movie Becoming Led Zeppelin which is smoking up around $2.62M this weekend at 369 locations with strong numbers in NYC, Philly, St Louis, San Francisco, Sacramento, Vancouver, and more. By the way, that’s the biggest opening weekend ever for an IMAX-exclusive music release.
Chart is updated with Sunday figures:
- Dog Man (Uni) 3,857 (+2) theaters, Fri $3.2M (-70%) Sat $7.3M Sun $3.1M 3-day $13.7M (-62%), Total $54.1M/Wk 2
- Heart Eyes (Sony) 3,102 theaters, Fri $3.75M Sat $3.3M Sun $1.3M 3-day $8.5M, Wk 1
- Love Hurts (Uni) 3,055 theaters, Fri $2.6M, Sat $2.2M Sun $900K 3-day $5.8M/Wk 1
- Mufasa (Dis) 2,945 (-235) theaters, Fri $1M (-27%) Sat $2.1M Sun $824K 3-day $3.9M (-38%), Total $235.2M/Wk 8
- Companion (WB/NL) 3,285 theaters, Fri $1.06M (-74%) Sat $1.4M Sun $560K 3-day $3.02M (-68%), Total $15.4M/Wk 2
- One of Them Days (Sony) 2,051 (-255) theaters, Fri $1M (-40%) Sat $1.4M Sun $500K 3-day $3M (-50%) Total $39.3M/Wk 4
- Becoming Led Zeppelin (SPC) 369 theaters, Fri $1.3M, 3-day $2.62M/Wk 1
- Flight Risk (LG) 2,740 (-421) theaters, Fri $825K Sat $1.3M Sun $450K 3-day $2.6M (-50%) Total $25.1M/Wk 3
- Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Par) 2,061 (-604) theaters, Fri $405K (-40%) Sat $960K Sun $385K 3-day $1.75M (-46%), Total $233M/Wk 8
- Moana 2 (Dis) 1,785 (-415) theaters, Fri $370K (-36%) Sat $850K Sun $324K 3-day $1.54M (-46%), Total $456.1M /Wk 11
FRIDAY AM: Sony/Spyglass’ rom-horror Heart Eyes had a solid beat in previews Thursday with $1.1M as exhibitors and studios brace for the traditional sluggish Super Bowl weekend, which will see Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man doing a repeat of No. 1 with a hopeful $20M second frame.
Usually, the overall box office dips roughly 30% from Saturday to Sunday, but Quorum reports that Super Bowl Sunday can drop as much as 60%.
The Jordana Brewster-Olivia Holt Heart Eyes is expected to file in the high single digits this weekend.
Also opening wide is the Universal/87 North action movie Love Hurts, which wasn’t so hot in previews last night with $850K, in what will be a mid-single-digits result this weekend.
Heart Eyes and Love Hurts began previews at 2 p.m. in around 2,600 locations. Both movies have some PLF screens that hopefully will work to their advantage. In more coincidence, each title carries a production cost of $18M.
Critics did not get a kick out of Love Hurts, which stars Everything Everywhere All at Once Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan, at 23% rotten. Heart Eyes is better in its reviews at 85% fresh, and PostTrak stands at 3 stars.
Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man was the top dog Thursday night with $881K, +4% from Wednesday for a first week of $40.4M.
Heart Eyes’ previews are on par with Companion‘s $1.1M Thursday previews a week ago. Again, a fine number for previews, but where will business go? Companion had excellent critical reviews and audience exits but settled for a 3-day of $9.3M and is ending its first week with $12.4M (that’s off an under-$10M production cost). Can Heart Eyes do better? The difference between the two movies is that Companion is a genre thriller while Heart Eyes is sold as more of a slasher. What we’re witnessing already 38 days into 2025: There are a lot of horror movies on the schedule, and opening weekends are bound to get diluted. Pre-Covid, studios made it their plan to space out genre movies. No more.
Meanwhile, Love Hurts, which is targeting diverse moviegoers this weekend, didn’t post a preview number on par to Dev Patel’s gritty R-rated action movie Monkey Man from last April; that movie saw $1.4M in previews before a $10.1M opening (and ultimate $25.1M domestic final).
Here is the week’s top 5:
1. Dog Man (Uni) 3,885 theaters, Thu $881K (+4% from Wed.) Wk $40.4M/Wk 1
2. Companion (NL/WB) 3,285 theaters, Thu $530K (-24%), Wk $12.4M/Wk 1
3. One of Them Days (Sony) 2,306 theaters, Thu $406K (-10%), Wk $7.9M, Total $36.3M/Wk 3
4. Mufasa: The Lion King (Dis) 3,180 theaters, Thu $358K (+6%), Wk $7.86M, $231.2M/Wk 7
5. Flight Risk (LG) 3,161 theaters, Thu $363K (-11%), Wk $7.2M, $22.5M/Wk 2
