John Lee Hancock’s thriller The Little Things scared up enough money to land atop the box office this weekend. All told, the Denzel Washington pic collected $4.8M from 2,171 theaters, which is, according to Deadline, “the best for an R-rated movie and older guy fare during the pandemic.” So, there’s that. Worldwide, the film, which also stars Rami Malek and Jared Leto, served up $7.6M from 20 markets. Keep in mind, The Little Things also released on HBO Max where it debuted at No. 1.
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“We are absolutely thrilled by how Warner Bros.’ The Little Things is performing on HBO Max — it immediately shot up to number one, where it currently remains,” said Andy Forssell, EVP and General Manager of HBO Max.“Following the breakthrough success of Wonder Woman 1984, The Little Things shows the insatiable appetite our audience has for high quality, feature films.”
We’ll have to take him at his word, though it is notable that Wonder Woman 1984, which has only grossed $152M worldwide, helped HBO Max double its subscribers to 17.4M and recorded 2.25 billion minutes of streaming, or roughly 35% ahead of Disney+’s Soul. This doesn’t necessarily translate into money, and Deadline is quick to point out that the move by WarnerMedia to release its upcoming film slate online continues to be questionable at best; and perhaps little more than a short-term marketing bump for its streaming service.
Anyways, Croods: A New Age held fast at No. 2 after collecting $1.84M, bringing its domestic total to an impressive $43.9M, while The Marksman dropped to No. 4 with $1.25M and $7.8M total.
INTERNATIONAL
Internationally, Disney/Pixar’s Soul continued to shine with a $9.3M take and an $85.2M running total, while Croods officially crossed the $100M mark overseas to raises its worldwide total to $144.4M.
IMAX
Alibaba’s Shockwave 2 reached $22M at the Imax box office after adding $770K. The Andy Lau-starring box office sensation will play for another week on the Imax China network in the lead up to Chinese New Year. Toho/Aniplex’s Demon Slayer: The Movie nears $25m after raking another $175K from the large screen format this weekend. Demon Slayer opens on 18 Imax Korea screens next weekend.
Finally, of note, starting next weekend, Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring opens on the Imax, followed on Feb. 12 by The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
