Amazon MGM’s “Mercy” has ended the five-weekend reign of 20th Century/Lightstorm’s “Avatar: Fire and Ash” atop the box office charts, but it didn’t take much to get there as the Chris Pratt/Rebecca Ferguson thriller launched to just $11.2 million from 3,468 theaters.
That is a pretty consistent opening with other recent early-year thrillers, comparable to the $11.5 million start for last January’s Lionsgate offering “Flight Risk.”
But with holiday releases starting to wind down their theatrical runs, recent releases like Sony’s “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” struggling to strike a chord and fierce blizzards keeping much of the country in their homes, overall grosses for the weekend are set to sink to $59 million, a total that would rank sixth lowest among all 2025 weekends.
Next weekend’s films like 20th Century’s “Send Help,” and A24’s “The Moment” might provide a little bit of help for theaters, but it is looking like the box office will slide into another early-year slump that will last until Valentine’s Day weekend, when more prominent titles like Warner Bros.’ “Wuthering Heights” and Sony Animation’s “Goat” will arrive.
As for “Mercy,” a domestic run similar to the $29.7 million total for “Flight Risk” is the likely outcome. Critics largely rejected the film with a 21% Rotten Tomatoes score, while audiences gave it a B- on CinemaScore and an 81% audience RT score.
“Avatar: Fire and Ash” is in second with a sixth weekend total of $7 million. Internationally, the blockbuster has passed $1 billion in grosses, bringing its total to $1.37 billion.
Disney’s “Zootopia 2” takes third with $5.7 million in its ninth weekend, pushing its total past $400 million domestic and to $1.74 billion worldwide. Lionsgate’s “The Housemaid” is in fourth with $4.6 million in its sixth weekend, giving it a $115 million total. A24’s “Marty Supreme,” which earned nine Oscar nominations this past week, added $3.5 million for a domestic total of $86.3 million.
“Marty Supreme” is fighting for the last spot in the top 5 with “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” which Sony is projecting for a $3.6 million second weekend that is a steep 71% drop from its $12.5 million total. Despite rave reviews, the horror sequel is quickly being left behind by moviegoers with a 10-day total of $20.7 million that is below the $30 million opening of the first “28 Years Later.”
Finally, Cineverse’s “Return to Silent Hill” earned a $3.2 million opening weekend from 2,000 locations amidst poor reviews, while Focus Features’ “Hamnet” added $2 million from a nationwide expansion to just under 2,000 locations.
While the winter storm has kept many older moviegoers who might be interested in Chloe Zhao’s period drama at home, Focus is hoping that the film’s eight Oscar nominations will help the film leg out over the next several weeks among those looking for mature fare.
