Movie Preview: February 2024

After a very… empty January, February seems ready to at least get the ball rolling for 2024. In regards to January, “Mean Girls” and “The Beekeeper” did well enough for January standards. “Night Swim” did fine for a low-budget horror film, but didn’t make much of a dent otherwise. Outside that, “The Book of Clarence” and “I.S.S” that I mentioned in last month’s preview were both dead on arrival. And “Miller’s Girl” only wound up in 350 theaters. And there were a few Indian films that did decently that weren’t on my radar at the month’s beginning. That all led to “Mean Girls” in its third weekend leading the final weekend of January with just $6.9 million, which will certainly go down as one of the lower grossing weekends of the year.

That means if you were caught up on all the holiday films and Oscar expansions, you were literally left with no options in theaters. And while February is not necessarily known as a big movie month - the excitement will begin in March with the likes of “Dune: Part Two,” “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” - February will at the very least have options in theaters for you to see, which isn’t a very high bar, but is at least a slightly step up from the previous month, so let’s check it out!

As always, release date information for this post is courtesy of boxofficepro.com and the-numbers.com. The movies listed are the ones currently scheduled for wide in the United States and Canada and are always subject to change.

February 2 - 4

Universal's "Argylle"

The first event worthy of noting for this February is the release of the fourth season of The Chosen, split up into three sections. If you haven’t heard of it, “The Chosen” is a dramatized TV series based on the life of Christ and his followers that has continued to gain more and more popularity, especially among Christian audiences who have responded very highly. The series is written and directed by Dallas Jenkins and is distributed by Angel Studios. While Angel Studios has released various holiday specials in theaters, as well as the season premiere and season finale of Season 3, this is the first season where the entire season will be available to watch in theaters.

Starting on February 1 were episodes 1-3, then on February 15 will be episodes 4-6, and then it will finish with episodes 7-8 starting on February 29. Instead of bringing this up three different times throughout this post, I’m deciding to post this at the top here. In regards to its box office, each segment is projected to make around $5-8 million, which is not bad considering it will be available on streaming before too long. The first three seasons of “The Chosen” are currently available on Amazon Prime, Peacock, and Angel Studios’ own platform, while season 1 is up on Netflix.

The movie that was actually No. 1 at the box office this past weekend was Matthew Vaughn’s action/spy thriller Argylle. This is a movie that centers around author Elly Conway who has just written her fifth book in her spy franchise surrounding the character of Agent Argylle. Elly then gets recruited on a mission to stop a certain organization because it is learned that the events of her book are taking place in real life and thus maybe she can be of help to stop them. The draw here is director Matthew Vaughn, who had solid success with the first two Kingsman movies, the first of which opened in February back in 2015 to $36.2 million. The sequel in 2017 then opened to $39 million. The prequel, “The King’s Man” did very poorly in 2021, but that had a lot of things going against it. In the weeks leading up to the movie, it was thought that “Argylle” could come close to $30 million, especially since it has a more user-friendly PG-13 rating. But now that said weekend is in the past, it wound up making a more modest $17.5 million, partially impacted by less than stellar reviews.

Opening in moderate release in 762 theaters by Roadside Attractions is the comedy/drama Scrambled. This is a movie that is written, directed, and stars Leah McKendrick in her feature-length directorial debut and is about a 34-year-old girl, who, after a breakup, decides to freeze her eggs after being unsure about her dating prospects. The trailer mentions that it’s based on the true story of so many women, which definitely feels like an accurate statement, although it does seem to at least be inspired by experiences the director herself went through. The movie premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival in March 2023 to positive remarks. Given the moderate theater count, it didn’t make much of a dent at the box office, opening to just $249,788, but it’s around as an option for some and will probably be available for streaming before too long.

February 9 - 11

Focus Features' "Lisa Frankenstein"

The second weekend of February includes Super Bowl Sunday! For those who don’t follow the NFL, this in past years has been the first Sunday in February. Recently the NFL added a new week to their schedule, pushing the Super Bowl to the second Sunday in February. Movies can do well over Super Bowl Sunday, but it’s typically movies that target those who are less likely to be interested in watching football because otherwise you’re basically getting a two-day weekend. Point in case, the record for Super Bowl weekend at the box office remains “Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour” from 2008 at $31.1 million. I don’t think you’re getting a ton of crossover with Hannah Montana and the NFL fans. Most of the time, studios simply avoid this weekend and release their February movies closer to Valentine’s Day. If we come to a point where the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day collide, I guess we cross that bridge when we get there. Looking at my calendar, that’s not until 2027, so we have some time.

