After a few weeks without any studio wide releases, Apple Original Films‘ $200M Argylle via Universal is hoping to entice moviegoers back, but it won’t be in a big way. Last night’s previews for the PG-13 Matthew Vaughn directed action movie made $1.7M, which is below the $2.4M previews clocked by Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper a few weeks ago. That movie posted a $16.5M opening, so any hope that Argylle will get to that $20M+ some exhibitors were seeing — I don’t think so.
Argylle was booked at 3,100 theaters last night and has all the cinema upcharges this weekend of PLF and Imax, etc. Reviewers at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes already are screaming ‘Don’t Go’. This despite the fact that the MARV, Cloudy production has an all-star cast of Henry Cavill, John Cena, Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Grammy winning pop superstar Dua Lipa, Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston, Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara, Sofia Boutella and Marvel’s Samuel L. Jackson.
Meanwhile, Fathom Events’ season 4 of The Chosen did an estimated $1.4M at 2,236 theaters; that’s for episodes 1-3. Episodes 4-6 hit on Feb. 15, while episodes 7-8 debut in theaters on Feb. 29.
While Beekeeper was beat by Paramount’s Mean Girls in their respective third weekends, $6.9M to $6.6M, the Jason Statham movie ruled over the Plastics in their third weeks, $9.2M to $8.9M. Beekeeper‘s dometic running total stands at $44.1M, Mean Girls at $62.3M.
More…