Super Bowl weekend delivered exactly what Hollywood expected: empty theater seats and disappointing numbers across the board.
While millions gathered around television screens for football’s biggest night, moviegoers stayed home in droves, making it one of the slowest box office weekends of the year.
Sam Raimi’s survival thriller “Send Help” managed to hold onto the top spot with $10 million, but even that modest figure tells the story of an industry taking a strategic timeout.
Perhaps most notable was the steep 67% plunge for Amazon MGM’s controversial “Melania” documentary, signaling potential disaster for one of the year’s most expensive documentary bets.
Super Bowl Sunday: Hollywood’s Annual Blackout
Super Bowl weekend has become predictably brutal for theatrical releases. Last year marked the second-slowest moviegoing weekend, while 2024 saw it rank dead last.
Studios didn’t fight the inevitable. Instead, they shifted focus entirely to the massive television audience watching the NFL broadcast, using commercial breaks to promote upcoming blockbusters.
Trailers for Disney’s “Mandalorian and Grogu,” Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael,” and Universal’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” all premiered during the game, reaching far more eyeballs than any theatrical release could hope for on Super Bowl Sunday.
“Send Help” Survives Weekend Slump
The Disney-20th Century Studios thriller secured first place with $10 million in its second weekend. While hardly spectacular, the R-rated film has accumulated $53.7 million globally, establishing itself as a solid midbudget success in an era when such victories feel increasingly rare.
Director Sam Raimi’s latest proves that well-executed genre films can still find audiences, even during Hollywood’s slowest periods.
Meanwhile, Disney celebrated another milestone as “Zootopia 2” crossed the $1.8 billion mark worldwide in its 11th week of release. The animated sequel continues demonstrating remarkable staying power, cementing Disney’s animation dominance.
Melania Documentary Faces Steep Decline
Amazon MGM’s “Melania” expanded to 300 additional theaters but couldn’t stop the bleeding. Ticket sales dropped precipitously to $2.4 million, down 67% from its debut weekend.
The rapid downturn spells serious trouble for what’s shaping up as a potential flop. Amazon MGM invested $40 million for film rights, then poured approximately $35 million into marketing—a staggering $75 million total investment.
With North American sales standing at just $13.4 million, and international figures expected to be minimal, the Brett Ratner-directed documentary appears unlikely to recoup its costs theatrically.
Kevin Wilson, head of domestic distribution for Amazon MGM, attempted damage control with carefully worded optimism.
This is a critical first moment that validates our wholistic distribution strategy, building awareness, engagement, and provides momentum ahead of the film’s eventual debut on Prime Video.
Translation: theatrical release was primarily about generating buzz before streaming launch, where Amazon hopes to recoup its investment through subscriber engagement.
Late-Night Hosts Pile On
The documentary’s disappointing performance became fodder throughout the week. Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel repeatedly mocked the film’s underwhelming ticket sales.
Kimmel went further, sarcastically calling the results a “rigged outcome,” playing off political rhetoric while highlighting Hollywood’s schadenfreude over the expensive misfire.
Surprise Winners Emerge
Despite the overall sluggish weekend, several releases posted impressive numbers given expectations and budgets.
Angel Studios Scores with Romance
“Solo Mio,” an Italy-set romantic comedy starring Kevin James, debuted with a robust $7.2 million. For Angel Studios—best known for faith-based releases—this represents a major win and potential genre expansion.
K-Pop Concert Film Dominates Globally
“Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience” launched with $5.6 million domestically and added $13.2 million internationally. Bleecker Street’s concert film demonstrates the passionate global fanbase K-pop commands, even during Hollywood’s slowest weekend.
Indie Distributor Sets Record
Luc Besson’s Bram Stoker adaptation “Dracula” opened with $4.5 million—a studio-best debut for indie distributor Vertical, proving classic horror still attracts audiences when executed by proven directors.
YouTube Star Defies Hollywood Logic
Perhaps the weekend’s most fascinating story continues to be “Iron Lung,” the self-financed, self-distributed video game adaptation from YouTube filmmaker Markiplier (Mark Fischbach).
In its second weekend, the low-budget indie collected $6.2 million, bringing its two-week total to $31.2 million against a mere $3 million production budget.
Fischbach wrote, directed, starred in, financed, and distributed the R-rated thriller entirely outside traditional Hollywood systems. His success represents a potential paradigm shift—creators with established online audiences can bypass studios entirely while achieving profitability traditional distributors would envy.
Box Office Breakdown
Final weekend rankings according to Comscore estimates:
- “Send Help” — $10 million
- “Solo Mio” — $7.2 million
- “Iron Lung” — $6 million
- “Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience” — $5.6 million
- “Dracula” — $4.5 million
- “Zootopia 2” — $4 million
- “Avatar: Fire and Ash” — $3.5 million
- “The Strangers: Chapter 3” — $3.5 million
- “Shelter” — $2.4 million
- “Melania” — $2.4 million
As Hollywood refocuses attention beyond Super Bowl weekend, industry watchers will closely monitor whether “Melania” can recover or whether it joins the growing list of expensive documentaries that failed to connect theatrically. Meanwhile, Markiplier’s continued success suggests Hollywood may need to pay closer attention to digital-first creators who understand modern audiences better than traditional studios.