All that to say that there’s only one new wide release for this weekend and that is Lisa Frankenstein, which is not looking at a very strong debut. Miley’s Super Bowl Weekend record will easily stay intact for yet another year. Although “Lisa Frankestein” is getting decent buzz among some film circles. I have heard early reviews of people who saw it and loved it, so there’s a chance that this at least hangs around in the conversation. As the title suggest, this is an adaptation of sorts of Mary Shelly’s “Frankenstein,” or at least inspired by it. A teenage girl in the modern age going through a goth phase falls in love with a corpse that comes to life in a comedy that seems to have shades of the 2013 movie “Warm Bodies,” which was a Romeo and Juliet adaptation with a girl and a zombie falling in love. This actually could be a decent option for Valentine’s Day, which hits mid-week after this weekend if people are less enthused at the two new options that will be opening. And in a funny coincidence, with “Lisa Frankenstein” opening and “Poor Things” having expanded for the Oscars, there will be two movies in theaters this month that are loosely based on “Frankenstein.”

Not a new release, but Disney this year will be releasing the three Pixar movies that didn’t get a theatrical release during the COVID years in “Soul,” “Turning Red” and “Luca.” Although word on this didn’t seem to get last month as “Soul” opened last month to just $431,840 in 1,350 theaters. But this weekend it will be Turning Red getting its chance. Given that “Soul” was a winner of best animated feature and still didn’t attract much of audience, I don’t imagine that “Turning Red” will do much better.

February 16 - 19

Sony's "Madame Web"

For this weekend, I have the date selection listed as Friday through Monday, with Monday being President’s Day, thus giving us a four-day holiday weekend. However, both new wide releases come out early on Wednesday, February 14, for Valentine’s Day, essentially giving both movies six days for their opening weekend window. That means the traditional three-day numbers will be muted a bit with their opening stretched out from Wednesday to Monday.

In year’s past, the release of the latest superhero movie would be the event of the month that would have everyone talking and buzzing, but with Madame Web, that’s not quite the current reality. The superhero genre had a really bad year in 2023 in regards to mainstream audience reaction to both Marvel and DC’s releases. Due to a certain chain of events, both studios essentially have the year off, leaving the stage to Sony for 2024 as they continue to build their Spider-Man Universe. Like with both Venom movies and “Morbius,” Spider-Man himself will not be showing up in any of these movies, but “Madame Web” will be introducing several of his female counterparts. Spider-Woman has had a fascinating history in the comics with many characters taking up that alias. The two most popular characters are probably Jessica Drew and Gwen Stacey, both of whom were in last year’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.” And while neither of them will be in this movie, barring a surprise cameo, this movie introduces Cassandra Webb, Julia Carpenter, Anya Corazon, and Mattie Franklin, all of whom have had time in the Spider suit in the comics at some point as some variation of a Spider-Woman, whether it be a second or third Spider-Woman, Madame Web, or Spider-Girl. In this movie, Dakota Johnson will be playing Cassandra Webb, aka Madame Web, while the biggest supporting character is Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter (or Julia Cornwall as she's renamed here).   

Projecting an opening weekend for “Madame Web” or its main competition is a bit hard to pin down exactly considering the less conventional six day frame, with the Wednesday and Monday holidays making things more spread out, but Box Office Pro’s long range forecast has had it in the $20-29 million range for the three-day, which would put it in the realm of DC’s “Blue Beetle,” which opened to $25 million in August. Considering both “Venom” movies opened above $80 million, while the much maligned “Morbius” opened to $39 million, this would not be the start that Sony is hoping for.  

Early buzz is that forecast might even be a tad bit generous for “Madame Web,” with the outside possibility that it could lose out to the other movie opening this weekend, Bob Marley: One Love, which the same long range forecast from Box Office Pro currently has at $15-20 million for the three-day. This Bob Marley biopic has been pushed quite heavily by Paramount for several months now and has Kingsley Ben-Adir starring as Bob Marley, with Reinaldo Marcus Green as director. Green’s last movie, “King Richard,” received six Oscar nominations, including best picture, and Ben-Adir is one of Hollywood’s current rising stars. So on paper this sounds like it could work out. And when these musical biopics hit, they hit big. But for every movie like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Elvis” that does hit, there’s at least one or two examples of movies that don’t. “Respect” in 2021 and “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” in 2022 did not hit, and those had Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston as their subject matters, so we’ll see if Bob Marley can strike a chord with audiences. A February release means they’re not pushing this as an Oscar, but there’s a chance it might catch on with audiences.

