One week before “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” takes on the charts, the 2023 box office had its worst weekend yet (albeit on a Super Bowl weekend). With no films grossing over $10 million and a weekend total of just above $50 million, the box office is in need of a hero, which it will luckily get next week.
Placing first is “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” with an opening of $8.3 million. This was well below my prediction of a $15 million weekend, but to be fair, the film only opened in around 1,500 theaters, south of the typical 3,000-plus modern release. It is possible the film expands in the coming weeks, but with tepid critical response, that isn’t looking likely. With a reported budget in the high $40 millions, financially, the film is not positioned to profit. That being said, this was originally positioned to be a streaming release, so Warner Bros. may take any earnings at this point.
In second place is “Avatar: The Way of Water,” dropping 36.3% to earn $7.2 million this weekend. The film is inching ever so close to passing “Titanic” to become the third highest grossing film of all time, but more on that later. Now having cleared $647 million domestically, the film will approach 2015’s “Jurassic World” in the next week to become the ninth highest grossing film domestically. The competition of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” will likely hurt “The Way of Water,” but nonetheless, we shall watch to see how far this run continues.
In third is another James Cameron film, re-releasing for its 25th anniversary — “Titanic.” The 1998 Best Picture winner earned $6.7 million, extending its domestic total to $666 million, still good enough to be eighth all-time domestically. It’s coincidental timing for this re-release, considering these extra $6-plus million helped prevent “The Way of Water” from becoming the third highest grossing film worldwide. Still, “Avatar” should clear “Titanic” next week, but Cameron probably doesn’t care at this point.
Fourth and fifth place are “80 for Brady” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” with $5.8 million and $5.6 million respectively. The Super Bowl-based film fell 54%, pushing its domestic total to $24.8 million. This is a steep drop for a comedy, making it unlikely “80 for Brady” will remain in the top five in the coming weekends. “Puss in Boots” fell only 29% in its eighth weekend of release, extending its domestic total to $158 million, making it in the top 30 all-time domestic of films that have never been No. 1.
Next week brings the biggest release of 2023 thus far — “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.” Critical reception has been lukewarm, with the film sitting at 58% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time this article was written. Will that impact the film’s opening weekend? It might, but with audiences eagerly awaiting the beginning of Marvel Studios’ Phase 5, I think the film will still earn $125 million next weekend.
It is all but guaranteed that “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” will stand above the rest of box office next weekend, but by how much?
As always, we shall see.
