As the studios held back major new releases over Super Bowl Weekend, Disney/20th Century Studios holdover Send Help won a session that was distinguished by top five debuts for a trio of independents: Solo Mio, Stray Kids: The DominATE Experience, and Dracula.
Overall box office for the weekend combined for $61.7m as year-to-date reached $748.8m to lead 2025 by the same stage by 10% per Comscore.
Horror Send Help added an estimated $10m from 3,475 locations after a 48% drop in the second weekend to hold on to number one and reach $35.8m and $53.7m worldwide on a reported budget of $40m. Iron Lung, the post-apocalyptic horror from YouTube creator Mark Fischbach (aka Markiplier), dropped 67% and one place to number three in its second weekend on $6m from 2,916 for $31m.
Indie power trio
However this was a weekend when the moral victories went to three new independents that will put a smile on the faces of both the distributors behind them and their exhibition partners.
Leading the way was Solo Mio, the Kevin James romantic comedy that arrived in second place through Angel Studios with a $7.2m estimated weekend from 3,052 locations. The story about a jilted fiancé who subsequently finds love on a solo honeymoon trip is a product of the markets and brings a timely fillip heading into the EFM in Berlin this week.
A Higher Standard introduced the project at the Cannes market in 2024 and Angel acquired US rights last year, stumping up marketing costs on the $4m production that opened above expectations and will be heading into upside for the remainder of its run.
K-Pop concert film Stray Kids: The DominATE Experience delivered the second-highest K-Pop concert film debut of all time behind BTS Permission To Dance On Stage on $5.6m from 1,724 sites. The feature from Live Nation Studios was also Bleecker’s second-highest opening weekend ever and announced the company’s first release through its event cinema label Croswalk.
Vertical scored its biggest opening weekend as Luc Besson’s Dracula starring Caleb Landry Jones, Rosanna Arquette’s daughter Zoë Bleu, in her first starring role, and Christoph Waltz arrived in fourth place on $4.5m from 2,050. The enduring vampire tale became the distributor’s first film to arrive in the top five and easily overtook its previous highest-opening release, the horror thriller We Bury The Dead that debuted in January on $2.5m.
Meanwhile Harry Lighton’s Bifa winner and Bafta nominee Pillion arrived at number 19 through A24 on $241,769 from four venues for an excellent $60,442. Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling star in the queer BDSM dark comedy about a timid traffic warden who encounters a handsome biker and premiered in Cannes last year where it won the Un Certain Regard best screenplay prize.
Holdovers
Returning to holdovers, Disney’s Zootopia 2 added $4m from 2,015 in its 11th weekend to rank sixth on $414.5m, one place ahead of Disney/20th Century Studios stablemate Avatar: Fire And Ash, which used a $2.5m haul from 2,365 in its eighth session to settle on $391.5m.
James Cameron’s third sci-fi adventure spectacle tied for seventh place with The Strangers: Chapter 3 from Lionsgate in 2,565 locations. This was the lowest debut in the horror franchise that launched 18 years ago in 2008 on $20.9m through Rogue Pictures and followed up with The Strangers: Chapter 2 through Lionsgate in 2025 on $5.8m.
In better news for Lionsgate and another source of encouragement that will be among the talk of the EFM, psychological thriller The Housemaid at number 12 earned $1.8m from 2,030 to reach $123.7m after eight weekends and stands at $354.7m worldwide, of which $231m comes from Lionsgate’s international distribution network. Jason Statham action thriller Shelter placed ninth after a 56% drop for Black Bear in the second weekend and added $2.4m from 2,726 for a $9.9m running total.
Focus Features’ Hamnet from Chloe Zhao starring Oscar frontrunner Jessie Buckley added $750,000 from 925 sites to reach a commendable $21.8m and rank 15th after 11 sessions.
1-2 Special reported that Simón Mesa’s Colombian Oscar submission A Poet grossed $51,808 from 33 sites in its second weekend to propel the running total to $91,441. The drama will expand in Washington DC, San Francisco Bay and other markets this week and continue to roll out nationwide through mid-March.
In its second weekend Melania plunged 67% and seven slots down to number 10 after adding $2.4m from 2,003 sites for a $13.4m running total. Amazon MGM Studios head of domestic theatrical distribution Kevin Wilson said the release of the documentary about Melania Knauss, First Lady and wife of Donald Trump, validated the company’s ”wholistic [sic] distribution strategy”. Wilson added that exit polls showed “strong intent to rewatch on Prime Video and meaningful interest in the forthcoming docuseries”.
In two notable specialty releases of Spanish-language films, Mexican box office hit Bendito Corazón arrived in the US on $404,000 from 23 screens for a $17,565 average through Million Dollar Cinema Studios (Outsider acted as the film’s booker). Miguel Angel Perez’s religious drama set in the 18th century will expand onto approximately 50 screens this week, and more than 250 the following weekend targeting faith-based and Hispanic audiences across North America. The feature has earned more than $2m in Mexico from two weekends.
Outsider also reported that Aida The Movie (Aida Y Vuelta) directed by and starring Spanish comedy superstar Paco León arrived in the US and Puerto Rico on 27 screens for a compelling $217,000. The feature, co-distributed by Wiesner Distribution and Outsider Pictures, is adapted from the Aida TV series about a divorcée in Madrid that ran from 2007 to 2014. The feature version arrived in Spain on January 30 on approximately $1.8m (€1.5m).
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