1. Wuthering Heights (review)- $34.8M
Emerald Fennell’s radical adaptation of Wuthering Heights led a busy week of vastly different new releases, coming away with a $34.8M domestic debut and an estimated $40M through the holiday. Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi lead the starry cast, which was undoubtedly a big part of the film’s success. For Robbie, it’s a nice bounce back from last year’s A Big Bold Beautiful Journey flop, and a reminder that she’s still a top flight draw. For Elordi, he’s coming off accolades for his performance in Frankenstein and seems to be coming into his own as a star. Overseas, the film added another $42M for an $82M global haul. Reviews were mixed at just 61% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and 80% on the Popcornmeter.
2. Goat (review)- $26M
Sony Animation’s family basketball film Goat, about a goat who aspires to play in the big leagues with elephants, rhinos, gorillas, and other giant animals, opened with a strong $26M weekend, with an estimated $32M through the holidays. The film is based on the NBA journey of producer Stephen Curry, who also voices a role. Animation was from the same group that gave us Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and Kpop Demon Hunters, and Sony was wise to namecheck both films during the hype phase. Critics dug the film with 80% on RT, but audiences were into it even more at 93%.
3. Crime 101 (refrancview)- $15.1M
The star-studded, much-hyped crime flick Crime 101 opened to $15.1M, with a four-day projected at $17M. It’s a solid start for the Chris Hemsworth-led adult-skewing film that also features three other Marvel alums in Mark Ruffalo, Barry Keoghan, and Halle Berry. Critical and popcornmeter scores were practically equal on RT, hovering around 85%.
4. Send Help– $8.9M/$47.8M
5. Solo Mio– $6.8M/$17.3M
6. Zootopia 2– $3.7M/$419.3M
7. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (review)- $3.6M
After nine years away, director Gore Verbinski returned with sci-fi advenure comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die starring Sam Rockwell, Juno Temple, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Pena, and Zazie Beetz. Verbinski, whose biggest career hits were in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, only scored a $3.6M debut this time. This is obviously a much smaller project, and yet it’s one of the biggest debuts ever for indie distributor Briarcliff Entertainment. I quite enjoyed this one, and think it’ll become a cult favorite. Check it out if you can.
8. Avatar: Fire and Ash– $3.32M/$396M
9. Iron Lung– $3.3M/$34.1M
10. Dracula– $3M/$9M
