411 Box Office Report: Send Help Leads Quiet Super Bowl Weekend, The Strangers: Chapter 3 Falls Short

Despite a number of new releases, Send Help reigned for a second weekend at the box office while The Strangers: Chapter 3 came up short. Saim Raimi’s survival dark comedy took the top spot for a second weekend in a row, bringing in $10 million. That’s a very solid hold for a horror-esque film, down just 48% from last weekend’s numbers.

The Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien starrer is benefitting from the positive buzz and good audience word of mouth, bringing its totals to $35.8 million domestically and $53.7 million worldwide. It still has a ways to go in order to make profit against its $40 million production budget but it is in good shape, especially with a few markets left to open overseas. Domestically it should still be on par for around $60 million or so, which would be good enough for 20th Century Studios.

With major studios sitting the Super Browl weekend out, a number of independent studios took the opportunity to try and make their mark. The most successful was Angel Studios, who opened the Kevin James romcom Solo Mio to the tune of $7.2 million. That’s in the middle range of what most expected it to do going into the frame. The film has the lowest wide release opening for a James-starring film to date, but that was always expected as this doesn’t have the high profile or big studio backing of his past efforts. (The previous low was 2012’s Here Comes The Boom with $11.8 million).

Angel Studios is largely known for its faith-based output like The Sound of Freedom and last year’s animated Biblical tale David. Solo Mio reps an attempt to appeal to a more widespread audience. It’s a good start, as critics generally like the movie with a 78% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes and an A- CinemaScore.

While the opening is somewhat softer than you might think from someone of James’ profile, the film is already on its way to profit as it cost just $4 million to produce. Solo Mio should end up landing around $25 million domestically which will be a good profit for the studio.

Markiplier’s Iron Lung took an expected hit in its second weekend, dropping 67% to $6 million. The sci-fi horror film was always known to be frontloaded due to its niche targeting toward the YouTube creator’s online fanbase. But Markiplier, who released the film independently through his Markiplier Studios label, isn’t stressing it. As of now, Iron Lung has $30.8 million stateside and $34.5 million worldwide, big money against a budget of just $3 million. It’s looking like it will probably close out at around $42 million to $45 million, making it a hit.

Bleecker Street Media released Stray Kids: The DominATE experience in 1,724 theaters over the weekend and the results were perfectly fine. The K-pop concert film took in $5.6 million in the states, comparable to the $5.1 million start of BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas in February of 2023. The film has the best start for a concert doc since Renaissance: A Film By Beyonce launched to $21.8 million in December 2023.

Concert films are niche box office business unless you’re on rarified level of a Beyonce or a Taylor Swift and K-pop, while gaining more relevance in the US, is still not a mainstream audience. Considering that Stray Kids don’t have the US cultural cache of groups like BTS or Blackpink, it’s a strong result. Concert films tend to exit theaters quickly so this should slip off the charts quickly, not typically having more than single week runs, but an $8 million domestic total is more than enough.

Luc Besson’s Dracula found itself right in the middle of the charts as it took in $4.5 million. That’s a decent result for a very under-the-radar take on the classic vampire story. The film marks Vertical Entertainment’s highest opening weekend to date, topping the $2.5 million start of We Bury The Dead last month.

Dracula, which was subtitled Dracula: A Love Tale in some countries, isn’t exactly a critic or audience favorite with a 56% RT critic score and 79% RT audience score. (No CinemaScore on this one.) But it’s performing well compared to expectations and doing good business overseas with $29.2 million for a $33.7 million worldwide total thus far. Vertical’s theatrical releases tend to be short to cue up the PVOD release, and that should be the case here. The budget was spendy at a reported $52 million but Vertical is poised for profit as they only acquired the domestic distribution rights. It should close out around $8 million.

Zootopia 2 continues to be a strong performer, down just 32% to $4 million in its 11th weekend. The Disney Animation sequel is now up to $414.5 million domestically and $1.803 billion worldwide, incredibly profitable against a $150 million production budget. It isn’t slowing down and may just pass Lilo & Stitch ($423.8 million) and A Minecraft Movie ($424.1 million) to become the highest domestic grossing film of 2025.

Avatar: Fire & Ash was also strong, down 38% from last weekend to finish at $3.5 million in its eighth frame. Fire & Ash now stands at $391.5 million domestically and $1.439 billion worldwide, profitable against a $400 million production budget if not the hit the first two were. It should end its run close to $400 million.

The biggest bomb of the weekend came with The Strangers: Chapter 3. Lionsgate’s concluding chapter of Renny Harlin’s reboot trilogy was DOA at just $3.5 million. It was hoped that the film could hit the $5 million to $8 million range, but audiences have tired of this horror trifecta of movies. The opening is barely more than half of Chapter 2’s $5.8 million opening weekend and a fraction of Chapter 1’s $11.8 million start.

It’s easy to see what went wrong here. Horror audiences were skeptical of this series from the start, but the positive feelings around the original Strangers films drew them out to see the first entry. None of these films have been well-received by critics or fans, and Chapter 3 is the worst of the lot in that respect. The critic RT aggregate is a lousy 18% — which is at least on par with the last two films (Chapter 1 has a 21%, and Chapter 2 14%). But the audience reactions are telling, with Chapter 3 earning a horrendous D CinemaScore compared to a C and C- for the first two.

Now to be clear, Lionsgate wanted more but will take what they’re getting without much complaint. The three films were shot back-to-back so this was already in the can. But it’s still an ignominious end to a trilogy that didn’t start off that great to begin with. The budget is believed to be around the same $8.5 million as the first, and this won’t be profitable in theaters but it should make money once PVOD is factored in.

Jason Statham’s Shelter took an expected drop in its second weekend, down 56% to $2.4 million. That’s a pretty standard hold for a low-key action thriller and puts the film at $10 million domestically and $26.8 million worldwide. The film cost $50 million to produce but the budget was covered off foreign distribution sales. The final domestic gross is looking at around $15 million.

Melania did what most people expected it to do and dropped like a rock. The First Lady documentary, produced by Amazon MGM, was down 67% in its second weekend to $2.4 million. In fairness, documentaries do tend to be a bit front-loaded, but this was always going to fall off hard after initial curiosity interest.

Melania is now at $13.4 million domestically and $13.5 million worldwide. It is a bomb in theaters – Amazon paid $40 million for the film and spent $35 million on marketing – but again, this was always the plan and the studio will monetize it further with a Prime Video release and a three-episode docuseries featuring more footage. This was pure loss leader for the studio and they’re okay with that. It will end its run with less than $20 million stateside, and probably less than $18 million.

Audiences will be back in theaters next weekend without the Super Bowl to take their attention, and leading the way should be Wuthering Heights. The Margot Robbie & Jacob Elordi adaptation is looking at around $40 million to $45 million. Also likely to score high is the animated film GOAT, aiming at about $25 million to $30 million. Amazon MGM’s Crime 101 is looking for a low to mid-teens start and the action horror comedy Cold Storage will be in the low single digits.

Box Office Top Ten (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)

1. Send Help – $10 million ($35.8 million total, $53.7 million WW)
2. Solo Mio – $7.2 million ($7.2 million total, $7.2 million WW)
3. Iron Lung – $6 million ($30.8 million total, $34.5 million WW)
4. Stray Kids: The DominATE experience – $5.6 million ($5.6 million total, $19.1 million WW)
5. Dracula – $4.5 million ($4.5 million total, $33.7 million WW)
6. Zootopia 2 – $4 million ($414.5 million total, $1.803 billion WW)
7. Avatar: Fire & Ash – $3.5 million ($391.5 million total, $1.439 billion WW)
8. The Strangers: Chapter 3 – $3.5 million ($3.5 million total, $3.5 million WW)
9. Shelter – $2.4 million ($10 million total, $26.8 million WW)
10. Melania – $2.4 million ($13.4 million total, $13.5 million WW)