The Big Picture
- Mean Girls and The Beekeeper are in a close race for the top spot at the box office, with less than $100,000 separating them.
- The Beekeeper has been showing stronger legs, with a 25% drop in box office earnings from last Friday.
- Anyone But You is a word-of-mouth hit and is expected to take the third spot at the box office this weekend, grossing around $4.8 million.
In what is shaping up to be one of the most disappointing weekends at the domestic box office in quite some time, two holdover films will fight a close race for the top spot. Paramount’s Mean Girls had an edge over MGM’s The Beekeeper on Friday, with less than $100,000 separating the two movies, but could lose the top spot by Sunday. The moderately successful adaptation of the popular Broadway musical has topped the weekend charts twice in a row, having successfully fended off competition from director David Ayer’s action film.
But The Beekeeper has been showing stronger legs, easing just 25% from last Friday. Starring Jason Statham, the film opened to strong audience reception and solid reviews. It grossed $16 million in its first weekend and $8 million in its second. The Beekeeper is eyeing around $6.5 million this weekend, which should take its domestic total past the $40 million mark — it has grossed around $36 million so far. Globally, the film is nearing the $100 million milestone.
Mean Girls, on the other hand, debuted with $28 million in weekend one, and generated $11 million in weekend two. The film’s current domestic tally stands at just over $55 million, but unlike The Beekeeper, which has had audiences buzzing since its debut, Mean Girls caught a section of the paying public off guard. This happened primarily because of Paramount’s decision to underplay its true genre in the marketing, following Warner Bros.’ similar strategy with The Color Purple and Wonka.
A Scarcity of New Releases Drained the Box Office of All Energy
Speaking of Wonka, the blockbuster film is looking at another spectacular hold this weekend — its seventh. Starring Timothée Chalamet and directed by Paul King, Wonka is looking at just under $6 million across the three-day frame, which should take its running domestic tally to $195 million. This means that the enthusiastically reviewed franchise-starter — a prequel to Roald Dahl’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” — will hit the $200 million milestone domestically sometime in the coming week. Globally, the film would hope to pass the $550 million mark before the end of its run.
Taking the third spot this weekend, just ahead of Wonka, is Sony’s word-of-mouth hit Anyone But You, directed by Will Gluck and starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. Incidentally, Anyone But You is doing for its two stars what Gluck’s 2010 comedy Easy A did for Emma Stone. The film has generated just under $70 million so far, and is eyeing around $4.8 million this weekend after grossing $1.5 million on Friday. Rounding out the top five is Universal’s animated hit Migration, which added $1 million on Friday and is eying just under $5 million this weekend. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
The Beekeeper
In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers”.
- Release Date
- January 12, 2024
- Runtime
- 105 minutes
- Writers
- Kurt Wimmer
