"Death on the Nile" Debuts at #1 Spot w/ $12.8M Opening

[JamesG]

Death on the Nile Sails to Top Spot with $12.8M Debut, J Lo's Marry Me Gets No Love, and Liam Neeson's Latest is D.O.A.
by Chris Nashawaty - Box Office News
Feb. 13, 2022


Super Bowl weekend tends to be a pretty pokey period at the multiplex each year as folks are too busy stocking up on chips and dips. But this year, things looked like they might be different.

After all, three big, star-driven debuts were set to arrive in theaters on the eve of the Big Game. Sadly, for two of them, the box-office roll of the dice didn’t pay off, with only 20th Century Studios’ Agatha Christie murder-mystery Death on the Nile claiming anything like success as it wrested the top spot from Jackass Forever with $12.8 million in its freshman frame.

Meanwhile, despite its Valentine’s Day timing, the Jennifer Lopez rom-com Marry Me bowed in third to a lukewarm $8 million and the latest Liam Neeson action-thriller, Blacklight, opened in fifth to a soft $3.6 million.







A sequel of sorts to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile again stars Kenneth Branagh as Christie’s mustachioed Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot, solving dastardly deeds in an exotic locale.

The PG-13-rated whodunit, which had been delayed multiple times due to COVID, failed to rake in even half of Orient Express’ $28.7 million pre-pandemic opening weekend, but it still fared well enough to debut in the top spot.




With a 66% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a ‘B’ CinemaScore grade from audiences, Death on the Nile earned a $3,902 per-screen average at 3,280 locations.

The film, which Branagh also directed, added $20.7 million from overseas, putting its first-week cumulative worldwide gross at $33.5 million. With a $90 million production budget, the movie will need a miracle to get within reach of Orient Express’ $353 million global total.







Last week’s champ, Paramount’s Jackass Forever, was bumped down a notch to second place, pulling in a little under $8.1 million in its second session.

The latest R-rated, feature-length collection of pranks, humiliations, and male camaraderie starring Johnny Knoxville and his band of merry masochists slipped -65.2% from the previous weekend, scoring a $2,203 per-screen average in 3,653 theaters.

The film, which cost a bargain-basement $10 million, has currently taken in $37.4 million domestically and another $10 million from overseas, putting its current worldwide haul at $47.4 million.







In third place was the latest Jennifer Lopez rom-com Marry Me, costarring Owen Wilson as a regular guy whom Lopez’s pop star picks from the audience at one of her concerts to walk down the aisle with.

Universal’s PG-13-rated throwback to J. Lo’s earlier, far-fetched romances such as Maid in Manhattan bowed to an un-swoonworthy $8 million despite its proximity to Valentine’s Day.




Although the film carried a modest $23 million pricetag, the debut was still a bit of a disappointment. However, it’s likely more people saw it than turned out in theaters since the film also bowed on the Peacock streaming service simultaneous to its theatrical opening.

Earning a 59% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a ‘B+’ CinemaScore grade, Marry Me grabbed a $2,196 per-screen average at 3,642 locations. The film fared slightly better internationally, where it pulled in $8.5 million, bringing its worldwide tally to $16.5 million.

Still, J. Lo’s latest is a turn in the wrong direction since her previous film, Hustlers, was the best opening of her career with $33.2 million.







Landing in fourth place was Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home with just under $7.2 million in its ninth week in theaters.

The PG-13-rated blockbuster dropped -24.8% from the prior weekend. Spidey and company lassoed a $2,166 per-screen average in 3,300 theaters. Its new domestic box-office total of $759 million now puts it just $1 million shy of passing 2009’s Avatar as the third-highest grossing film of all time at the domestic box office.

Internationally, the Tom Holland-led tentpole has piled up a hair less than $1.05 billion to date, putting its worldwide cumulative haul at $1.8 billion.







Rounding out the top five was Briarcliff Entertainment and Open Road’s latest Liam Neeson dadsploitation thriller Blacklight.

The PG-13-rated rookie about a freelance government fixer who sniffs out some underhanded shenanigans bowed to $3.6 million, which is on par with Neeson’s other COVID-era genre entries such as Honest Thief and The Marksman.




The movie, which earned a $1,298 per-screen average in 2,772 theaters, arrived in theaters with lowest Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score of the actor’s career — a grim 6% green splat.

Blacklight has not yet opened internationally, however its poor performance at home raises the question: Are audiences finally tired of Neeson’s aging black-and-blue phase?

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February 11-13, 2022: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Death on the Nile $12,891,123
2. Jackass Forever $8,081,889 / $37,451,591
3. Marry Me $7,949,980
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home $7,521,730 / $759,372,547
5. Blacklight $3,502,475
6. Sing 2 $3,070,985 / $143,509,540
7. Scream $2,957,041 / $73,298,673
8. Moonfall $2,948,072 / $15,251,621
9. Licorice Pizza $959,788 / $14,028,598
10. The Beatles: Get Back - The Rooftop Concert $488,549 / $930,269