Melania Plummets While ‘Send Help’ Tops Weekend Box Office

Super Bowl weekend is usually a slow one for movie theaters, and this year was no exception. With the big game dominating screens, box office numbers were minimal. The survival thriller “Send Help” managed to hold onto the top spot for the second week in a row while the Melania Trump documentary, “Melania,” took a nosedive in its second weekend.

Hollywood studios saved their big movie trailers for the massive TV audience watching the football game. Clips from movies like Disney’s “Mandalorian and Grogu,” Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael,” and Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” were expected to make a splash.

Despite the slow weekend, “Send Help,” directed by Sam Raimi, still managed to earn $10 million domestically in its second weekend. The film has brought in $53.7 million globally, marking it as a successful mid-budget venture. Disney also celebrated the continued success of “Zootopia 2,” which reached an impressive $1.8 billion worldwide after eleven weeks in theaters.

On the other hand, “Melania” saw a significant drop in ticket sales, plummeting 67% from its opening weekend. Despite adding 300 more theaters, the documentary only brought in $2.4 million, ringing alarm bells for the studio. Amazon MGM paid a hefty sum for the film rights and marketing, and with a North American total of $13.4 million, it’s unclear if the movie will be able to recover from its poor showing.

Kevin Wilson, the head of domestic distribution for Amazon MGM, remained optimistic, calling the movie’s performance a crucial step in their distribution strategy. While the film’s sales were a hot topic during the week, it faced criticism from late-night hosts like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel went so far as to call the outcome of the movie’s sales rigged.

In other movie news, the romantic comedy “Solo Mio” featuring Kevin James opened with a strong $7.2 million, a major win for Angel Studios, a production company known for its faith-based films. Additionally, the K-pop concert film “Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience,” brought in $5.6 million in its debut weekend.