Posted by On Sunday, both Mean Girls and The Beekeeper claimed victory amid an otherwise sluggish
weekend at the domestic box office.
It turns out Mean Girls was right. Weekend actuals show Paramount’s musical teen comedy earned $6.9 million, compared to $6.7 million for Amazon MGM Studios’ The Beekeeper.
Both films came in behind initial estimates after a slower-than-expected Sunday. Sunday’s tally had The Beekeeper grossing $7.4 million and Mean Girls, $7.3 million.
One advantage for Mean Girls: Sunday’s two NFL championship games posed tough competition for the male-skewing Beekeeper.
Both films were in their third weekend, and their domination underscores the worrisome situation facing cinema operators as the production pipeline slows to a trickle because of production delays due to last year’s actors and writers strikes. It is the second weekend in a row that there are no new nationwide releases.
Mean Girls‘ domestic tally stands at an estimated $60.4 million and $22.6 million overseas for a worldwide cumulative of $83 million.
From Miramax, Beekeeper jumped the $100 million mark globally upon finishing Sunday with a domestic total of $41.6 million and $61.9 million overseas for an estimated global tally of $103.5 million.
A trio of Christmas holdovers rounded out the top five: Wonka, Migration and Anyone but You.
The specialty box office was anything but glum between the new Hindi-language military action pic Fighter and Oscar contenders that picked up nominations Jan. 23.
Fighter, from VIVE, took off nicely with roughly $3.8 million from 662 locations, good enough to place No. 6.
Searchlight’s Poor Things — which landed 11 Oscar noms, including best picture — added 900 theaters for a total count of 2,300. The movie earned a strong $3 million for the weekend for an estimated domestic tally of $24.8 million (it was up 45 percent from the previous weekend). Overseas, it sports a $26.3 million foreign total for a global cume of $51.1 million. In many markets, the movie is turning in best-ever grosses for Yorgos Lanthimos.
Poor Things came in No. 7, followed by fellow Oscar contender American Fiction, which is also competing for best picture and a handful of other categories. From Amazon MGM, Cord Jefferson‘s film saw a 65 percent spike, earning $2.9 million for a domestic total of $11.8 million. American Fiction had held back pending nominations, but added 852 cinemas this weekend for a total count of 1,702.
A24’s The Zone of Interest, another multi-Oscar nominee, is still taking things slowly. The best picture contender did add 233 theaters for a total count of 315, and earned a promising $1.1 million for a domestic tally of $3 million.
None of these latter three films are available to watch at home. The same cannot be said for fellow best-picture contender Oppenheimer, but that didn’t stop Universal and director Christopher Nolan from rereleasing the movie in more than 1,200 Imax and premium format locations. Oppenheimer, which leads all nominated films with 13 Oscar nods, earned a respectable $1 million from 1,269 locations.
One film snubbed by Oscar voters, Ava DuVernay‘s Origin, fared well in its second weekend, earning $1.5 million from 664 theaters for an early cumulative of $2.5 million for the filmmakers and Neon.
Nominated for best visual effects at the Oscars, Godzilla Minus One saw a boost when adding a black and white version to the mix. The Japanese film earned an estimated $2.8 million from 2,051 runs.