“Cocaine Bear” Snores $2M Thursday; ‘Jesus Revolution’ blessed with previews worth more than $3 million – box office

Universal’s cheesy R-rated genre pic cocaine bear recalled by Elizabeth Banks 2 million dollars last night from previews in 3,000 movie theaters from 5 p.m

The $30 million weekend film was slightly dominated by Disney/Marvel Studios. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Estimated at $40 million (-62%), it will reach into the high teens, attracting male (62% last night) and 18-34 audiences (who showed up for 72%) in 3,534 theaters.

Any over-indexing will be a surprise. The film is already doing well, with 82% from Rotten Tomatoes audiences and four stars on ComScore and Screen Engine’s PostTrak, and 72% fresh from critics. Uni/Blumhouse’s winter horror hit M3GAN was certified by Rotten Tomatoes critics as 94% fresh, 78% overall page audience, a B CinemaScore and 3 1/2 stars on PostTrak. Last night’s ticket sales surpass Universal’s previews of $1.1 million violent night (which opened to $13.4 million in December and rose to $49.8 million in the United States) and they are just below M3GAN$2.75M, which turned into an $11.7M and $30.4M open on Friday.

cocaine bear (Read the Review) was inspired by a true story from 1985 when cocaine disappeared in a Georgia forest after a drug smuggler’s plane crashed and a black bear devoured the goods. In the film, the animal goes about killing police, criminals and walkers. WETA was involved in the CG creation of Cokey the Bear, the main character here.

Lionsgate opens its faith-based title wide open, Jesus Revolution (read the review) which already has five stars and 85% final recommendation on PostTrak. We’ve heard the studio took in an estimated $2 million from Wednesday previews alone, mostly from Cinemark locations. Lionsgate reports $940,000 from last night’s previews for a lump sum of $3.3 million since Wednesday. Tracking had this Kingdom Story Company film in the single digits, but it could potentially cost $10 million across 2,475 locations.

Logline: In the 1970s, young Greg Laurie (Joel Courtney) is looking for the right things in the wrong places – until he meets Lonnie Frisbee (Jonathan Roumie), a charismatic hippie street preacher. Together with Pastor Chuck Smith (Kelsey Grammer), they open the doors of Smith’s ailing church to an unexpected revival of radical and newfound love, leading to what Time Magazine called “Jesus Revolution”.

While Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ( Read the review ) on Presidents Day Monday at $14.2 million, Discount Tuesday wasn’t as resilient last week at just $7 million. Wednesday cost $3.8 million, but was down just 3% yesterday $3.7 million to get the Peyton Reed-directed sequel for a first week $135 million in 4,345 movie theaters.

20th Century Studio/Disney/Lightstorms Thursday for Avatar: the way of water ( read the review ) was around half a million, +2% for a 10th week of $9.7 million vs. 2,675 and a running total of $660.6 million.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation was nominated for an Oscar Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ( Read the review ) Ninth Thursday earned an estimated $432,000, up 3% and an $8.5M week for a running total of $169.3M.

The second Thursday of Warner Bros.’ Magic Mike’s Last Dance ( Read the review ) Posted $405K, -3% from Wednesday for a second week of $7.6M and a running total of $20.2M from 3,034 locations.

by Paramount 80 for Brady ( Read the review ) Booked in 3,199 theaters and earned $409,000 in fifth place on Thursday for a third week of nearly $6 million for a total of $34.6 million.