LOS ANGELES, Jan 29 — Amazon/MGM action picture The Beekeeper flew to the top of the North American box office on a slow winter weekend with an estimated take of US$7.4 million, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.
“The Beekeeper is a hit,” said analyst David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. “This is not a routine action thriller; those movies disappear fast. The Beekeeper is series material.”
He predicted the film, made for an estimated US$40 million and in only its third week out, could ultimately net US$150 million worldwide.
Tough guy Jason Statham plays the beekeeper in question, an ex-commando seeking revenge against a criminal group whose cruel scams lead to the suicide of his friend (Phylicia Rashad).
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Beekeeper only narrowly edged out last weekend’s top film, Paramount’s Mean Girls, which took in an estimated US$7.3 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period in the US and Canada. That brings its domestic total in three weeks out to US$60.8 million — not bad for a film made for around US$36 million.
The tale of high school survival stars Angourie Rice, Renee Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, Avantika and Bebe Wood, as well as Tina Fey, the writer behind both this film and the 2004 original.
In third, showing exceptional strength in its seventh week out, was Warner Bros.’ fantasy musical Wonka at US$5.9 million. Timothee Chalamet plays the eccentric chocolate maker in a cast that includes Olivia Colman and Hugh Grant. Made for US$100 million, Wonka has grossed just over US$550 million worldwide.
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Flying steady in fourth was Migration, a family-friendly animation from Universal and Illumination about the misadventures of a family of traveling mallard ducks. It took in US$5.2 million, pushing it just over the US$100 million mark in North America.
And in fifth, at US$4.8 million, was Sony rom-com Anyone But You, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell. The sleeper hit has rolled up totals of US$71.2 million domestically and US$55 million overseas for a total US$126.2 million.
For the second weekend in a row, there were no major new studio releases.
Rounding out this weekend’s top 10 were:
Fighter (US$3.8 million)
Poor Things (US$3 million)
American Fiction (US$2.9 million)
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (US$2.8 million)
Godzilla Minus One (US$2.6 million)
— AFP