February 23 - 25

Crunchyroll's "Demon Slayer: To the Hashira Training"

February is a short month, which means this weekend is the final weekend showcased in this post. While the highly anticipated release of “Dune: Part Two” hits right on Friday, March 1, this weekend before that has three new options for people, which will likely be led by Demon Slayer: To the Hashira Training. “Demon Slayer” is a Japanese anime series that began in 2019 and has had three seasons so far. Over in Japan, much of the first season, which was 26 episodes in total, was released in blocks of episodes in theaters. Following the first season, there was a sequel movie titled “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train” or simply “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train,” which became the highest grossing movie of 2020 worldwide, mostly boosted by it becoming the highest grossing movie ever in Japan, dethroning 2001’s “Spirited Away.” The second season of “Demon Slayer” premiered in 2021 and the first seven episodes were an extended and recompiled version of the movie, followed by a second arc that was 11 episodes, meaning 18 episodes total. And finally, season 3 premiered last year in 2023 with one arc of 11 episodes.

If you’ve now got all that down, last February before season 3 premiered there was a theatrical event titled “Demon Slayer: To the Swordsmith Village that consisted of Episodes 11 and 12 of season 2 as a well as  sneak peak of Episode 1 of season 3. The initial movie, “Demon Slayer: Mugen Train,” was released in the United States in April 2021 and opened to $22.8 million, which was impressive for early 2021. Nothing had opened quite that high since COVID began. Last year in February 2023, “Demon Slayer: To the Swordsmith Village” opened to $10.1 million domestically. If you’re caught up on “Demon Slayer,” this current title, “Demon Slayer: To the Hashira Training” is doing exactly what “To the Swordsmith Village” did last year. It’s the final episode of Season 3 and the first episode of Season 4, before Season 4 premiers later this year. Box Office Pro has it projected at $14-23 million for its opening, but again that $10.1 million from last year’s event is the benchmark here.  

For those not on the “Demon Slayer” train, there are two other options available this weekend that are likely to attract polar opposite crowds. The first of those is Ordinary Angel, the feel-good, faith-based movie of the month. This is based on a true story in 1994 when a hairdresser rallies the community to help a widowed father save the life of his critically ill young daughter after a major snowstorm hits their city. The tagline in the trailer is “Faith can make the impossible possible.” Lionsgate is advertising this as being from the studio that brought you “Wonder,” which they’ve put on a lot of feel-good movies like this, but then more appropriately list that it’s from the team that produced other movies like “I Can Only Imagine” and “Jesus Revolution,” said team being the Erwin Brothers - Jon and Andrew Erwin, who have produced and/or directed a lot of movies like this. The actual director this time around is a man by the name of Jon Gunn, who also helped produce a lot of these films, but whose recently actual directing work includes “Do You Believe?” and “The Case for Christ.” With Easter being around the corner, this is well timed for Christian audiences.

When I mention that the other movie might attract a polar opposite crowd, I’ll say that the easiest way to describe Drive-Away Dolls is that it’s a quirky lesbian road-trip comedy. The movie follows a girl named Jamie, who has recently broken up with her girlfriend, and her friend Marian, who perhaps needs to loosen up a bit. In search of a fresh start, the two go on an impromptu road trip, where things get a bit wacky and weird, which includes them crossing paths with a group of inept criminals. The main draw here is that this comes from one half of the Coen Brothers duo, Ethan Coen. Among film fans, the Coen Brothers are very popular with movies like “Fargo,” “The Big Lebowski,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” “No Country for Old Men” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.” The brothers’ last movie together was back in 2018, and while I hear there’s not any animosity among them, they’re nevertheless flying solo for the time being, so we enter a new era, seeing what Ethan Coen can do on his own. And it starts here with what is reported to be a trilogy of silly lesbian B-movies.

While that’s it for new releases, it’s worth quickly noting that Warner Bros. this weekend will be re-releasing Tenet into theaters, perhaps timed decently as Christopher Nolan’s more recent release “Oppenheimer” is slated to perform very well at the Oscars the weekend after. “Tenet” was among the first movies to be released in theaters in 2020 during the pandemic as an experimental venture to attempt to bring audiences back to theaters. It did well enough, all things considered, but in hindsight it would’ve been a much smarter choice to just delay it for a year or two when theaters are open. It’s easy to say that now, but in fairness studios were desperate at the time to figure out how they’re going to make money and the future of movies was very unclear at the time. But nevertheless, those who missed “Tenet” in theaters now at least have an option to go see it again if they so desire.