Super Bowl Weekend Sees Hollywood Box Office Slump as 'Send Help' Repeats at No. 1

Super Bowl Weekend Brings Major Box Office Slowdown for Hollywood

Hollywood largely surrendered audience attention to football during a notably sluggish box office weekend, with the survival thriller 'Send Help' repeating as the No. 1 film in ticket sales. Meanwhile, the Melania Trump documentary 'Melania' witnessed a sharp decline in its second weekend, dropping dramatically in revenue.

Super Bowl Weekend Traditionally Weak for Moviegoing

Super Bowl weekend is consistently one of the lowest-attended moviegoing periods annually. In 2023, it ranked as the second slowest weekend, and in 2024, it hit rock bottom as the absolute worst for cinema attendance. Instead of releasing major films, studios strategically diverted their focus to advertising upcoming movies to the massive television audience tuning into the NFL broadcast.

Among the highly anticipated trailers expected during Sunday's broadcast were The Walt Disney Co.'s 'Mandalorian and Grogu', Lionsgate's Michael Jackson biopic 'Michael', and Universal Pictures' 'The Super Mario Galaxy Movie'.

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'Send Help' Tops Box Office Charts Again

In North American theaters, the Disney-20th Century Studios release 'Send Help', directed by Sam Raimi, led all films with an estimated USD 10 million in its second weekend. The R-rated survival thriller has now accumulated USD 53.7 million globally, establishing itself as a solid mid-budget success story.

Disney also celebrated another milestone as its phenomenally long-running 'Zootopia 2' crossed the USD 1.8 billion mark worldwide during its 11th week of release.

'Melania' Documentary Experiences Steep Decline

The Amazon MGM documentary 'Melania' expanded to 300 additional theaters in its second weekend but suffered a steep decline, earning only USD 2.4 million in ticket sales. This represents a 67% drop from its much-discussed debut, signaling potential flop territory given its substantial production costs.

Amazon MGM reportedly paid USD 40 million for the film rights and invested an additional USD 35 million in marketing. The North American total for 'Melania' now stands at USD 13.4 million.

While international figures have not been released, they are anticipated to be minimal. The film's underwhelming sales became a talking point throughout the week, with late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel criticizing the numbers. Kimmel notably labeled them a "rigged outcome."

Comedy and K-Pop Achieve Strong Debuts

Elsewhere in theaters, several new releases performed robustly:

The Italy-set Kevin James romantic comedy 'Solo Mio' debuted with a strong USD 7.2 million, marking a significant victory for Angel Studios, typically known for faith-based films.
The K-pop concert film 'Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience', released by Bleecker Street, launched with USD 5.6 million domestically and an additional USD 13.2 million overseas.
The Luc Besson-directed Bram Stoker adaptation 'Dracula' opened with USD 4.5 million, setting a studio-best debut for indie distributor Vertical.

Indie Sensation 'Iron Lung' Continues Impressive Run

One of the most unconventional releases remains the low-budget indie film 'Iron Lung'. YouTube filmmaker Markiplier (real name Mark Fischbach) self-financed and self-distributed this R-rated video game adaptation, also serving as writer, director, and star.

In its second weekend, 'Iron Lung' collected USD 6.2 million, bringing its two-week total to USD 31.2 million. Remarkably, the film was produced on a budget of only USD 3 million.

Top 10 Domestic Box Office Rankings

With final domestic figures scheduled for release on Monday, the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, are as follows: