In 2022, adult-friendly original movies suffered greatly at the box office, with original horror pretty much ranking as the only place where original movies could survive. At least theatrically. But Sony bet on Tom Hanks in “A Man Called Otto,” a remake of a Swedish film of the same name (read our review here). And that bet is paying off! It opened in just a few theaters last week and expanded into 637 this weekend. Well, audiences are turning up as it made $4.2 million, making for a stellar $6,593 per-screen average – with only “M3GAN” and “Avatar” doing better on that stat line.
Sony opting to not go with a wide release on this one right away may well be paying off. A24, similarly, succeeded with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” last year by doing a similar rollout. “Otto” will expand wide this upcoming weekend, with Sony hoping good word of mouth can carry this one the distance. Marketing may well have played a key role here. Many adult-oriented originals last year simply didn’t find their audience. I can anecdotally tell you that I’ve seen much more marketing for this movie as of late, and it’s clearly attracting attention. The movie has also earned $8.4 million internationally so for, with $12.6 million total to its name up to this point. With a $50 million budget, director Marc Forster’s flick still has a long way to go – but it absolutely has a shot, and the early numbers are very encouraging.
Looking ahead, we’ve got the action flick “Plane,” the Warner Bros.’ “House Party” remake, and “The Devil Conspiracy” opening up this weekend. You can check out the full list of the top ten movies this weekend for yourself below.
Top ten movies at the box office January 6 – 8, 2023.
1. “Avatar: The Way of Water” – $45 million
2. “M3GAN” – $30.2 million
3. “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” – $13.1 million
4. “A Man Called Otto” – $4.2 million
5. “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” – $3.39 million
6. “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody” – $2.4 million
7. “The Whale” – $1.54 million
8. “Babylon” – $1.43 million
9. “Violent Night” – $741,000
10. “The Menu” – $713,000