Battle at the Box Office 2/27/23

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania held onto the top spot at the box office in its second weekend against a strong Cocaine Bear but suffered the steepest drop in MCU history.

Quantumania fell 70% from last weekend’s opening, the biggest drop between opening and 2nd weekend in MCU history. Black Widow was the previous biggest drop but it was significantly impacted by Covid in 2021 and a Disney+ “Premiere Access” release.  Quantumania took in $32.2 million in its second weekend, bringing it to $167.3 million domestically and just under $363 million worldwide, which makes it the highest-grossing Hollywood film of the year so far worldwide behind two Chinese releases, The Wandering Earth 2 and Full River Red.  Kang will attack Ant-Man again this weekend as, given Quantumania’s quickly falling box office, the Jonathan Majors co-starring Creed III seems almost assured a victory this coming weekend.

Cocaine Bear took 2nd place with a much higher than anticipated $23 million.  Most estimates had it under $20 million.  The movie has $28.3 million worldwide, as it really hasn’t opened internationally yet.  The Cinemascore for Cocaine Bear is probably a cause for concern though, as it got a B-, which is less than Quantumania.  If Cocaine Bear’s word of mouth is weak, it could see a Quantumania-style drop of its own this coming weekend.  It obviously cost far less than Quantumania, so it will probably be in much better shape financially, even with a potential steep drop incoming.

Also outperforming expectations was Jesus Revolution, which took in $15.8 million.  The faith-based true story was the seventh best opening for a faith-based drama, between The Shack and Miracles from Heaven.  Most predictions had the movie opening sub-$10 million, so it shattered expectations and it got an A+ Cinemascore, so it will probably remain strong in the coming weeks.

Holdovers Avatar: The Way of Water and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish took the fourth and fifth spots.  Avatar is still the 9th highest-grossing movie of all time domestically and 22nd on the adjusted for inflation chart between The Dark Knight and Grease.  It is the 3rd highest-grossing film of all time worldwide behind the original Avatar and Avengers: Endgame.

The Per Theater average went to Oscar contender The Quiet Girl, which made $9,958 in each of the 6 theaters it was playing in over the weekend.