Winter storms and cinema closures in North America didn't dampen the opening weekend for Mean Girls. The Paramount release, adapted from the Broadway musical and the 2004 Tiny Fey movie, earned $28 million in its first three days in theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. Not accounting for inflation, that's more than the $24.4 million the first movie made in its opening weekend, the AP reports. The new film's competition over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend included several new releases, like the Jason Statham action movie The Beekeeper and the biblical satire The Book of Clarence, in addition to a slew of awards contenders capitalizing on buzz from recent nominations and the Golden Globes.
This iteration of Mean Girls stars Angourie Rice, Auli'i Cravalho, and Reneé Rapp. It was originally planned to go straight to streaming on Paramount+, but the studio pivoted after test scores were positive. Social media played a big part in getting the word out. Tina Fey returned to write and co-star in the new film, which was directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. and cost a reported $36 million to produce. Reviews have been more positive than not, with a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences gave it a B CinemaScore, which may not bode especially well for word-of-mouth appeal. The film made $6.5 million from 16 international markets.
Below are estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.
- Mean Girls, $28 million.
- The Beekeeper, $16.8 million.
- Wonka, $8.4 million.
- Anyone But You, $6.9 million.
- Migration, $6.2 million.
- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, $5.3 million.
- Night Swim, $4.7 million.
- The Boys in the Boat, $3.5 million.
- The Book of Clarence, $2.6 million.
- The Iron Claw, $2.4 million.
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