It was good news for Bad Boys For Life over Super Bowl weekend as the sequel spent a third weekend at number one and crossed some franchise milestones in the process. The news wasn’t as good for Gretel & Hansel but it was downright dismal for The Rhythm Section which logged a record worse opening.
Bad Boys For Life grossed $17.7 million over the weekend, down 48% from its second-weekend outing. The drop was expected to be bigger this weekend thanks to the Super Bowl but keeping its drop below 50% yet again is more good news for the well-received sequel. With a domestic take of $148 million, Bad Boys For Life is now the highest-grossing Bad Boys film at the domestic box office, topping the $138.5 million of Bad Boys II. Bad Boys For Life is also the biggest January new release ever. The previous record was Paul Blart: Mall Cop with $146.3 million in 2009. Most box office experts are saying that Bad Boys For Life is single-handedly saving the January box office in 2020 as most of the other new releases this month have been a bit on the soft side. January box office is actually up a bit year-to-year and most of that honor goes to Bad Boys For Life for making it happen. Internationally, Bad Boys brought in an estimated $30.8 million, lifting the film’s international total to $142.7 million for a franchise-best, $271 million global gross.
Maintaining second is what many believes this Sunday’s Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards, 1917. The World War I epic grossed $9.5 million over the weekend, down 40.3% from last weekend. This week is going to be another sampling week for 1917 before the Oscars on Sunday and if it happens to win in some of the big categories, that word of mouth should continue even a week after the big ceremony. 1917 has the true benefit of being one of the only Best Picture nominees still in wide release so that could be another reason why it’s performing so well. 1917 has grossed $119 million at the domestic box office and internationally the film brought in an estimated $20.9 million from 61 markets, including openings in Russia, Taiwan, Sweden, and Thailand. The international total currently stands at $129.8 million.
In third we find Dolittle with a gross of $7.5 million, down 37.7% from last weekend. This third-weekend hold would be impressive if not for the $175 million budget, a total this film is coming nowhere near before it ends its theatrical run. Dolittle has grossed $55.1 million at the domestic box office and internationally the film has now grossed over $71 million after bringing in an estimated $17.7 million this weekend from 63 markets. The film’s global total now stands at $126.6 million with releases in France, the UK, Brazil, Russia, and Japan yet to come. The China release for Dolittle was delayed indefinitely due to issues with the CoronaVirus and that’s a market that maybe could’ve helped some of the bleeding here.
In fourth we have Gretel & Hansel which grossed $6.1 million. The opening a bit better than I thought it would be and given that the film carries a mere $5 million production budget, this is going to be a small win for United Artists. The good news kind of stops there because despite surprisingly decent reviews (60% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), the film received a “C-” CinemaScore which doesn’t bode well for word of mouth. This is the fourth horror film/thriller released in five weeks and none of them have received warm welcomes from moviegoers (at least Gretel & Hansel didn’t earn an “F” CinemaScore like The Grudge and The Turning). Hopefully, the genre can rebound a bit with better releases as 2020 rolls along but this film is likely to be a distant memory very soon.
Rounding out the top give is Jumanji: The Next Level with $6 million. The family comedy saw another impressive hold this weekend, dropping just 22.1% The smaller drops the last few weeks have made it possible for Jumanji to see a box office run that will see it get over the $300 million mark. Jumanji: The Next Level has a domestic take of $291.2 million and the sequel has grossed $754.8 million worldwide.
You have to go all the way down to tenth place to find The Rhythm Section which grossed a dismal $2.7 million. The film played at 3,049 locations and pulled in a $918 per-theater average, making it the worst opening ever for a film opening in over 3,000 locations. There’s a lot that went wrong here and a more detailed article about all of the mishaps will be posted shortly but this is not good for Paramount Pictures and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was out of theaters by the end of next week. The film received a “C+” CinemaScore and the only good news there is that it scored slightly higher than Gretel & Hansel. Have to take your wins where you can.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
