Weekend Box Office Report: January 29-31, 2021

--Opening in a little over 2,000 theaters, Warner Bros.' The Little Things earned a fairly encouraging $4.8 million, averaging $2,211 per theater. That's ahead of the $1-3 million expected by some analysts. However, overall projections have been volatile in recent times as WB continues to experiment releasing their film slate day-and-date on HBOMax at the same time as theaters, and the COVID-19 pandemic continues to keep at least half of American cinemas closed. Reviews from critics and audiences were mixed, but there's little to no product coming over the next month so we will see how it plays. Little Things outpaced recent adult dramas Freaky, Unhinged as well as Liam Neeson's previous two films The Marksman and Honest Thief as far as pandemic opening weekends go.

--The Croods: A New Age took second, and actually increased 2% to $1.84 million. The animated sequel has earned $43.9 million since its opening 10 weekends ago, and $145 million worldwide. Of course, the first Croods earned $43 million in its opening weekend back in 2013, but that was in a COVID-free world. The fact that Croods 2 stands a chance at earning over $50 million in a pandemic (especially since its been available to purchase through video on demand since right before Christmas**) has to count as some kind of miracle. This is also good news for family films in general, and probably explains why WB and Disney have stuck to their dates for Tom and Jerry (February 26) and Raya and the Last Dragon (March 5).

**Universal currently has a deal with some theater chains to have a movie in theaters for 17 days before releasing it to PVOD platforms**.

--Wonder Woman 1984 took third, and was down 19% to $1.3 million in its sixth weekend. This was its' first weekend without HBOMax (WB's deal has it on streaming and theaters for 31 days, before giving it to theaters exclusively for the next month), so a light drop might have been to be expected. Its' at $39.2 million stateside so far, and $152 million worldwide. While the superhero film started off strong, it will finish way behind TENET's $58 million stateside finish from when theaters first reopened last August. WB will likely take a financial hit, as the film cost nearly $200 million to make.

--The Marksman was off 38% to $1.25 million in its third frame, for a $7.8 million pick-up in 17 days. Liam Neeson's latest is pacing behind Honest Thief through its' third week, which went on to earn $15 million stateside.

--Monster Hunter continues to find a lot of late-in-the-game stability, off just 10% to $740,000. Sony's video game adaptation is at $11.1 million in one month of release, and should get to $15 million. It's at $23 million worldwide against a $60 million budget.

Elsewhere in the Top 10:

-News of the World (off 31% to $540,000, $10.4 million in six weeks)

-Promising Young Woman (off 34% to $260,000, $4.4 million in six weeks)

-Fatale (off 45% to $220,000, $5.6 million in seven weeks)

-The War with Grandpa (off just 8% to $147,000, $19.6 million and has been in the Top 10 for 17 weeks!! Wow...)

-Our Friend (off 46% to $135,000, $446,000 gross in 10 days)