Box Office Report: Howl at the Moon

January continues to be quiet but not without options. This past weekend, audiences had the option of a comedy and a horror, and surprisingly, the latter won out commercially.

One of Them Days, starring Keke Palmer and SZA, took the number one spot with $11.6 million from 2,675 theatres. That was enough to put it ahead of Mufasa: The Lion King, which has now earned over $205 million domestically in its fifth week of release. It’s become the seventh highest-grossing movie of 2024 with over $588 million. That’s still about $120 million behind Wicked, and I don’t expect it to fly past the singing witches. It is, however, close to earning out its budget, if the numbers are to be trusted, so good for Barry Jenkins.

At number three is Wolf Man, the latest Universal/Blumhouse horror. This one didn’t get reviews as strong as The Invisible Man and it’s reflected in the grosses of $10.55 million from 3,354 theatres. Woof.

We’re heading into Oscar nominations week and we’re seeing some of those contenders get a major box office boost: The Brutalist earned over $1.9 million from 338 theatres; historical drama September 5 grossed $365,000, a 506% increase from the previous week; Nickel Boys brought in $297,000 as it expanded its run into 240 cinemas; and The Substance was re-released into 470 theatres after Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win and now has a domestic gross of over $16.7 million.

A24 released Sing Sing last Summer, and it didn’t do great, which sucks because it’s one of 2024’s best films. Now that Colman Domingo is a Best Actor contender, they’ve re-released it into 560 cinemas right when the competition is getting busy. Smart or too late? Alas, I feel like this film deserved a savvier distributor.

After her surprise Best Actress Golden Globe win, Fernanda Torres’ star vehicle I’m Still Here opened in five locations and earned an impressive $125,409.

In other limited release news: French family drama Autumn and the Black Jaguar made $121,000 from 605 locations; the documentary Grand Theft Hamlet, about a production of Hamlet performed within Grand Theft Auto brought in $79,000 from 75 places; and the drama Both Eyes Open earned $8,700 from 35 theatres.

This coming week sees the release of the Mel Gibson-directed Marky Mark movie Flight Risk. Nah.

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