Weekend Box Office: Zootopia 2 has no trouble taking the top spot; new movies BOMB

The weekend box office results are in, and just as we predicted earlier this week, Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 proved to be very front-loaded on its opening weekend, paving the way for Disney’s Zootopia 2 to retake the top spot. It ended up with $26 million for a $258 million domestic haul. Notably, the movie has already crossed the $1 billion mark domestically, reaching that milestone faster than any other animated movie in history. Its domestic box office performance is excellent, but overseas is where this one is absolutely killing it.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 Suffers a Steep Second-Weekend Drop

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 dropped 70% in week two, which is actually better than the 76% drop the original suffered—although let’s not forget that movie had a day-and-date digital release on Peacock. While this franchise has no real staying power, these front-loaded movies are still big moneymakers, with the sequel now just shy of $100 million domestically, sitting at $95 million.

Another rather front-loaded holiday release is Wicked: For Good, which made $8.55 million for a $312 million total. While it’s hard to call a movie with a gross like that disappointing, it looks like it will end its run about $100 million short of its predecessor.

International and Specialty Titles Perform Strongly

Bollywood hit Dhurandhar actually had a huge week-to-week increase, with a $3.4 million weekend and a $7.8 million domestic haul—excellent numbers for an Indian film. Lionsgate’s Now You See Me: Now You Don’t is starting to wrap up its domestic run with $2.38 million this weekend and a total just shy of $60 million. Overseas, it’s been a much bigger hit, having crossed the $200 million mark last week, with a $300 million worldwide total not out of the question.

Anime, Awards Contenders, and Major Flops

Last weekend’s anime hit, JUJUTSU KAISEN: Execution, dropped a massive 79% to sixth place with $2.1 million and a $14.5 million domestic total. Not bad—but it’s definitely no Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

James L. Brooks’ comeback movie, Ella McCay, proved to be his biggest flop, making only $2.1 million despite a cast that includes Woody Harrelson and Jamie Lee Curtis. The reviews for this one are humiliatingly bad (I hated it).

Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas worked its way back into the top 10 thanks to a 25th anniversary re-release, making $1.85 million and adding to a lifetime gross of $264 million (unadjusted for inflation). A24’s Eternity made $1.77 million for a total just under $13 million, while Hamnett continued to deflate at the box office, earning $1.5 million for a $7 million total.

Re-Releases and Box Office Disappointments

Notably, The Shining’s 45th anniversary release landed just outside the top 10, with around $1.45 million on only 400 screens. It’s worth noting that it’s only playing twice a day, in the evening, in most theaters.

CineVerse’s Silent Night, Deadly Night tanked with only about $1.1 million (according to Deadline), proving that hopes to relaunch this admittedly weak Christmas slasher franchise haven’t worked out.

Next Weekend Box Office Preview

Next weekend sees the release of two big Christmas titles: Avatar: Fire and Ash and the Sydney Sweeney-led The Housemaid. Both are tracking for strong openings, so we’ll be back later this week with our predictions.

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