Last year at this time, US studios were celebrating a record Presidents' Day weekend haul as Black Panther opened big. This year? Not so much. While Alita: Battle Angel bested admittedly low expectations and earned $27.8 million across the main three days, the result was still the worst result for the holiday in 15 years.
Alita isn't exactly a blockbuster, especially given that opened mid-week to try and gain more traction. Its domestic total now stands at $36.5 million, and worldwide it has made $130.8 million. The film will need to show serious cybernetic legs if it is to make a profit and deliver on all that blatant sequel bait in the story.
The Lego Movie 2 fell to second place, adding $21.2 million, while the week's second new arrival, rom-com spoof Isn't It Romantic couldn't quite translate the Valentine's Day crowd into huge earnings, though it did manage $14.2 million for the weekend and $20.4 million following its 13 February launch. It pushed What Men Want to fourth on $10.9 million. Opening in fifth was Happy Death Day 2U, with the horror/comedy/sci-fi sequel scoring $9.8 million for the weekend and $13.5 million total. That's disappointing when compared to the original film's $26 million launch, but thanks to the tight budget in place via the Blumhouse team, it's already made its production costs back.
Cold Pursuit slipped to sixth with $6 million, with The Upside falling a few places to seventh and $5.5 million. Glass took another slight dip, ending up eighth and earning $3.8 million (and crossing the $100 million mark this past week), while The Prodigy sank to ninth, adding $3.1 million. Finally, at 10th, Green Book took in $2.7 million.
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