NEW YORK (AP) — In an surprising upset, the Jason Statham thriller “A Working Man” took No. 1 on the field workplace, besting the quickly declining “Snow White,” in response to studio estimates Sunday.
Even after a lackluster debut, the Walt Disney Co.’s live-action remake was predicted to stay the highest movie in U.S. and Canadian theaters over the weekend. As a substitute, “Snow White,” tormented by dangerous buzz and backlash, nosedived in its second weekend and dropped 66%.
On the similar time, Amazon MGM Studios’ “A Working Man,” directed by David Ayer, beat expectations with a $15.2 million debut. Co-written by Sylvester Stallone, “A Working Man” reteams Statham and Ayer following final yr’s profitable “The Beekeeper” ($162 million worldwide). This time round, Statham performs a development employee with an elite army previous.
Whereas evaluations have been combined and audiences solely gave “A Working Man” a “B” CinemaScore, displaying Statham has carved out one thing uncommon within the film trade as we speak: bankability. “A Working Man” opened equally to “The Beekeeper,” which launched with $16.5 million.
The larger headline, although, may need been the quick erosion of ticket patrons’ urge for food for “Snow White.” The movie, directed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler, had been hoped to elevate film theaters after a painful begin to 2025. Produced for extra $250 million, the movie has was a poisoned apple, with a two-week world haul of $143.1 million.
Subsequent weekend, Warner Bros.’ “A Minecraft Movie,” is predicted to win the weekend and can, like “Snow White,” goal household audiences.
A trio of newcomers – A24’s “Death of a Unicorn,” Common and Blumhouse’s “The Woman in the Yard,” and the Fathom’s “Chosen: The Last Supper” – additionally opened over the weekend, although none made a huge impact.
“The Chosen: The Last Supper,” fared the most effective, with $11.5 million in 2,235 theaters. The Christian TV sequence, now in its fifth season, has commonly pushed ticket gross sales earlier than streaming. Extra episodes will roll out in theaters by April.
“Death of a Unicorn,” a horror comedy starring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd, portrays a father and daughter who hit a unicorn on the street whereas they’re driving. The film collected a modest $5.8 million from 3,050 theaters.
The weekend’s extra simple horror contender, Blumhouse’s “The Woman in the Yard,” starring Danielle Deadwyler, debuted with $9.4 million from 2,842 cinemas. In “Black Adam” director Jaume Collet-Serra’s movie, a mysterious girl retains showing in a household’s entrance yard. Although it price little to make, with a manufacturing finances of $12 million, it has been slammed by critics.
One of many weekend’s greatest successes was the 1997 Studio Ghibli traditional “Princess Mononoke.” The Hayo Miyazaki movie grossed $4 million throughout simply 347 IMAX screens. Distributor GKids touted that end result as a victory for humanity over know-how. Earlier within the week, a brand new model of ChatGPT allowed customers to render photos in Studio Ghibli-like animation.
Sony Photos Basic’s “The Penguin Lesson,” starring Steve Coogan and Jonathan Pryce, opened with $1.2 million at 1,017 theaters. Coogan performs an Englishman educating in Argentina in 1976 who rescues a penguin from an oil spill.
With flagging ticket gross sales general, Hollywood marked the primary quarter of 2025 with a sizeable box-office deficit. Gross sales are down 11% from the identical level in 2024, and practically 40% from 2019, in response to Comscore.
“Hopefully ‘Minecraft’ can help the marketplace level up since after some underwhelming weekends at the box office we need to get some momentum back at the multiplex,” mentioned Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore.
High 10 films by home field workplace
With last home figures due Monday, the next listing components in estimated ticket gross sales for Friday by Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, in response to Comscore:
1. “A Working Man,” $15.2 million
2. “Snow White,” $14.2 million.
3. “The Chosen: Last Supper,” $11.5 million.
4. “The Woman in the Yard,” $9.5 million.
5. “Death of a Unicorn,” $5.8 million.
6. “Princess Mononoke,” $4 million.
7. “Captain America: Brave New World,” $2.8 million.
8. “Black Bag,” $2.2 million.
9. “Mickey 17,” $1.9 million.
10. “Novocaine,” $1.5 million.
