Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | March 17, 2025
So many new major releases in theatres this past weekend and so little interest from the general public. I won’t relitigate the endless ‘are cinemas dying’ debate because it makes me sad but seeing two original adult-oriented movies and a critically acclaimed cartoon featuring one of the most iconic IPs in Hollywood seems indicative of something, right? Said thing might just be that we’re all broke, of course.
At number one is Novocaine, starring Jack Quaid, with only $8.7 million from 3,365 locations. That was at least enough to get it to the top spot over Mickey 17, which saw a brutal 60% drop from its opening weekend. One film was certainly better received than the other, although the other had a much smaller budget, so its soft opening doesn’t elicit as much panic from its studio. Still, it all feels a bit deflated. At least Rich Evans will be proud of Jack Quaid.
Said feeling only continues in the number three spot with Black Bag, the Steven Soderbergh spy thriller. Once upon a time, a sexy espionage movie starring two multi-award-winning actors of impeccable hotness would have been a guaranteed commercial smash. Now? We’ve got a $7.5 million opening from 2,705 cinemas.
Nobody hates the Looney Tunes more than the studio they call home. We saw that David Zaslav’s endless quest to delete Warner Bros. from existence led to the cancellation of Coyote Vs. Acme for tax reasons. At least The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie was put in theatres. Critics loved it too, but it was poorly advertised and only garnered $3.17 million. And, because Zaslav is just pure evil, the original Looney Tunes cartoons aren’t even available on Max anymore. Bang up job there, you smug vandal.
Guess what The Last Supper is about. Go on, take a big swing. Religious movies have their niches and do well with their intended audiences, and frankly, I’m kind of surprised we haven’t had a last supper movie that turns it into a Conclave-esque political drama before. I doubt this movie is as fabulously bitchy as Conclave though. I’m sure Jesus doesn’t vape once. Anyway, it brought in $2.835 million from 1,575 theatres.
Ayo Edebiri’s domination of pop culture continues with Opus, courtesy of A24. This one made $1,013,273 from 1,764 places.
In limited release news: The Actor, a historical thriller starring Andre Holland, grossed $20,200 from 23 locations; and Prisoners of Fire, a documentary of the 1990 Dude fire in Arizona, earned $4,521 from two cinemas.
This coming week sees the release of the psychological thriller Locked, space horror Ash, and yet another Disney live-action remake, Snow White.
You can check out the rest of the weekend box office numbers here.
