Box Office Report: It's a Steal!

We’re officially in mid-January, which means it’s dump month. Is there any actor who feels more perfectly designed for this season of cinematic releases than Paisley’s king in exile, Gerard Butler? Maybe Jason Statham, but I think they tag-team the mission. They should co-headline dozens of films. It’s unfair that we don’t have about 17 Statham-Butler joints. Anyway, Den of Thieves 2 was eagerly awaited by dads everywhere, and they helped to make ‘What if Heat was for tipsy himbos?’ into the top film of the past weekend. Granted, it had no real competition, but it still counts. It made $15.5 million from 3,008 theatres.

Mufasa: The Lion King is at number two with an extra $13.2 million in the bank, bringing its domestic total to over $188.7 million. That’s solid business but also still about $16 million less than Sonic the Hedgehog 3. But don’t cry for Mufasa because the movie has now made $539.6 million worldwide and is currently the ninth highest-earning movie of 2024. Give it a couple of weeks and it seems like it’ll bypass both Kung Fu Panda 4 and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. Disney has four movies in the 2024 top ten. The top three is entirely Mickey’s domain, thanks to Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Moana 2. Every film in that top ten is a sequel bar one. This is our future.

There were only two other new releases this past weekend: Indian thriller Game Changer earned $2.1 million from 800 locations; and Hard Truths, the newest drama from Mike Leigh, grossed $165,625 from 22 theatres.

A lot of the films that would have gotten that post-Golden Globes theatrical boost are now streaming, like The Substance and Emilia Perez, but a few still benefitted. Best Drama winner The Brutalist expanded its run from six cinemas to 68 and got a 468% boost for its troubles, bringing its domestic gross to over $2.7 million.

This coming week sees the release of Blumhouse horror Wolf Man, true-life drama September 5, and Brazilian drama I’m Still Here.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office results here.