NEW YORK (AP) – On a quiet winter weekend at the box office, DreamWorks Animation’s Dog Man chased its own tail, repeating as the top movie in theatres.
The animated Universal Pictures release, adapted from Dav Pilkey’s popular graphic novel series, collected USD13.7 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday.
Both new releases – the Ke Huy Quan action movie Love Hurts and Heart Eyes – were left nipping at the heels of Dog Man. Hollywood often largely punts Super Bowl weekend to the small screen. Last year, Apple’s much-derided Argylle debuted on the same weekend.
Instead, the movie industry spends more energy pitching its blockbusters in trailers for the huge football audience on TV. It wasn’t a banner weekend for Dog Man. It fell steeply, dropping 62 per cent in its second weekend. But with a production budget of USD40 million, Dog Man has already tallied USD54.1 million domestically in two weeks.
Coming in second was Spyglass Media Group’s Heart Eyes, released by Sony. The horror-rom-com mashup earned USD8.5 million from 3,102 locations.
Reviews have been good for the film, directed by Josh Ruben and starring Oliva Holt and Mason Gooding, though audiences were less impressed. Moviegoers gave it a “B-” CinemaScore. Spyglass made Heart Eyes for USD18 million.
Love Hurts, the action comedy from 87North Productions (John Wick, The Fall Guy), debuted with a paltry USD5.8 million in 3,055 theatres.
In his first big movie role since his Oscar-winning comeback in Everything All at Once Ke Huy Quan stars as a mild-mannered realtor with a hitman past.
Ariana DeBose co-stars. It, too, was modestly budgeted at USD18 million. Audiences, however, mostly rejected the movie, giving Love Hurts a “C+” CinemaScore. – Jake Coyle
