-I had a feeling that Tom and Jerry would overperform. With Croods and War with Grandpa combining for $70 million, it seems that family films are the success stories of this pandemic. And this one was no different. The Warner Bros. film earned $13.7 million in its' opening ($5,539 per-venue average), the second-biggest opening of the pandemic season behind only Wonder Woman 1984 ($16.7 million). This is even more impressive for two reasons. First, New York City (which reopens Friday at 25% capacity), Los Angeles, and Regal cinemas remain closed. And second, it's streaming simultaneously on HBOMax (it looks like Warner Bros.' once-controversial strategy is working). While Raya and the Last Dragon opens Friday, there is no additional competition the remainder of the Spring season.
-The Croods: A New Age did drop 30%, but even that's not bad in the face of intense competition. The animated sequel hit earned $1.2 million this weekend, for a $52.4 million gross in 14 weeks ($156 million worldwide). The budget here was just $65 million, so Universal and DreamWorks might be closer to profitability than we think. I think Raya might keep it from reaching TENET's $58 million final gross, but we'll see how it holds next weekend.
-With its HBOMax window ending Sunday, The Little Things took third place and was off 23% to $925,000. The detective noir drama has earned $12.9 million in one month of release and should get above $15 million stateside.
-Wonder Woman 1984 took fourth as Warner Bros. had three of the Top 5 movies (and four of the Top 10). The superhero sequel was off a light 12% in its 10th weekend to $710,000, for a $43.6 million pick-up in 70 days.
-The Marksman was off just 11% in its seventh weekend to $700,000, for a $12.3 million pick-up in 49 days. It remains just a step behind Honest Thief through the same point.
-Judas and the Black Messiah was down 45% in its third weekend to $500,000, for a somewhat disappointing $4.1 million pick-up in 17 days. A Golden Globe win for Daniel Kaluuya and New York City reopening could help it bounce back a bit next week.
Elsewhere in the Top 10:
-Ahead of its' VOD release, Monster Hunter was off just 12% to $460,000, for a $14 million pick-up in 11 weeks.
-Land was off 29% to $355,000, for a $2.1 million gross in 17 days.
-Nomadland's box office numbers continue to be hidden by distributor Searchlight. Box Office Mojo mentioned the two-time Golden Globe winner was up 5%, while others say it was down 33% to $330,000.
-News of the World was off 17% to $200,000, for a total just shy of $12 million in 10 weeks.
