Monkey Business!

The Monkey pounded its drum and wasted the competition, finishing second at this weekend’s box office behind Captain America: Brave New World. The Monkey box office total is estimated at $14.2 million for the three day weekend. It captured Neon’s second highest opening gross ever, behind Longlegs‘s $22 million.

With a budget of only around $10 million, The Monkey appears headed for a profitable run. Neon has been effective at marketing its horror movies recently, as the success of Longlegs and The Monkey can attest. Both films were directed by Osgood Perkins. I’m sure Neon will be interested in working with him on more projects.

The only other horror movie in the top ten was Heart Eyes, which landed in sixth place. It is estimated to gross about $3 million in its third weekend, leaving it with close to $27 million total. The Valentine’s Day slasher unsurprisingly slumped 70% from its holiday weekend gross. I’m sure Heart Eyes will disappear from theaters soon and head to streaming. It remains to be seen whether its respectable, but unspectacular, performance will be enough to warrant a sequel.

Companion has bowed out of theaters after a decent run ($30 million gross on a $10 million budget). It’s available on streaming if you feel like spending $20 to rent it for 48 hours. Personally, I’m going to wait until it gets more affordable.

The Sophie Thatcher robot flick received an overwhelmingly positive response from critics, and I believe it will be a major contender for next year’s awards season. I’m really interested to see how it will perform on streaming going forward.

Looking Forward

Along with their marketing acumen, Neon was smart about when they chose to release The Monkey. Late March and April are littered with major horror films, but the next couple of weeks look sparse. With little competition for moviegoers looking for scares, there will be lots more monkey business at the box office in the weeks to come.

Credit to Box Office Guru for the figures.

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