'Death on the Nile' draws filmgoers on football's weekend
Death on the Nile
(NYSE:DIS), Kenneth Branagh's latest spin at an Agatha Christie classic mystery, took over the top spot at the U.S. box office on a usually slow Super Bowl weekend.
The film opened to $12.8 million, roughly as expected. It follows up Branagh's 2017 stab at the genre, Murder on the Orient Express, which opened at $28.7 million back then - but that was the before-times, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. It went on to gross a total of $250 million domestically.
Death on the Nile bested Jackass Forever (VIAC, VIACA), which fell to the No. 2 spot with $8.1 million, about a 65% drop from its debut weekend.
The other high-profile openers didn't fare as well as Death on the Nile. Romance-genre entry Marry Me
(NASDAQ:CMCSA) is hoping for a good Valentine's Day night Monday, as it was third-best with just $8 million, only slightly better than the ninth week of record-setter Spider-Man: No Way Home
(NYSE:SONY), with $7.15 million. And latest Liam Neeson action flick Blacklight (Briarcliff/Open Road), roughed up by critics, settled for $3.6 million despite arriving in more than 2,700 theaters.
Marry Me may have been hurt slightly in theaters with its simultaneous release on Peacock.
As for Spider-Man's historic run, it likely needs just a few more nights to pass Avatar for the No. 3 spot on the all-time domestic grosses list: It has $759 million on that count, while Avatar logged $760.5 million on its run.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWF); Cinemark (NYSE:CNK); (NYSE:IMAX); Marcus (NYSE:MCS); Reading International (NASDAQ:RDI); Cineplex (OTCPK:CPXGF); National CineMedia (NASDAQ:NCMI).