Retiring Guy's Digest: USA movie box office: Third weekend of February (2017-2023)

The USA box office on the 3rd weekend of February 2023 is up 51% compared to last year when "Uncharted" was the top-grossing movie.

And it's down 50% compared to the 2018 peak when "Black Panther" was the top-grossing movie.

Box Office Mojo

Variety, 2/19/2023

Though the threequel landed the worst reviews of the series (and some of the harshest in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe), “Quantumania” got a huge jump on its predecessors, surging past the openings of 2015’s “Ant-Man” ($57 million) and 2018’s sequel “Ant-Man and the Wasp” ($76 million). Critical sentiment rarely matters for opening weekends of Marvel movies, but word-of-mouth could have an impact on ticket sales in the coming weeks. In addition to its bleak 49% average on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences saddled the film with a “B” CinemaScore.

“‘Ant-Man’ isn’t among the top Marvel series, and reviews and audience scores are uncharacteristically soft, but this is excellent business and a big step up for the title,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.

2/19/2023 update starts here

The USA box office on the 2nd weekend of February 2023 is up 34% compared to last year when "Uncharted" was the top-grossing movie.

And it's down 50% compared to the 2018 peak when "Black Panther" was the top-grossing movie.

Box Office Mojo

Variety, 2/19/2023

Quick, what do the following movies have in common? The cheesy middle-aged rom-com “Ticket to Paradise,” the curmudgeon-finds-his-heart-of-gold drama “A Man Called Otto,” and “80 for Brady,” a road comedy about four octogenarians girl-tripping their way to the 2017 Super Bowl. All three are built around those once larger-than-life entities known as movie stars (Julia Roberts and George Clooney in “Paradise”; Tom Hanks in “Otto”; Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin and Rita Moreno in “Brady”). All three are solid mid-level hits at the domestic box office (“Ticket to Paradise” made $68 million, “A Man Called Otto” has grossed $60 million and “80 for Brady” is chugging its way to the $50 million yard line). That’s a fact that many have taken note of at a time when the most savory offerings of the awards season (“Tár,” “The Fabelmans,” “The Banshees of Inisherin”) starkly underperformed at the box office.

Original 2/18/2023 post starts here

The USA box office on the 2nd weekend of February 2023 is up 89% compared to last year when "Uncharted" was the top-grossing movie.

And it's down 42% compared to the 2018 peak when "Black Panther" was the top-grossing movie.

Box Office Mojo

Variety, 2/18/2023

Marvel Studios has kicked the box office into high gear again. “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” landed the largest opening day of 2023 so far with a $46 million gross from 4,345 locations, a figure that includes $17.5 million from Thursday preview screenings.
That marks the third-highest February opening day in history, standing behind two other superhero adventures, “Black Panther” ($75.9 million) and “Deadpool” ($47.3 million). “Quantumania” also landed the highest such figure for the “Ant-Man” series, beating out the 2015 original ($22.6 million) and its 2018 sequel ($33 million).

Related posts:

2023

Second weekend of February. (2/13)

First weekend of February. (2/6)

Fourth weekend of January. (1/30)

Third weekend of January. (1/26)

Second weekend of January. (1/16)

First weekend of January. (1/9)

Final weekend of the year. (1/2)

2022

Fourth weekend in December. (12/26)

Third weekend in December. (12/19)