“The Little Things,” a crime thriller starring Denzel Washington and Rami Malek, topped domestic box office charts, debuting to $4.8 million from 2,171 venues in North America. At the same time, it was available to HBO Max subscribers for a monthly fee that’s less than a single movie ticket in some parts of the country. “The Little Things” is one of 17 films from Warner Bros. that will premiere simultaneously in cinemas and on the HBO Max streaming service.
In normal times, those box office receipts would spell disaster. But today, it actually ranks as one of the stronger COVID-era opening weekends. HBO Max didn’t report how many viewers opted to stream “The Little Things.” However, Warner Bros. and its parent company WarnerMedia said the film “immediately shot up to No. 1” on HBO Max. It’s unclear what that benchmark means.
“We are absolutely thrilled by how Warner Bros.’ ‘The Little Things’ is performing on HBO Max — it immediately shot up to number one, where it currently remains,” said HBO Max executive VP and general manager Andy Forssell. “Following the breakthrough success of ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ ‘The Little Things’ shows the insatiable appetite our audience has for high quality, feature films.”
John Lee Hancock directed “The Little Things,” which centers on two police officers trying to catch a serial killer. Overseas, where HBO Max is not yet available, “The Little Things” kicked off with $2.8 million from 18 countries. The R-rated action film had the strongest showing in Russia with $1.1 million in sales, followed by Saudi Arabia with $871,000.
Elsewhere at the domestic box office, Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Croods: A New Age” collected $1.84 million in its 10th week of release, enough for second place. Those ticket sales represent a 2% increase from last weekend, which is impressive because the animated family film has been available to rent on home entertainment for almost two months. It has made $43.9 million in North America. Overseas, “The Croods” sequel made $1.3 million, bringing it past the $100 million mark for a global total of $144.38 million.
“Wonder Woman 1984” came in third place with $1.3 million from 1,864 locations. The Warner Bros. superhero adaptation, which premiered concurrently on HBO Max, has brought in $39.2 million after six weeks in North American theaters. To illustrate how depreciated the box office is, the original “Wonder Woman” grossed $38 million in its first day in theaters in 2017. Internationally, “Wonder Woman 1984” added another $1.1 million, bringing box office receipts to $112.8 million overseas and $152 million globally.
Liam Neeson’s action thriller “The Marksman” plunged to the No. 4 spot after leading the box office the last two weekends. It made $1.25 million in its third outing for a domestic tally of $7.8 million. The movie is currently playing in 2,018 theaters.
Rounding out the top five was Sony’s “Monster Hunter” with $740,000 in its seventh week of release. The film, an adaptation of a popular video game, has generated $11.1 million to date.
Reuters
