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‘Argylle’ and ‘Lisa Frankenstein’
Peter Mountain / © Universal Pictures / Courtesy of the Everett Collection; Focus Features / Courtesy of the Everett Collection
The Super Bowl took a dump at the domestic box office this weekend as revenue fell to record lows amid a weekend-long frenzy over Sunday’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas, and an ongoing slowdown. winter in the main titles of the Hollywood studios.
Combined ticket sales reached an estimated $40 million, the worst result for Super Bowl weekend in more than three decades outside of 2021, when many theaters were still closed due to the COVID-19 crisis, according to Comscore. Revenue in 2021 was $7.7 million.
The last time revenues were lower was in several cases in the mid-to-late 1980s, according to Comscore.
There is one advantage: Hollywood studios don’t obsess too much about weekend grosses. Instead, many are preparing to release flashy (and expensive) new ads for their movies.
Back to the box office. This year, Matthew Vaughn’s big budget bust, argylle, ranked No. 1 over Super Bowl weekend with a modest $6.5 million, also one of the lowest earnings for the frame after dropping 63 percent since its opening a weekend ago. The film’s domestic total is $28.1 million, according to Apple Original Films and its distribution partner Universal.
Focus Features Horror Comedy Lisa Frankenstein opened in second place with $3.8 million. Focus opted to release the niche film nationally, rather than as a platform release, in hopes of serving as counter-programming for women who aren’t too caught up in Super Bowl mania. However, there’s a new twist this year: Taylor Swift is responsible for the spike in football viewership among girls and women (her boyfriend is Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce, and she’s expected at Sunday’s game ).
“Unfortunately, this year marks a low point for the football-centric weekend and with only one new wide release film hitting cinemas and a lack of momentum in the market, the industry will now have to look ahead to the era after to the games to get back to normal. ” says Comscore chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Lisa Frankenstein, a variation on the classic horror tale in which a young woman improvises a corpse and brings it to life, received a B Cinemascore. More than 70 percent of ticket buyers, many of them women, were under 35 years old.
Remains the beekeeper, Wonka and Migration completed the top five. At the specialized box office, the multi-Oscar candidate Searchlight poor things crossed the $80 million mark globally, including $30.3 domestically.
Historically, money can be made at the box office despite the Super Bowl if a studio wants to risk being attacked. Major Super Bowl openings over the years have included Hannah Montana/Miley Cryus: Best of Both Worlds Concert, which launched to a record $31 million in 2008, not adjusted for inflation. Total revenue reached $128 million that weekend, a record that still stands. Since 2006, or 17 years, revenue has exceeded $100 million only a few times.
In 2022 and 2023, Super Bowl weekend grossed around $54 million, led by Death on the Nile and Magic Mike’s Last Dance (again, counterprogramming).
More to come.