IN THE SPOTLIGHT
who bonks her head and wakes up in a rom-com. It debuted to $14.2 million and has earned $20.5 million since its opening earlier in the week.
The other romantic comedy offering in theaters, “What Men Want,” with Taraji P. Henson, landed in fourth place in its second weekend with $10.9 million. And “Happy Death Day 2 U,” the horror sequel from Blumhouse and Universal, rounded out the top five with $9.8 million. The first film opened over twice as high, with over $26 million, but with a production budget under $10 million, it’s still bound for success.
The Dwayne Johnson wrestling film “Fighting With My Family” also opened in four theaters on Wednesday, earning $131,625 over the weekend.
Seven weeks into the new year and the box office is still struggling, down nearly 20 percent from where industry totals were last year.
“We’ve been down every week this year,” said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “This weekend is emblematic of what is going on at the box office.”
Dergarabedian said that slow weekends beget more slow weekends — with less foot traffic at the theaters, fewer people are seeing previews for what’s to come and the cycle just continues. But “Captain Marvel” may be coming to save the day