Box Office Overview: 2024-03-17

A brief recap of the box office for March 17, 2024.

Kung Fu Panda 4 is in its second week of release and up to $100 million. That’s expected for a gigantic kids franchise starring Jack Black, who’s been heavily promoting it with a Tenacious D cover of  Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” heavy in rotation.

Dune Part 2 has hit the $500 million mark worldwide, $200 million domestically and has surpassed the lifetime take of the first instalment. Needless to say it’s a huge success and we’ll probably see Dune: Messiah sooner than later.

Lionsgate released a Mark Wahlberg dog movie called Arthur, as Channing Tatum had a big success in 2022 with “Dog”. So a buff dude with a dog seems to be the new winning formula for smaller studios. Arthur opened with $8 million and is expected to do quite well.

Love Lies Bleeding and the The American Society of Magical Negroes, rounded out the bottom of the top ten opening on just over 1000 screens each. They did not do well, which could be a sign of the times where larger market audiences no longer feel obligated to view smaller niche movies, and will fare better on streaming.

The winner of all though, is Blumhouse/Lionsgate with Imaginary. The winning formula of having a high concept with a lower budget is a sure bet to have a higher turnaround for profits when you keep things simpler The budget is a measly $10 million, but is expected to gross $20 million domestically. Sure there’s additional marketing costs, but when you factor in the global take it’s considered a profitable success.

There you have it. Keep it simple, and if you’re a niche focused story don’t aim so high. Keep it Blumhouse.