Keke Palmer’s ‘One of Them Days,’ ‘Mufasa’ race for No. 1 

WASHINGTON — 

The Keke Palmer buddy drama “One of Them Days” opened successful archetypal spot connected the North American container bureau charts connected a peculiarly dilatory Martin Luther King Jr. vacation weekend.

The R-rated Sony merchandise earned $11.6 cardinal from 2,675 theaters, according to workplace estimates Sunday, beating Disney’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” by a hair. By the extremity of Monday's holiday, “Mufasa” volition person the edge, however.

“One of Them Days” outgo lone $14 cardinal to produce, which it is expected to gain by Monday. The precise well-reviewed buddy drama stars Palmer and SZA arsenic friends and roommates scrambling to get wealth for rent earlier their landlord evicts them. Notably it’s the archetypal Black female-led theatrical drama since “Girls Trip” came retired successful 2017 and it presently carries a stellar 96% standing connected Rotten Tomatoes.

But the marketplace was besides rather anemic overall. The full container bureau for Friday, Saturday and Sunday volition adhd up to little than $80 million, according to information from Comscore, making it 1 of the worst Martin Luther King Jr. vacation weekends since 1997.

“For an idiosyncratic movie similar ‘One of Them Days’ this was a large weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the elder media expert for Comscore. “You tin inactive find occurrence stories wrong what is wide a debased grossing play for movie theaters.”

The Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa” was adjacent by successful 2nd spot with $11.5 cardinal from the weekend, its 5th playing successful theaters. Globally, the Barry Jenkins-directed prequel has made $588 million. It adjacent bushed a brand-new offering, the Blumhouse fearfulness “Wolf Man,” which debuted successful 3rd spot with $10.6 cardinal from 3,354 North American theaters.

Writer-director Leigh Whannell’s monster communicative starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner did not participate theaters with large reviews. It presently carries a 53% connected Rotten Tomatoes. Reviews don’t mostly impact the occurrence of fearfulness movies successful their archetypal weekend, but audiences besides gave it a lackluster C- CinemaScore successful exit polls. The Blumhouse accumulation and Universal Pictures merchandise outgo a reported $25 cardinal to marque and is expected to scope $12 cardinal by the adjacent of Monday’s holiday.

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3" was successful 4th spot with $8.6 cardinal and “Den of Thieves 2” rounded retired the apical 5 with $6.6 million.

In specialty releases, Brady Corbert's 215-minute post-war epic “The Brutalist” expanded to 388 screens wherever it made astir $2 cardinal implicit the weekend. A24 reported that it sold retired assorted 70mm and IMAX showings. The workplace besides re-released its Colman Domingo play “Sing Sing” successful theaters and prisons, wherever implicit 1 cardinal incarcerated radical successful 46 states were capable to presumption the film.

The Martin Luther King Jr. vacation play has seen large successes successful the past. Dergarabedian noted “Bad Boys for Life,” which had a three-day opening of $62.5 cardinal successful 2020, and “American Sniper,” which earned $89.3 successful its archetypal play successful wide merchandise successful 2016.

“This is simply a twelvemonth that’s going to get a large boost starting with ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ and ‘Paddington successful Peru’ successful February,” Dergarabedian said.

Estimated summons income for Friday done Sunday astatine U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final home figures volition beryllium released Monday.

1. “One of Them Days,” $11.6 million.

2. “Mufasa: The Lion King,” $11.5 million.

3. “Wolf Man,” $10.6 million.

4. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” $8.6 million.

5. “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” $6.6 million.

6. “Moana 2,” $6.1 million.

7. “Nosferatu,” $4.3 million.

8. “A Complete Unknown,” $3.8 million.

9. “Wicked,” $3.6 million.

10. “Babygirl,” $2 million.