MONDAY AM: Turns out that high holy day of NFL yesterday which resulted in the Chiefs and the 49ers heading to the Super Bowl did pull guys away from Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper. While the Jason Statham Miramax title did win Saturday over Paramount’s Mean Girls, $3.4M to $3.27M, Sunday belonged to the Plastics which saw the teen musical movie pull ahead with a third weekend of $6.9M to Beekeeper‘s $6.7M.

Mean Girls‘ Sunday was $1.7M, -48% from Saturday, while Beekeeper‘s take was $1.48M. Worldwide, Beekeeper crossed $100M ($41.5M domestic), while Mean Girls stands at $83M ($60.4M from domestic).

This weekend, Apple Original Films’ Matthew Vaughn directed all-star spy ensemble, Argylle, looks to open in the teens. More on that later.

SUNDAY AM: Boring weekends always make for intense times at the box office, and this morning, Amazon MGM’s The Beekeeper is looking to steal Paramount’s Mean Girls‘ honey in a third weekend call of $7.4M to $7.3M between the two films.

Even if one does the math on both films, Beekeeper has a shot to squeeze ahead by literally a matter of cents. However, all of this hinges on how many guys get pulled away today on Sunday. It’s quite the holy day when it comes to the NFL, with the Chiefs and the Ravens fighting for the AFC Championship and Justin Kroll’s Lions and 49ers in a battle for the NFC that will determine who goes to Feb. 11’s Super Bowl.

Both studios are calling a close Sunday, with Paramount believing the Tina Fey musical will do $2.145M, -34% from Saturday’s $3.2M. Amazon MGM sees the Jason Statham action Miramax movie at $2.2M, -35% from yesterday’s $3.4M.

As of this AM, I’m hearing Mean Girls is pacing 11% better than Beekeeper, so the popular girls could have the upper hand in the end.

Talking about boring weekends at the box office, do you remember the last weekend of September 2017? That’s when there was a three-way runoff for No. 1 between It, Tom Cruise’s American Made, and Kingsman: The Golden Circle with $16M+ apiece, a battle that was settled Monday AM with the latter winning.

That said, by today’s standards, that amount of money for each movie would be considered to be a robust weekend. But dull times at the B.O. often yield the most nail-biting moments.

With zero wide releases, there was nothing going except for expansions of Oscar Best Picture nominees. Here’s how they fared, ranked by weekend percent jumps:

Even though Warner Bros’ wide expansion of Barbie at 1,500 theaters in weekend 28 didn’t make much money at an estimated $218K (the studio didn’t report official figures), the eight Oscar nominated Greta Gerwig directed movie surged +10,792% over last weekend, which made only $2k. Note: HBO subscribers can watch this movie at home on Max.

Apple Original Films’ Killers of the Flower Moon via Paramount went from 16 locations last weekend, where it made $5K, to 941 sites, where it made $220K, a +3,811% rise in weekend 15, which gets the Martin Scorsese film’s running stateside cume to $67.6M. The movie is available to stream on Apple TV+

Focus Features’ The Holdovers saw the third-biggest percent jump at +568%, with a 1,140 theater spike to 1,267 with $520K; current cume of $19.3M in weekend 14. Impressive, considering the movie is playing on Peacock. The Alexander Payne directed, Paul Giamatti starring movie counts five Oscar noms.

NEON’s Anatomy of a Fall was +440% in weekend 16 at 380 theatres with $211,5K. The running total for the five Oscar- nominated feature, which can also be watched in homes, is $4.1M.

Universal also had bragging rights with the +1,008 theater jump (to 1,262) on the 13 Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer, which was +284% in weekend 28 to $1M, and a running total of $328.1M. Also impressive, considering the movie is available on digital/DVD, but not available on Peacock until Feb. 16. The Christopher Nolan directed-3 hour biopic drama counted $900K stateside in Imax for a total cume of $90M domestic for the large format exhibitor, $187M WW. Globally, that’s No. 5 on the Imax all-time biggest title list.

A24’s Nazi concentration camp movie, Zone of Interest, after a 233 theater increase to 315 in weekend 7, posted $1.08M, +141%, for a running total of $3M. The movie is playing exclusively in theaters.

Amazon MGM’s American Fiction was up 852 theaters to 1,702 in weekend 7 for a 3-day of $2.897M, +65%, for a running total by EOD of $11.8M. The Cord Jefferson directorial debut counts five Oscar noms. American Fiction can only be seen at this time in cinemas.

Searchlight’s Poor Things, only available in theaters, swelled 45% in weekend eight to $3M after hitting its highest point of release of 2,300 theaters, an uptick of 900 locations. Running total is $24.7M. While that’s 15% ahead of Yorgos Lanthimos and Emma Stone’s previous Oscar darling, The Favourite, in weekend 8, it begs to be seen whether Poor Things ultimately beats that pic’s domestic final of $34.3M, as that movie went wide later in its theatrical run. Poor Things has the second-most Oscar noms at 11 behind Oppenheimer. At the end of the weekend, it’s Poor Things that made the most money out of the Best Picture Oscar noms.

Netflix’s Maestro didn’t report grosses. The seven Oscar nominated, Bradley Cooper starring and directed Leonard Bernstein biopic is available to watch on the streamer. No grosses were reported for A24’s Past Lives, which is available on DVD and digital.

The chart:

1.) The Beekeeper (AMZ MGM) 3,337 (+7) theaters, Fri $1.8M Sat $3.4M Sun $2.2M 3-day $7.4M (-14%), Total $42.2M/Wk 3

2.) Mean Girls (Par) 3,544 (-282) theaters, Fri $1.9M Sat $3.2M Sun $2.145M 3-day $7.3M (-37%), Total $60.8M/Wk 3

3.) Wonka (WB) 3,014 (-122) theaters, Fri $1.35M Sat $2.85M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.9M (-12%), Total $195.1M/Wk 7

4.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 2,962 (-132) theaters, Fri $1M Sat $2.54M Sun $1.57M 3-day $5.15M (-6%), Total $101.2M/ Wk 6

5.) Anyone But You (Sony) 2,885 (-43) Fri $1.5M Sat $2.1M Sun $1.1M 3-day $4.8M (-11%),Total $71.1M/Wk 6

6.) Fighter (Viva) 662 theaters, Fri $1M Sat $1.5M Sun $1.15M 3-day $3.74M/Total $4.3M Wk 1

7.) Poor Things (Sea) 2,300 (+900) Fri $849K Sat $1.3M Sun $899K 3-day $3.04M (+43%)/Total $24.7M/Wk 8

8.) American Fiction (AMZ MGM) 1,702 (+852) theaters, $791K Sat $1.27M Sun $829K, 3-day $2.89M (+65%), Total $11.8M/Wk 7

9.) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) 2,423 (-318) theaters, Fri $650K Sat. $1.36M Sun $810K 3-day $2.82M (-23%) /Total $118.1M/Wk 6

10.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,051 (+1516) theatres, Fri $761K Sat $1.2M Sun $616K 3-day $2.6M (+276%), Total $55M/Wk 9

SATURDAY AM WRITETHRU: The fourth weekend of the year at the domestic box office is looking like $59M, -12% from last weekend’s $67.2M, and -19% off from the same period a year ago.

Still, this weekend’s total box office in a marketplace sans wide entries is not as low as 2023’s bottom of $51.8M for all movies (Sept. 22-24) and 2022’s floor of $35M (Jan. 28-30).

And there’s no winter storms to blame for this. Rather, this is the outcome of prolonged dual strikes, which greatly delayed the feature film pipeline.

Next weekend, with the arrival of Apple Original Films’ Matthew Vaughn-directed Henry Cavill action title, Argylle, via Universal, should put some juice back in the box office. But not much, as it’s expected to open in the teens.

We won’t get action until the Valentine’s Day-Presidents Day stretch, with Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love, and Sony/Marvel’s Madame Web, which respectively are looking at $30M+ and $25M+ over the six-day frame. While those figures are low for any Presidents Day holiday, note, nobody wants to get over their skis in projections, given the extremely dull marketplace.

Paramount’s Mean Girls currently has the upper hand over Amazon MGM Studios’ The Beekeeper, $6.7M to $6.4M. Beekeeper beat Mean Girls in daily grosses on Monday ($802K), Tuesday ($1.25M), and Thursday ($770K) this past week.

The girls in pink will see a 43% slide from Weekend 2 at 3,544 theaters, for a $60.2M running total. Friday came in at $1.88M, -43%. The Jason Statham action movie, at 3,337 venues, clocked a third Friday of $1.8M, -26%. It will be off from Weekend 2 by 25%, for a running total of $41.3M by Sunday.

The seventh weekend for Warner Bros.’ Wonka is in third with $5.8M at 3,014, -14%, for a running total of $195M. Friday is $1.35M.

Illumination/Universal’s Migration, the animated movie rivals bet against over the holidays, will be up to $101M in its domestic cume through Sunday at the end of Weekend 6. Friday is $1M at 2,962 theaters, for a $5M 3-day, -8%, in fourth place.

Fifth belongs to Sony’s sixth weekend of Anyone but You, the Sydney Sweeney-Glen Powell rom-com, with a 3-day of $4.65M, -14%, for a running cume by Sunday of $71M at 2,885 locations. That total zips past the other notable post-pandemic romantic comedy, Ticket to Paradise, starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, which finaled at $68.2M in U.S./Canada. Anyone‘s Friday is an estimated $1.5M, -14%.

You can always count on Bollywood to buoy the domestic box office, and that was true even during the pandemic, when major cities were closed.

Viva’s Fighter, in Hindi, from Siddharth Anand, follows IAF aviators who come together in the face of imminent danger to form Air Dragons. It looks a lot like Top Gun, and the action movie put up big numbers in Toronto, San Francisco, NYC, DC, Boston, Dallas, Austin, Houston and Chicago, with $1M on Friday and $3.5M estimated for the weekend at 662 venues.

One of a few titles on the chart is a Jenna Ortega film from Lionsgate Premiere: Miller’s Girl. Written and directed by Jade Halley Bartlett and starring Martin Freeman, the pic follows a complex relationship between a student and her teacher. Booked at 350 theatres, the 3-day is around $321K, with a per theater of $917.

What about the Oscar nominations’ halo at the box office: You can see below what’s happening in the top 10. Warner Bros.’ isn’t reporting any figures on its Barbie re-release (though one rival has it around $170K for the weekend at 1,500 theaters. Remember, the Greta Gerwig movie is streaming on Max). Universal’s Oppenheimer is at 1,262 theaters, and doesn’t hit Peacock until mid-February. It is faring significantly better with $1.1M and a running cume of $328.2M.

Saturday estimates:

1.) Mean Girls (Par) 3,544 (-282) theaters, Fri $1.88M (-42%), 3-day $6.7M (-43%), Total $60.2M/Wk 3

2.) The Beekeeper (AMZ MGM) 3,337 (+7) theaters, Fri $1.8M (-26%) 3-day $6.4M (-25%), Total $41.3M/Wk 3

3.) Wonka (WB) 3,014 (-122) theaters, Fri $1.35M (-13%) 3-day $5.8M (-14%), Total $195M/Wk 7

4.) Migration (Ill/Uni) 2,962 (-132) theaters, Fri $1M (-8%) 3-day $5M (-8%), Total $101.1M/ Wk 6

5.) Anyone But You (Sony) 2,885 (-43) Fri $1.5M (-14%) 3-day $4.65M (-14%),Total $71M/Wk 6

6.) Fighter (Viva) 662 theaters, Fri $1M 3-day $3.5M/Wk 1

7.) Poor Things (Sea) 2,300 (+900) Fri $849K (+37%), 3-day $2.8M (+35%)/Total $24.6M/Wk 8

8.) American Fiction (AMZ MGM) 1,702 (+852) theaters, $791K (+56%), 3-day $2.74M (+57%), Total $11.7M/Wk 7

9.) Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) 2,423 (-318) theaters, Fri $650K (-25%) 3-day $2.7M (-26%) /Total $118M/Wk 6

10.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,051 (+1516) theatres, Fri $752K (+330K) 3-day $2.5M (+264%), Total $54.7M/Wk 9 — Big boost here because this is the black-and-white re-release.