It’s the weekend of the haves and the have-nots at the domestic box office.
In the “haves” column are holdovers GOAT, from Sony Pictures Animation, and Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi‘s Wuthering Heights, which are in a close race for bragging rights to top the North American chart with $13 million to $15 million.
Wuthering Heights prevailed in winning the long Valentine’s Day/President’s Day frame a week ago with a three-day weekend gross of $32.8 million and $37.5 million for the four days. Overseas, it also did better than expected, launching to $45.5 million from more than 75 markets for a global start of $83 million.
Warners is predicting Wuthering Heights will top GOAT at the global box office again to finish Sunday with a worldwide total in the $150 million range. In the U.S., it is expected to earn $14 million from 3,682 theaters; ditto for GOAT, which opened to $35 million domestically for the four days last weekend in North America and $26 million for the three days. GOAT, playing in 3,842 marks another win for Sony Animation, home of the hit Spider-Verse universe and KPop: Demon Hunters. (It is rolling out much more slowly overseas.)
Among newcomers, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s faith-based sequel I Can Only Imagine 2 is looking at a solid third-place finish with $8 million to $9 million after earning a coveted A+ CinemaScore from audiences. While that’s a solid start, it’s roughly half as much as the original 2018 film opened to in the pre-pandemic era
Baz Luhrmann‘s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is off to a rousing start in its limited debut in 325 Imax screens after earning both glowing reviews and audience scores. From Neon, the concert doc is on course to earn $3.2 million this weekend before expanding nationwide. Luhrmann — who also directed the acclaimed biopic Elvis — painstakingly restored 59 hours of unseen footage from the Warner Bros. archives, including discarded material from two ‘70s concert films.
Elvis Presley in Concert is in a close battle for sixth-place with A24’s Glen Powell-starrer How to Make a Killing despite playing in far fewer cinemas.
Billed as a black comedy, How to Make a Killing is on course for an unimpressive sixth-place finish with an estimated $3 million to $3.5 million from 1,625 locations after getting dinged by many critics. Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris and Topher Grace also star in John Patton Ford’s reimagining of the classic British film Kings and Coronets.
And New Regency’s long-gestating Psycho Killer is DOA with a projected $1.4 million to $1.6 million start from 1,100 theaters. The slasher pic, which is helmed by veteran producer Gavin Polone in his feature directorial debut, won’t crack the top 10 unless it can edge out Avatar: Fire and Ash. Psycho Killer‘s current critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is zero from 21 reviews, including this review from The Hollywood Reporter. The audience score isn’t much better (33 percent). Disney is distributing the film via 20th’s long-standing relationship with New Regency.
Back in the top 10, Amazon MGM Studios’ Crime 101 is on course to come in fourth in its sophomore outing, followed in fifth place by 20th Century’s Send Help, which continues to display strong staying power in its fourth weekend. The Disney film empire is also getting ready to celebrate Zootopia 2 clearing the $400 million mark domestically in the latest milestone for the mega-animated blockbuster. Like Avatar, Zootopia 2 opened over the year-end holidays on its way to becoming the year’s top Hollywood release worldwide, as well as the top-grossing animated film of all time with more than $1.83 billion in global ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation.