Worst Weekend in Decades Outside of COVID, ‘Argylle’ Ekes Out $6.5M Lead
The big game has always posed fierce competition for moviegoing, but this year’s lineup on the marquee got entirely sacked
The Super Bowl sacked the domestic box office this weekend as revenue fell to historic lows due to the weekend-long frenzy over Sunday’s showdown between the Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas, and an ongoing winter slowdown in major Hollywood studio titles.
Combined ticket sales clocked in at an estimated $42 million, the worst showing for Super Bowl weekend in at least three decades.
This is outside of 2021, when many theaters were still closed because of the COVID-19 crisis, according to Comscore. Revenue in 2021 was $7.7 million.
Matthew Vaughn‘s big budget bust, Argylle, placed No. 1 over Super Bowl weekend with a meek $6.5 million, likewise one of the lowest grosses for the frame after tumbling 63 percent from its opening a weekend ago.
The film’s domestic total is $28.1 million, according to Apple Original Films and distribution partner Universal.
Focus Features’ horror-comedy Lisa Frankenstein opened in second place with $3.8 million. Focus opted to launch the specialty picture nationwide, versus a platform release, as counterprogramming for females not to caught up in Super Bowl mania.
One new twist this year, however: Taylor Swift is responsible for a surge in football viewership this year among girls and women.
Her boyfriend is Kansas City’s tight end Travis Kelce, and she’s expected at Sunday’s game.
“This year unfortunately marks a low ebb for the football-centric weekend and with only one new wide release film hitting theaters and a lack of momentum in the marketplace the industry will now have to look toward the post-game era to get back on track,” says Comscore chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Lisa Frankenstein, a twist on the classic horror tale that sees a young woman cobble together a corpse and bring him to life, received a B Cinemascore. More than 70 percent of ticket buyers, many of them female, were under the age of 35.
Holdovers The Beekeeper, Wonka and Migration rounded out the top five.
At the specialty box office, Searchlight’s multi-Oscar contender Poor Things crossed the $80 million mark globally, including $30.3 domestically.
Top Super Bowl openings over the years have included Hanna Montana/Miley Cryus: The Best of Both Worlds Concert, which launched to a record $31 million in 2008, not adjusted for inflation.
Overall revenue hit $128 million that weekend, a record that still holds. S
Since 2006, or 17 years, revenue has crossed $100 million only a handful of time.
In 2022 and 2023, Super Bowl weekend came in at around $54 million, led by Death on the Nile and Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
