Although the 80 for Brady. In addition, James Cameron's sci-fi sequel Avatar: The Way of Water continues its truly impressive box office run.
Based on author Paul G. Tremblay's The Cabin at the End of the World, Knock at the Cabin centers on a family on vacation at a remote cabin who are suddenly held hostage by a group of four strangers. The strangers demand that they sacrifice one of their own lives to save the entire world. In contrast, 80 for Brady is a lighthearted comedy about four lifelong friends who travel to Houston to watch Tom Brady play in Super Bowl LI. Also, 80 for Brady's central cast is truly impressive with Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field all starring.
Knock At The Cabin Shows Horror Continues To Be A Box Office Draw
Knock at the Cabin is forecasted to finally take the box office top spot from Avatar: The Way of Water with a projected worldwide opening weekend of $21.2 million. While hardly the opening weekend take of a massive blockbuster, this shows that the horror genre continues to be a solid box office draw in 2023. Likewise, M3GAN slaughtered the box office in January 2023 with an opening weekend of $30.4 million domestically. M3GAN has grossed over $150 million worldwide, making it one of 2023's biggest hits. Knock at the Cabin's initial success, alongside M3GAN's, seems to prove that horror films are bringing audiences back to the theaters.
What makes Knock at the Cabin's success even more impressive than M3GAN's is its rating. While M3GAN obtained a PG-13 rating from the MPAA, Knock at the Cabin received a far more commercially-restrictive R rating. Knock at the Cabin also has to contend with a slightly larger budget; M3GAN's production budget is reportedly $12 million, while Knock at the Cabin's is $20 million. Still, Knock at the Cabin has managed an extremely solid opening weekend for a low-to-mid-budget horror movie. If its initial status as a hit continues, it will be another prime example of the genre's success at the box office.
Knock At The Cabin's Box Office Doesn't Mean Shyamalan Is Fully Back
Although Knock at the Cabin is projected to take the box office top spot for the weekend ending February 5, this does not necessarily mean that Shyamalan has another hit on his hands. Knock at the Cabin performed incredibly closely to 2021's Old on its opening weekend. The problem is that Old was the lowest opening weekend result for Shyamalan's entire film career. If Knock at the Cabin does indeed perform as it has been projected to, then it will take that record from Old, having grossed over $2 million less over the same time.
However, while Old didn't have a blockbuster opening, it grossed nearly $90 million against an $18 million production budget. If Knock at the Cabin continues to follow Old's pattern in of box office results, thanks to positive word-of-mouth, then Shyamalan will have another hit on his hands. However, it remains to be seen if Knock at the Cabin will share Old's box office legs over the course of its theatrical release.
80 For Brady's Box Office Is A Good Sign For Older Audiences
80 for Brady is projected to have taken the silver trophy at the February 5 weekend's box office, with a worldwide opening weekend gross of $12.5 million. Costing $28 million to produce and starring an array of award winners, 80 for Brady's success is a fantastic result for distributors Paramount Pictures as it's a key sign that older audiences are willing to return to theaters. According to a Variety report, 49 percent of 80 for Brady's audience were aged 55 or older, while 68 percent were women. While 80 for Brady did not beat Knock at the Cabin at the box office, its results are even more hopeful than the latter's success.
Over the course of the pandemic, older generations have been reluctant to return to movie theaters, for very good reason. However, 80 for Brady presents the idea that older demographics will go to the theater to watch movies with them in mind. Speaking on the success of 80 for Brady, Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution, stated that Paramount is "pretty darn happy". If older audiences continue to return to movie theaters after the real-life inspired 80 for Brady, box office results could be on their way to returning to pre-pandemic levels.
Avatar: The Way Of Water's Box Office Is Finally Waning (But Still Good)
Although Avatar: The Way of Water has finally lost the top spot at the box office, it is still performing extraordinarily well. After an impressive seven weeks at the number one spot, Avatar: The Way of Water fell into third on the weekend ending February 5, 2023. It is the first film since James Cameron's previous movie, the original Avatar, to maintain the top spot at the box office for seven weeks. With a projected weekend domestic gross of $10.8 million, Avatar: The Way of Water is maintaining its remarkable legs, falling only 32.4 percent compared to the January 27-29 weekend.
With a total gross of over $2.1 billion worldwide, Avatar 2 is the fourth highest-grossing film of all time and the highest-grossing of the pandemic era. Although the Avatar: The Way of Water-led January 2023 box office results were still significantly below pre-pandemic levels, they were 68 percent higher than in January 2022. Box office results in 2023 may not yet have recovered fully from the pandemic, but the success stories of films like Knock at the Cabin, 80 for Brady, and Avatar: The Way of Water on the weekend, ending February 5, 2023, show that they are well on their way to recovery.
