Harley Quinn’s latest adventure struggled out of the gate, while Oscar nominees benefited.
The box office tumbled over the Oscar weekend. Only one new wide release vied for attention: DC’s Birds of Prey. The film scored well with critics, but the lack of a general audience dulled its debut. Overall the box office deflated; the only marginal bright side rested with several Oscar nominees for Best Film that saw fresh life.
This Week in Box Office History.
The box office fell 30% compared to last week and 18% compared to last year. The small rally from last week ran into a brick wall, which is hard to explain easily. Every year the Super Bowl clobbers the box office; it’s not every year that the Academy Awards does the same. While last year saw the box office cool off 10% during the ceremony, it was still healthy with big films like Alita: Battle Angel and How to Train Your Dragon on the list.
Top Film One Year Ago: The Lego Movie 2.
Top Film Ten Years Ago: Dear John.
Top Three Films.
Birds of Prey (AKA Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, AKA Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of one Harley Quinn, sheesh!) ruled the roost, but the bird seed was meager indeed. The film debuted with 33 million dollars, exactly 100 million dollars less than Suicide Squad launched with back in 2016. Early studio estimates featured what seemed like a reasonable forecast of 55 million. 33 million makes it the smallest premier for any of the new DCEU films.
Bad Boys for Life finally got roused from the top spot, falling to second with 12 million dollars.
1917 made headwind on a presumptive favorite status for winning Best Picture at the 92nd Academy Awards. Sadly, that did not come to pass, but the film did manage another 9 million dollars and a third place finish.
Other Films.
Little Women, another nominee, hung on to eighth place, adding 2 million dollars to a domestic total of 102 million dollars.
No other Oscar nominees finished in the top ten, but Parasite and Jojo Rabbit saw positive increases and finished just outside at 11th and 12th place, respectively.
Top Ten Films.
- Birds of Prey (33.0)
- Bad Boys for Life (12.0)
- 1917 (9.2)
- Dolittle (6.5)
- Jumanji: The Next Level (5.5)
- The Gentlemen (4.2)
- Gretel & Hansel (3.5)
- Little Women (2.3)
- Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2.3)
- Knives Out (2.2)
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