AceShowbiz - This past weekend saw a painfully slow turnout at the box office, with the Jack Quaid action-comedy "Novocaine" leading the pack with a modest $8.7 million. It performed significantly below expectations, capturing the No. 1 spot with one of the worst debuts since the pandemic era.

Lower ticket sales across all films totaled just around $52 million, which is among the year's lowest. In comparison, the Super Bowl weekend drew more revenue at $54 million in February.

This sluggish beginning of 2025 has severely impacted the movie theater business, leaving year-to-date revenues trailing 2024 by 5% and 2019 by nearly 38%.

Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst, noted that the industry is grappling with these low revenue weekends and hopes upcoming releases like "Snow White" and "Minecraft" will breathe new life into the box office.

Paramount's "Novocaine" didn't meet its projected $10 million, internationally grossing just $1.8 million from 19 markets. Despite these disappointments, the film's modest $18 million budget offers some solace for profitability.

"Novocaine" received generally positive reviews with an 82% Rotten Tomatoes score and a "B" grade on CinemaScore. The film centers around Quaid's character, a man who cannot feel pain, leveraging his condition to rescue his kidnapped dream girl.

Meanwhile, Steven Soderbergh's spy thriller "Black Bag" faced its own struggles, opening at No. 3 with $7.5 million. The film, although critically acclaimed with a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating, is expected to rely heavily on word-of-mouth to become a success given its $50 million production cost. Internationally, "Black Bag" added $4.2 million from 37 overseas markets.

Other new releases included the animated "The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie", which opened in fifth place with $3.2 million, and the faith-based "The Last Supper", landing close behind at $2.8 million in ticket sales.

Previous leader "Mickey 17", starring Robert Pattinson, fell to second place, generating $7.5 million, a steep 60% drop from its debut. The film has amassed $33.3 million domestically and $90.5 million globally, still far from recovering its $118 million production cost.

Disney's Marvel sequel "Captain America: Brave New World" earned $5.5 million in its fifth weekend, bringing its domestic tally to $185 million and global total to $388.6 million. Despite these high figures, it remains one of the least successful Marvel films in recent times.

1. "Novocaine" - $8.7 million
2. "Mickey 17" - $7.5 million
3. "Black Bag" - $7.5 million
4. "Captain America: Brave New World" - $5.5 million
5. "The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie" - $3.2 million
6. "The Last Supper" - $2.8 million
7. "Paddington in Peru" - $2.8 million
8. "Dog Man" - $2.5 million
9. "The Monkey" - $2.5 million
10. "Last Breath" - $2.3 million