In a surprise win, Jason Statham’s action thriller “A Working Man” topped the box office with $15.2 million in its opening weekend. The film, from “Suicide Squad” director David Ayer and Amazon MGM, knocked down the previous champion, Disney’s “Snow White,” which plummeted by more than 66% in its second outing.
After a sleepy $45 million start, Disney’s live-action remake of the classic fairy tale has dropped to the No. 2 spot with $14.2 million from 4,200 theaters. “Snow White,” starring Rachel Zegler as the eponymous princess and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, has generated $66.8 million domestically and $143.1 million worldwide to date. The tentpole cost above $250 million before factoring in marketing expenses, so “Snow White” needs to show some endurance at the box office to justify its hefty price tag. It’ll face competition for family audiences as the Warner Bros. video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie” opens next weekend.
“A Working Man” earned mixed reviews and a “B” grade on CinemaScore exit polls. In the film, Statham plays a decorated military veteran who emerges from retirement after human traffickers kidnap his boss’s daughter. This start is slightly behind Ayer and Statham’s latest collaboration with Amazon MGM, 2024’s “The Beekeeper,” which launched with $16 million. That film ultimately powered its way to a decent $66 million domestically and a respectable $162 million globally.
Meanwhile, three other films — Universal and Blumhouse’s horror “The Woman in the Yard,” A24’s surrealist “Death of a Unicorn” and Fathom’s “The Chosen: Last Supper” — opened nationwide though none managed to significantly break out. As a result, overall box office revenues continue to lag with ticket sales currently 7% behind 2024 and 39% behind 2019, according to Comscore.
“The Chosen: Last Supper,” a faith-based TV series about Jesus and his disciples, debuted in third place with a better-than-expected $11.5 million from 2,235 cinemas over the weekend. Fathom Events is rolling out the show’s fifth season in cinemas with two-week runs of episodes.
At the No. 4 spot, “The Woman in the Yard” collected $9.4 million from 2,842 cinemas in its first weekend of release. Danielle Deadwyler stars in the film, about a family that sees a strange woman (in the yard, of course) who delivers an ominous message without explanation. Neither critics nor audiences seemed to like the movie, which was saddled with a “C-” grade on CinemaScore and 39% “rotten” average on Rotten Tomatoes. Fortunately, it only cost $12 million to produce.
Rounding out the top five is A24’s horror comedy “Death of a Unicorn” with $5.8 million from 3,050 theaters. Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega star as a father and daughter who face unexpected repercussions after they accidentally hit and kill a mythical creature. These ticket sales mark an improvement from A24’s prior wide release, the surrealist comedy “Opus,” which has grossed a paltry $1.8 million to date.
In limited release, Bleecker Street’s “The Friend,” a drama about a woman (Naomi Watts) who adopts her friend’s Great Dane after his suicide, debuted on two screens in New York earning $66,853 for a weekend per-screen average of $33,426. Sony Pictures Classics opted for a wider rollout for its Steve Coogan dramedy “The Penguin Lessons,” premiering it across 1,017 screens where it earned $1.2 million.
