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M. Night Shyamalan’s horror flick ‘Knock at the Cabin’ grossed $14.2 million in its opening weekend, enough to top the box office charts and dethrone ‘Avatar: The Way of Water” after spending seven weeks at No. 1.
Universal’s chilling thriller barely beat the weekend’s other big new release, “80 for Brady,” which earned No. 2 with $12.5 million from 2,912 North American theaters. It’s a major win for Paramount, which backed the sports comedy starring Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Sally Field, as older audiences balked at going to theaters amid the pandemic.
Critics weren’t impressed with “80 for Brady,” which holds 64% on Rotten Tomatoes, but that doesn’t matter. Audiences were charmed by the combined might of the four Hollywood icons, who play best friends who go to the Super Bowl to watch their hero, Tom Brady, play football. It’s possible the film received additional publicity because Brady announced earlier this week that he was retiring from the sport “for good.” The film, which cost $28 million to produce, nabbed a promising “A-” CinemaScore from ticket buyers. Women made up 68% of the opening weekend crowds, while 49% were 55 or older.
“Knock at the Cabin” added $7 million at the international box office, bringing its worldwide total to $21.2 million. Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge star in the R-rated film, which follows a family who are suddenly held hostage by strangers (who are trying to prevent the apocalypse) while vacationing in a remote cabin. For Shyamalan, the director of ‘The Sixth Sense’, ‘Unbreakable’ and other brain teasers, ‘Knock at the Cabin’ ranks as the lowest start to the filmmaker’s career. However, it cost $20 million to make (which was mostly funded by Shyamalan himself), so the movie won’t require a ton of coins to turn a profit.
Overall, it was a stronger than expected start to the year at the box office. In January, national yields were down about 36% from the pre-pandemic period, but they were encouragingly up about 68% from 2022, according to David A. Gross, who leads the company. film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. Last year’s major increase can be attributed to studios releasing more movies (in January there were 10 wide releases in 2023, up from five in 2022 and 11 in 2019) on the big screen.
“Comparison aside, the past month has shown good underlying energy. Gross says, pointing to “Avatar 2,” as well as Universal’s horror escapist “M3GAN” and Sony’s tearjerker “A Man Called Otto.” In the coming weeks, he predicts, “business will kick into high gear” with the release of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Creed 3,” and “Shazam!” Fury of the gods. He adds that “the second half of February to April should be a very good race”.
Disney and 20th Century’s ‘The Way of Water’ fell to third place with a still mighty $10.8 million from 3,310 theaters on its eighth outing, down just 32% from the weekend previous. So far, the hit adventure has grossed $636 million in North America and $2.174 billion worldwide, making it the fourth highest-grossing film in history.
Universal’s kid-friendly sequel “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” landed in fourth place, grossing $7.9 million from 3,290 theaters in its seventh weekend of release. To date, the animated film has grossed $151 million in North America.
Rounding out the top five was “The Chosen: Season 3 Finale,” the conclusion of a Christian television series from distributor Fathom Events, which collected $7 million from 1,975 theaters. Those ticket sales mark a drop from the previous installment’s $8.8 million opening weekend.
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