Like any long holiday weekend, MLK Weekend is when people go to the movies. January is not usually a month filled with blockbuster hits, but the box office results are usually strong. In many parts of the country, temperatures force people inside, making a movie a perfect outing. This year, there were plenty of choices, both old and new, for moviegoers to choose from. However, the results were disappointing as the industry posted its second-worst MLK Weekend in a decade.
MLK Weekend Box Office Results
Overall, the industry is slated to make around $96 million over the four-day holiday weekend. This would be an 18% drop from last year. Disney’s Mufasa is leading the way, which nabbed the top spot again. However, the numbers were hardly impressive. The prequel movie earned $15.5 million dollars over the course of MLK weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, this would be the lowest number-one movie made this weekend since 1995, when Legends of the Fall made $14 million.
Disney isn’t worried about that and has to be happy with earning another $15 million on the film. To date, the movie has made $200 million domestically, with a global total of $580 million. For a movie that came out around the holiday season, it is showing impressive legs. 2024 showed some promise at the box office, but this poor showing over a holiday weekend shows there is still some work to be done. Even without many blockbuster releases, there was still plenty of variety for people to go see.
Surprises & Flops
There were some pleasant surprises topping the results over the weekend. Sony’s comedy One Of Those Days, starring Keke Palmer and SZA, took the second spot with $14 million over the four-day period. This was a low-budget film that is getting great reviews from fans and critics alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a critics score of 97% and an audience score of 92%. It remains to be seen whether the unexpected buzz surrounding the movie will drive people to go see it in the coming weeks, but Sony will take a sleeper hit during a period when hits are hard to come by.
The biggest disappointment of the weekend was Universal/Blumhouse’s Wolf Man. This movie is based on the 1941 version and features one of Universal’s classic monsters. Many analysts predicted the movie would bring in around $20 million over MLK weekend, but it came in third, making only $12 million. The horror genre is often able to capture the January crowd. Blumhouse has had success releasing low-budget films during this time period with success. While the movie wasn’t panned, it didn’t receive strong reviews by any means. The studio hopes it can gain more traction in the coming weeks before Captain America: Brave New World takes over the theaters in mid-February.
Final Thoughts
Rounding out the MLK weekend box office was Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ($11 million) and last week’s number one movie Den of Thieves 2: Pantera ($7.7 million). It is worth noting that Moana 2 officially crossed the $1 billion mark, making it the studio’s third 2024 release to cross that threshold. The industry still has some work to do. While there are signs of movie theaters getting the traffic they used to, weekends like this show we still have a long way to go. How will the results look in the coming weeks? Studios hope they can garner the interest of moviegoers until the blockbusters start releasing.
