At this time last year, I ran my weekend box office column with the headline “Magic Mike’s Last Dance Wins The Weekend Box Office, But The Numbers Are Rough.” The named film was the only new wide release to arrive in theaters the previous Friday, and it only took $8.2 million in ticket sales to earn it a box office crown. All of the films in the Top 10 only brought in about $47 million, which is roughly what Nia DaCosta’s The Marvel‘s made when it debuted on the big screen last fall. It was ugly… but the numbers for Super Bowl Weekend 2024 are somehow even worse.
In its second week of release, Matthew Vaughn’s Argylle is still sitting at number one on the domestic chart, but looking at the results and the full landscape is just downright depressing. Check out the Top 10 below and join me after for analysis.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Argylle | $6,500,000 | $28,814,000 | 1 | 3,605 |
| 2. Lisa Frankenstein* | $3,800,000 | $3,800,000 | N/A | 3,144 |
| 3. The Beekeeper | $3,469,404 | $54,734,256 | 3 | 3,057 |
| 4. The Chosen: Season 4 Episodes 1-3 | $3,153,495 | $12,586,806 | 2 | 1,952 |
| 5. Wonka | $3,125,000 | $205,252,000 | 4 | 2,764 |
| 6. Migration | $3,020,000 | $110,149,000 | 5 | 2,684 |
| 7. Anyone But You | $2,700,000 | $80,124,000 | 7 | 2,805 |
| 8. Mean Girls | $1,925,000 | $69,174,000 | 6 | 2,650 |
| 9. American Fiction | $1,328,948 | $17,369,430 | 8 | 1,462 |
| 10. Poor Things | $1,125,000 | $30,276,449 | 9 | 1,300 |
Argylle Takes A 63 Percent Weekend-To-Weekend Tumble Following Its Debut
That $47 million total from this time last year is a sad thing to look at, but this year’s group bringing in just $28.8 million is downright awful. In part because of the production stoppages in 2023 amid the labor disputes, Hollywood is not releasing features that are getting people to theaters, and that is made loud and clear from these numbers. Per The Wrap, it’s the worst box office weekend we’ve seen in 14 months (its predecessor being in December 2022 prior to the arrival of James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way Of Water)
There was a great deal of hope that the star-studded Argylle could generate some Kingsman level excitement in the market (the R-rated action movie having been a nice surprise when it came out in February 2015), but things looked bad in its opening weekend when it only brought in $17.5 million, and things are looking even worse now. When I wrote my box office breakdown last Sunday, I remarked that the movie’s “future is going to be extremely bleak if I end up writing about a weekend-to-weekend drop of 60 percent in my box office column next week.” Well, welcome to “extremely bleak.” The Numbers says that the film only made $6.5 million in the last three days, which is a 63 percent fall.
This is a movie that Apple Original Films produced for a budget in the realm of $200-250 million, and that puts it in danger of being a flop of historic magnitude. To date, it has only made $28.8 million, and while it’s benefitting from being released during an empty period on the 2024 release calendar, it’s clearly not benefitting greatly.
As I noted last week, Argylle won’t be getting released in China or Japan until the end of the month, but at present, it’s still a challenge to be optimistic about overseas markets being the film’s savior. It has only made $60.1 million worldwide, so it will basically have to become a sensation in remaining markets in order for the theatrical release to be considered any kind of success.
This turn of events could end up having big picture repercussions in the industry. Argylle is Apple’s third big swing of such proportions in the last six months, with the spy thriller following a pair of historic epics: Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon. There is a whole lot of expectation that ticket sales for the three titles will have a big effect on the way that the studio does business moving forward. One also wonders if developments will end up having an impact on Henry Cavill’s chances of becoming the next James Bond.
Horror Romantic Comedy Lisa Frankenstein Fails To Find An Audience With Its Pre-Valentines Release Date Strategy
With Valentine’s Day falling on a Wednesday this year, studios have faced a challenge in taking advantage of the holiday. Sony made an attempt this weekend by putting out an extended cut of Will Gluck’s Anyone But You (adding nearly 200 locations to its theater count from last weekend), but ticket sales still dropped 22 percent. Zelda Williams’ Lisa Frankenstein from Focus Features was also a swing in this vein, and things are not panning out as hoped. It still had an underwhelming start at the box office, earning just $3.8 million despite being the only new wide release in cinemas.
The saving grace here is that Lisa Frankenstein isn’t a release that was working with a Argylle-sized mega budget. The stakes aren’t as high for the Diablo Cody-scripted horror/romantic comedy, with Variety reporting that the movie had a $13 million budget (excluding marketing and publicity). It can’t be said that buzz is extreme, as it earned a mixed reception from critics (CinemaBlend’s Sarah El-Mahmoud gave it three-and-a-half stars in her review), but it got a modest “B” result from CinemaScore surveys. It may get a nice bump on Valentine’s Day with couples looking for something to do, and its reasonable to think that it will make its budget back before the end of its theatrical run.
The hunt for silver linings will likely continue for the rest of February, with Denis Villeneuve‘s Dune: Part Two being looked at as a light at the end of a long dark tunnel. Things don’t look particularly great for what’s on tap next week, including Reinaldo Marcus Green’s musical biopic Bob Marley: One Love and S.J. Clarkson’s Spider-Man-related Madame Web. The latter may end up having some initial success akin to Daniel Espinosa’s Morbius starring Jared Leto, but any interest isn’t expected to stick around for very long. We’ll see how things go, and in seven days, I’ll be back here on CinemaBlend publishing my latest weekend box office report breaking down the results.