‘Den of Thieves 2’ opens at No. 1 as ‘Better Man’ flops

NEW YORK (AP):

On a quiet weekend in movie theatres, while much of Hollywood’s attention was on the wildfires that continue to rage in Los Angeles, Lionsgate’s Den of Thieves 2: Pantera debuted atop the box office with $15.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Mid-January is often a slow movie-going period, and that was slightly exacerbated by the closures of about 10 theatres in Los Angeles, the country’s top box-office market.

A sequel to the Gerard Butler 2018 heist thriller, Den of Thieves performed similarly to the original. The first installment, released by STX, opened with $15.2 million seven years ago. O’Shea Jackson Jr. co-stars in the sequel, which debuted in 3,008 North American theatres.

Made for about $40 million, Den of Thieves 2 was a bit more costly to make. Audiences liked it well enough, giving it a “B+” CinemaScore. Reviews (58 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) weren’t particularly good, but it counted as Lionsgate’s first No.1 opening since The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in November 2023.

Also entering wide release over the weekend was the Robbie Williams movie Better Man, in which the British popstar is portrayed by a CGI chimpanzee. The Paramount Pictures release tanked with $1.1 million in ticket sales from 1,291 locations. Reviews, however, have been very good.

It was bested by The Last Showgirl, the Las Vegas drama starring Pamela Anderson. The Roadside Attractions release expanded to 870 theatres and collected $1.5 million.

Also outdoing Better Man was Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist. Coming off winning best drama at the Golden Globes, the A24 postwar epic grossed a hefty $1.4 million from just 68 locations. It expands wider in the coming weeks.

The weekend’s lion share of business went to holiday holdovers, including Mufasa: The Lion King, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Nosferatu and Moana 2.

In its fourth week of release, Mufasa earned $13.2 million to bring its total to $539.7 million worldwide. Also on its fourth weekend, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 padded its $384.8 million global total with $11 million. Nosferatu, the surprise hit of the Christmas period, collected $6.8 million in ticket sales, bringing the vampire tale to $81.1 million domestically.

Moana 2, in its seventh week of release, added $6.5 million to bring its global tally to $989.8 million. In the coming days, it will become the third Disney film released in 2024 to notch $1 billion, joining Inside Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine.