Movie

Elizabeth Banks' comedy horror film overperforms with an estimated $23 million domestically in its opening weekend, while 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania' suffers a record fall.

• Feb 27, 2023

AceShowbiz - "Cocaine Bear" climbs high upon its entry at the North American box office. The comedy horror film blew past box office projections, earning an impressive $23.1 million from 3,534 theaters in its opening weekend.

The blood-splattered animal adventure lands in second place on the domestic chart after surpassing expectations of $15-20 million gross domestically. Internationally, the film, written and directed by Elizabeth Banks, made $5.3 million for a worldwide total of $28.4 million.

"Audiences discovered this very outrageous, hysterical comedy that our director Elizabeth Banks delivered," Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic distribution, gushes over the movie. "The film absolutely delivers on its preposterous premise. People wanted to come out and have a good time at the theater."

Loosely inspired by the true story of the "Cocaine Bear", an American black bear that ingested millions of dollars of lost cocaine in 1985, the movie received mixed reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10 on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of B- on an A+ to F scale.

David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, weighs in on the new release, "Audiences tend to be tough after being grossed-out." Yet that didn't deter patrons from buying tickets. "Horror comedies benefit from the outrageous, and this story of an accidentally cocaine-crazed bear is wacko," he adds.

"Cocaine Bear" trails behind "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" which suffers a massive fall in its second weekend. The third "Ant-Man" film added an estimated $32 million as it's suffering from negative word-of-mouth.

The movie, which marks the first film in Phase Five of the MCU, dropped a steep 69.7% in its second weekend. It's the worst decline for an MCU film, falling faster than "Black Widow", which plunged 67.8% while debuting simultaneously on Disney Plus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another newbie, "Jesus Revolution", also has a strong debut at No. 3 with approximately $15.5 million. Lionsgate's religious drama surpassed expectations after it was predicted to earn $6 million to $7 million.

Falling two places to No. 4, "Avatar: The Way of Water" drops just 28.2% in its eleventh weekend, adding an estimated $4.7 million to its domestic gross, which has now reached $665.4 million. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" trails behind at No. 5 with an estimated $4.1 million.

Top 10 of North America Box Office (Feb. 24-26, 2023):

1. "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" - $32.2 million
2. "Cocaine Bear" - $23.1 million
3. "Jesus Revolution" - $15.5 million
4. "Avatar: The Way of Water" - $4.7 million
5. "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" - $4.1 million
6. "Magic Mike's Last Dance" - $1.89 million
7. "Knock at the Cabin" - $1.87 million
8. "80 for Brady" - $1.8 million
9. "Missing" - $1 million
10. "A Man Called Otto" - $850,000