M. Night Shyamalan’s Glass won the box office for the third straight weekend, but this was the worst overall Super Bowl frame since 2000. After the glut of holiday releases in December, things considerably slowed down at the multiplex – as per usual. One exception was Glass, which essentially was 2019’s first real “event” film. Looking to continue Shyamalan’s comeback after the success of The Visit and Split, Glass also served as the culmination to the long-gestating Eastrail 177 trilogy, finally giving Unbreakable fans the sequel they desired for two decades.
Unfortunately, Glass ended up as something of a mixed bag. Hamstrung by lukewarm reviews and audience reactions, the movie underperformed at the box office, coming in below expectations during its debut and suffering a steep drop in its second weekend. One thing that worked in Glass’ favor was the lack of meaningful competition, which helped keep it in the #1 spot despite diminishing interest. That carried over into Super Bowl weekend, and Hollywood as a whole had a three days to forget.
Related: Glass Is Shyamalan’s Star Wars Prequels (And That’s Not A Bad Thing)
According to Variety, the domestic box office brought in a combined $71 million this weekend, which is the lowest total for the Super Bowl weekend since 2000. Glass came out on top with $9.5 million, raising its Stateside total to $88.6 million. At the same point in its run, Split had made $98.5 million domestically.
With so much attention on the NFL championship game, the Super Bowl is typically a down weekend at the movies. Studios rarely open any projects of note during that time, which stayed true in 2019. The lone wide release was action vehicle Miss Bala, which mustered just $6.7 million in its first three days. Starring Gina Rodriguez, the film earned largely negative reviews, hurting its commercial appeal. Despite being the only fresh movie on the block, Miss Bala came in third place, trailing holdover The Upside ($8.8 million). The top five was rounded out by superhero titles Aquaman ($4.7 million) and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse ($4.4 million).
Things should pick up at the box office next weekend with the release of The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. The animated sequel is already earning rave reviews, praising it as a worthy and exceptional followup to the surprise 2014 hit. Though LEGO 2 was projected to make less than its predecessor during its opening weekend, it’s still estimated to earn as much as $55 million at the start – and that figure could increase based on the positive word-of-mouth. Also opening next weekend is the Liam Neeson action film Cold Pursuit, which is currently enjoying positive buzz ahead of its release. Neeson’s track record lately hasn’t been great (The Commuter made $36.3 million domestically), but perhaps the good reviews will encourage genre fans to check Cold Pursuit out.
