Super Bowl weekend box office slows as 'Send Help' stays top and 'Melania' drops to ninth

'Send Help' leads quiet Super Bowl box office while 'Melania' sees sharp second-weekend decline

The Super Bowl once again dampened cinema attendance across North America, with football festivities and cold weather contributing to a subdued box office weekend.

With no new major studio releases, Sam Raimi’s survival thriller Send Help retained the number one position, earning $10 million from 3,475 venues.

The figure represented a 47% decline from its opening weekend. The film, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, has now grossed $35.8 million domestically and $17.9 million overseas, for a global total of $53.7 million. Produced for $40 million, the Disney release is expected to continue its theatrical run through the winter.

Melania, a documentary centred on the former first lady of the United States, experienced a steep second-weekend fall. The film dropped to ninth place with $2.37 million from 2,003 theatres, a 67% decline.

After two weekends, it has earned $13.35 million domestically. Amazon MGM acquired the documentary and a related streaming series for $40 million and spent a further $35 million on theatrical marketing.

Amazon MGM’s head of domestic theatrical distribution Kevin Wilson addressed the results, stating that the film’s theatrical run was intended to build awareness ahead of its eventual debut on Prime Video and to support a longer-term distribution strategy.

Overall box office revenue for the weekend reached approximately $60 million, according to Comscore. While higher than 2024’s Super Bowl weekend, it remains below pre-pandemic norms, when totals typically ranged between $75 million and $85 million.

Independent releases benefited from the lack of studio competition. Solo Mio placed second with $7.2 million, while Iron Lung slipped to third with $6.2 million, bringing its domestic total to $31.2 million. The K-pop concert film Stray Kids: The Dominate Experience opened in fourth place with $5.5 million.

The box office is expected to pick up in the coming weeks as several new releases enter cinemas following a slow start to the year.