411 Box Office Report: Send Help Beats Out Iron Lung To Top Weekend

It was a battle of new horror atop the box office as Sam Raimi’s Send Help beat Markiplier’s Iron Lung for the top spot. Send Help took the #1 ranking for the weekend with $20 million. That’s a bit better than the $15 million to $17 million that most were expecting it to do going into the frame. Its’s a great start for the dark comedy/survival horror mashup, marking the best opening for a Rachel McAdams-led film since she co-starred in Doctor Strange back in 2016. It also marks Raimi’s best start for a horror film (we’re not counting Multiverse of Madness as horror for these purposes), beating Drag Me to Hell’s $15.8 million opening in 2009.

Send Help was sold largely on Raimi and the premise, which sees a woman (McAdams) and her infuriating boss (Dylan O’Brien) get stranded on a remote island. The film added a needed jolt to the box office, with January having relied hard on holdovers after a strong December. The buzz certainly didn’t hurt; critics loved the film in general with a 93% aggregated score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences love it too, with an 88% RT audience rating and a B+ CinemaScore.

All that led to the film performing better than hoped throughout the weekend. The $20 million start was supplemented by $8.1 million overseas for a $28.1 million opening worldwide. That puts it on a good path to profit even given the $40 million production budget. If it holds on well, it could get to $65 million or so domestically and the worldwide numbers will push the 20th Century Studios production into profit.

Coming in close behind was Iron Lung, with the Markiplier taking in an impressive $18 million. The sci-fi horror film was written, directed, produced, and stars Markiplier, aka Mark Fischbach. Fischbach was able to leverage his audience as a content creator into a very strong audience for the film, which he released independently.

It should be noted that Iron Lung will fall farther and quicker than Send Help. For one, it is built off Fischbach’s YouTube audience, and that kind of targeted audience tends to be frontloaded. And outside of his fans, the film is receiving a so-so response. Critics are mild on it with a 50% RT average, though people who saw it this weekend enjoyed it with an 89% RT audience score. The movie added $3.9 million overseas for $21.9 million – impressively, against a budget of just $3 million. The film is going to be very profitable and will likely hit $50 million in the US.

The weekend box office’s elephant in the room was Amazon MGM’s documentary Melania which admittedly did better than expected (with caveats). The documentary about First Lady Melania Trump finished #3 with $7 million. That’s above the $3 million to $5 million that was generally expected going into the frame and marks the best start for a doc since Disney’s Chimpanzee launched to $10.7 million in 2012.

Credit to Amazon MGM here; they knew who they were marketing to, and the marketing campaign brought people out to see it. While Melania was being mocked for perceived empty theaters, it did fine – at least, out of context. In context, this is a $40 million movie that Amazon spent $35 million marketing, so profit is still a long, long way off.

It must also be noted that it is not currently clear how good of legs the film will have. The high turnout came from Trump faithful for the most part and isn’t likely to spread beyond that. Critic reception is just 10%, but audience response is a 99% on RT and an A CinemaScore. Films targeted this specifically will often perform very well with audiences without many legs – case in point, anime films and most faith-based productions. And it’s not likely to do much overseas, if anything. But then, Amazon made this for Prime Video more than anything, so theatrical profit isn’t their biggest concern. It’s not yet clear how long the film will play in theaters, but more than $20 million seems questionable on the “Likely” front.

The first holdover came in at #4 as Zootopia 2 actually rose 9% to $5.8 million in its 10th weekend. The Disney Animation sequel is now up to $409 million domestically and $1.777 billion worldwide, easily one of the top hits of 2025. It is ridiculously profitable against a $150 million production budget. At this point, it’s not impossible that it could top Lilo & Stitch ($423.8 million) and A Minecraft Movie ($424.1 million) to become 2025’s biggest domestic grosser.

One more new entry came in low this week in Jason Statham’s Shelter. The action thriller opened to $5.5 million. That’s the lowest start for a Statham solo project since In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale from Uwe Boll opened to just $3 million in 2008.

Shelter had a very simple problem: most people didn’t know it existed. This is only the second US distribution from Black Bear Pictures; their first was last year’s Christy starring Sydney Sweeney, and the studio did not do a ton to market either film. Shelter only had about $15 million spent on US marketing for a $50 million production budget, though foreign distribution rights sales have already paid for the production cost.

Those who saw Shelter like it well enough; it has a 68% RT critic score, an 88% RT audience score, and a B+ CinemaScore. Still, this is very much the kind of film that, should be profitable for Black Bear, will hit that point on digital viewing. It should close out domestically with maybe $12 million.

Avatar: Fire & Ash was down just 14% from last weekend to finish at $5.5 million in its seventh frame. As usual, this franchise is all about the legs and while it’s not on par with the first or second film, it’s doing fine. Fire & Ash now stands at $386.1 million domestically and $1.414 billion worldwide against a $400 million production budget. It is looking like it will finish out close to $400 million.

Mercy fell from the top spot all the way down to #7 in its second weekend. The sci-fi crime thriller dropped an expected 56% to $4.7 million. That’s not good news for a $60 million movie. While it’s doing better overseas with $19.4 million domestically and $41 million worldwide, it’s a money loser at the end with probably around $28 million to $30 million stateside.

The Housemaid eased down just 11% in its seventh weekend to $3.5 million. The Sydney Sweeney & Amanda Seyfried thriller is the sleeper hit of 2025 with $120.7 million stateside and $309.8 million worldwide against a budget of just $35 million. The final domestic gross is still aiming for around $125 million.

Marty Supreme is riding its awards moment, down a mere 18% in its seventh weekend to bring in $2.9 million. The Timothee Chalamet awards contender has now raked in $90.9 million stateside, with $119 million worldwide. It will ultimately be profitable against its $65 million budget and will finish out in the states between $95 million and $100 million.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple closed out the top 10 in its third week as it slipped 53% to $1.6 million. The horror sequel has grossed $23.7 million in the US and $53.7 million worldwide, not the best considering the $63 million budget. It should close out at around $30 million domestically and lose money, at least in its theatrical run.

Next weekend could see Send Help stay on top, as we have weak contenders for Super Bowl weekend as per the norm. Lionsgate is closing out their Strangers reboot trilogy with The Strangers: Chapter 3, aiming at around $5 million to $8 million. And Angel Studios’ Kevin James-led romcom Solo Mio is in the $5 million to $10 million range.

Box Office Top Ten (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)

1. Send Help – $20 million ($20 million total, $28.1 million WW)
2. Iron Lung – $18 million ($18 million total, $21.9 million WW)
3. Melania – $7 million ($7 million total, $7 million WW)
4. Zootopia 2 – $5.8 million ($409 million total, $1.777 billion WW)
5. Shelter – $5.5 million ($5.5 million total, $13 million WW)
6. Avatar: Fire & Ash – $5.5 million ($386.1 million total, $1.414 billion WW)
7. Mercy – $4.7 million ($19.4 million total, $41 million WW)
8. The Housemaid – $3.5 million ($120.7 million total, $309.8 million WW)
9. Marty Supreme – $2.9 million ($90.9 million total, $117.4 million WW)
10. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – $1.6 million ($23.7 million total, $53.7 million WW)