‘Cocaine Bear’ hot on the trail of ‘Ant-Man’

The gonzo R-rated horror comedy “Cocaine Bear” sniffed up $23.1 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates, while Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” shrank unusually quickly in its second weekend.

“Quantumania” was still No. 1 with an estimated $32.2 million in ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian theaters. But the “Ant-Man” sequel, hit with some of the worst reviews and audience scores of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, dropped a steep 69.7 percent in its second weekend. That’s the worst decline for an MCU film, falling faster than “Black Widow” (67.8 percent), a pandemic release that debuted simultaneously in homes.

Instead, Universal Pictures’ “Cocaine Bear” rampaged through multiplexes, scoring notably above expectations. Made for about $35 million and directed by Elizabeth Banks, “Cocaine Bear” stirred up plenty of buzz just from its title and its viral trailer.

“Cocaine Bear,” scripted by Jimmy Warden and produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (“Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse,” “The Lego Movie”), managed to turn a bizarre somewhat-true-life tale into a tongue-in-cheek box office hit. It’s based on the real story of a 175-pound black bear that died in the Georgia mountains in 1985 after eating from a duffel bag of cocaine that had fallen from a smuggler’s plane.

“Cocaine Bear” managed to overperform despite mixed reviews from critics and a “B-” CinemaScore from audiences.

In just about the epitome of counterprogramming to “Cocaine Bear,” Lionsgate’s “Jesus Revolution” also debuted strongly. The film, likewise inspired by a true story, stars Kelsey Grammer as a California minister and Joel Courtney as youth minister, and dramatizes the movement of Christian hippies in the late 1960s and early ’70s. It launched with $15.5 million over the weekend and in advance screenings. Produced by the Kingdom Story Company, “Jesus Revolution” proved popular with Christian audiences, and surpassed expectations. It earned an A+ CinemaScore.