The box office and fans of the genre were craving a horror release. Night Swim wasn’t it.
Night Swim Sinks At The Box Office
As per Box Office Mojo, Wonka was once again #1 at the box office with $14 million. The movie has thus far made $465 million worldwide. On a budget of $125 million, it’s highly likely that being the success that it is we could see more movies showing Wonka’s early life and career.
Night Swim was the new movie out this week, and it performed below expectations. The movie was aiming for a $17-$25 million projected opening; and with only $12 million for the opening, it’s well below those projected amounts. Undoubtedly a lukewarm reaction from fans doesn’t help as the movie holds a ‘C’ Cinema Score. Critics weren’t fond either; the movie has a Rotten Tomato score of 27%.
The movie’s budget was $15 million and undoubtedly would be twice that with marketing costs, making Night Swim a misfire. There’s always a chance it could make its money back, but the chances are slim. Even if it does make some money back, it likely won’t be enough to be considered a success. Time will ultimately tell, but this one is looking dead in the water.
The Rest Of The Box Office
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom brought in $10.6 million in the third-place spot. Migration was in fourth with $10.3 million. Anyone But You rounded out the top 5 with $9.5 million. In a box office that sees movies dropping week-over-week in the double digits, Anyone But You bucks this trend and increased 45.9% last weekend, and increased 8.5% this previous weekend. It’s finding an audience post-release and while the movie is not making a huge financial splash, it’s at least keeping itself relevant and popular.
Next Weekend’s Predictions
Next weekend, The Book of Clarence, Mean Girls, and The Beekeeper are set for release.
The Beekeeper is aiming for a $8-$13 million opening, which will likely place it fourth, fifth, or even outside the Top 5. Jason Statham isn’t the box office draw he once was (Expend4bles anyone?) and with The Beekeeper inevitably going to Prime Video, I doubt there are enough Statham fans who will feel the need to see this exclusively in theatres.
The Book Of Clarence is an interesting movie in that it has some traditional biblical story elements, but it does twist the narrative in a few ways. The movie also seems to be targeting a a younger audience, and in particular a Black audience. Which on the weekend before Martin Luther King Day will be a very timely story. Still, there’s no guarantee that the traditional Christian audiences will show up for this, nor is there any guarantee that the younger Black audiences will show up for this either. If they do, this could perform well, but as of now it’s projected to make around the same as The Beekeeper with $7-$15 million.
Mean Girls is projected to make $20-$40 million, which would likely make it the #1 movie. The movie has been trending on social media, in particular Instagram and TikTok. This has been the case with other box office hits like Barbie and Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour. Does this translate to box office success? Maybe. It’s going to depend on if that millennial crowd which made the original film successful shows up along with the new audience. However, with the positive buzz on social media, the movie will likely make its projected amount.
As always we’ll find out next week!
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