by Conan Simmons – February 14, 2021 – 9:50 pm
After debuting on Thanksgiving weekend and remaining in the Top 5 for 12 consecutive weeks the animated hit, ‘The Croods: A New Age’ returns to the top spot overtaking new release ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ and holdovers from previous weeks.
Previously holding the number 1 spot for 3 consecutive weeks upon its debut, this weeks marks the 4th week at number 1 for the animated hit starring Emma Stone. A remarkable achievement making it the most successful film at the U.S. box office since the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
The weekend also saw a rise in ticket sales at the box office for a 47% increase over last weekend.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (February 12-14, 2021)
- ‘The Croods: A New Age’ – $2.7 million – animated (gain $900k, 50% increase)
- ‘Judas and the Black Messiah’ – $2.4 million – drama (debut)
- ‘The Little Things’ – $1.9 million – mystery (down $200k, 10% drop)
- ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ – $1.3 million – fantasy (gain $395k, 44% increase)
- ‘The Marksman’ – $1.1 million – action (gain $100k, 10% increase)
The total for the Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $9.4 million. This is an increase of $3.01 million over last weekends $6.39 million, an increase of 47%.
There are heavy rumors that the upcoming Marvel film, ‘Black Widow’ starring Scarlett Johansson, may shift its release date currently set for May 7. Despite producer Kevin Feige’s claims that the film will be solely a theatrical release, Disney executives have stated they are looking closely at a possible day-and-date release on streaming platform Disney+.
Upcoming sequel ‘Fast and Furious 9’ is also heavily rumored to shift release date, though it may wait until ‘Black Widow’ shifts first.
Until then, there will continue to be award hopefuls being released like next weekends ‘Nomadland’, the winner of the Venice Film Festival, that is sure to gain some Oscar attention when nominations are announced March 15. Next weekend will also bring the remake of Noel Coward’s ‘Blithe Spirit’ starring Dan Stevens and Judi Dench. The next big wide release will be in two weeks when the live-action/animated hybrid ‘Tom and Jerry’ bring the classic cartoon characters back to the silver screen.
The big box office news of the weekend is coming from China where theaters are capped to 75% capacity, or 50% in at-risk areas near Beijing. The box office in the middle kingdom has broken records on this weekend of the Chinese New Year bringing in $775 million with the boffo release of ‘Detective Chinatown 3’. The comedy-mystery was delayed by the pandemic and anticipation for the film stayed strong bringing the film to a box office total of $424 million. Filmed in Imax, the success of the latest installment in the hit franchise has helped bring China’s box office back to pre-pandemic levels.
As U.S. theaters continue to struggle under lockdown, there has been some hope as AMC is able to avoid bankruptcy thanks to the recent GameStop short squeeze on Wall Street. Hopefully theaters will come back strong in the summer.