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. In China, the film has now passed “Avengers: Endgame” before inflation adjustment to become the highest grossing Hollywood film ever in the country with $624 million.
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.”
More to come…