‘GOAT’ and ‘Wuthering Heights’ in Close Battle for No. 1
It’s was the weekend of the haves and the have-nots at the domestic box office.
In the “haves” column are holdovers GOAT, from Sony Pictures Animation, and Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi‘s Wuthering Heights, which began the frame in a close race for first place with $13 million to $15 million each.
But GOAT, thanks to pent-up demand among families, mowed down the competition to top the North American chart with $17 million, versus an estimated $14.2 million for Warner Bros.’ Wuthering Heights. But overseas, the latter won the weekend among Hollywood fare with $26.3 million for an impressive global haul of $156.2 million.
GOAT, playing in 3,842, is another win for Sony Animation, home of the hit Spider-Verse universe and KPop: Demon Hunters. (It is rolling out much more slowly overseas.)
Last weekend,Wuthering Heights prevailed in winning the long Valentine’s Day/President’s Day frame with a Friday-to-Saturday gross of $32.8 million and $37.5 million for the four days. Overseas, it also did better than expected, launching to $45.5 million from more than 75 markets for a global start of $83 million.
GOAT opened to $35 million domestically for the four days last weekend in North America and $26 million for the three days (it is rolling out much more slowly overseas).
Among newcomers, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s faith-based sequel I Can Only Imagine 2 easily managed a solid third-place finish with $8 million after earning a coveted A+ CinemaScore from audiences. While that’s a solid start, it’s roughly half as much as the original 2018 film opened to in the pre-pandemic era
Baz Luhrmann‘s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is off to a rousing start in its limited debut in 325 Imax screens after earning both glowing reviews and audience scores. From Neon, the concert doc earned an estimated $3.3 million this weekend before it expands later in the new week. Luhrmann — who also directed the acclaimed biopic Elvis — painstakingly restored 59 hours of unseen footage from the Warner Bros. archives, including discarded material from two ‘70s concert films.
Elvis Presley in Concert came in only a tad behind A24’s Glen Powell-starrer How to Make a Killing despite playing in far fewer cinemas.
Billed as a black comedy, How to Make a Killing debuted to an unimpressive $3.5 million from 1,625 locations after getting dinged by many critics. Margaret Qualley, Ed Harris and Topher Grace also star in John Patton Ford’s reimagining of the classic British film Kings and Coronets.
And New Regency’s long-gestating Psycho Killer is DOA with estimated $1.6 million start from 1,100 theaters. The slasher pic, which is helmed by veteran producer Gavin Polone in his feature directorial debut, won’t crack the top 10 unless it can edge out Avatar: Fire and Ash. Psycho Killer‘s current critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is zero from 21 reviews, including this review from The Hollywood Reporter. The audience score isn’t much better (33 percent). Disney is distributing the film via 20th’s long-standing relationship with New Regency.
Back in the top 10, Amazon MGM Studios’ Crime 101 came in fourth in its sophomore outing, followed in fifth place by 20th Century’s Send Help, which continues to display strong staying power in its fourth weekend. And Disney is celebrating Zootopia 2 becoming the No. 2 release of 2025 in North America as its global war chest rises to $1.85 billion. Like fellow 20th/Disney title Avatar: Fire and Ash, Zootopia 2 opened over the year-end holidays on its way to becoming the year’s top Hollywood release worldwide, as well as the top-grossing animated film of all time.
More to come.
Feb. 22, 8 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was oriignally published February 21 at 9:54 a.m.
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