Key Takeaways
Total 3-Day Weekend Gross:
$53,643,031 | -36.4% Last Week / -16.9% Weekend 4, 2025
Horrible weather conditions across large swaths of the country, including blizzard conditions in several top metro areas, combined with a weak slate of new releases, resulted in the lowest 2026 frame to date at $53.6M, hovering dangerously close to the 2025 low point of Frame 11 ($52.19M). With Avatar Fire and Ash sputtering out, Amazon MGM’s Mercy stepped in to #1 with a modest $11.2M haul over its opening weekend. It’s an important year for the streamer-turned-studio, as it opens a year full of theatrical releases in the top position.
- Top Title: Mercy (Amazon MGM) | $11.2M / 3,468 Screens / $3,201 PSA | Week 1
- Top Opener: Mercy (Amazon MGM) | $11.2M / 3,468 Screens / $3,201 PSA | Week 1
- Best PSA: Arco (Neon) | $51.39K / 4 Screens / $12,848 PSA | Week 11
1. Mercy
Amazon/MGM Studios | NEW
$11.2M 3-Day Opening Weekend | $22.7M Global Total
Amazon/MGM have started their 2026 slate strong with the #1 release of Mercy, alongside the successful trailer launch for Masters of the Universe, which has racked up over 20 million views on the official YouTube page alone. The $11.2M opening in 3,468 theaters for a $3,201 PSA marks the first time director Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) has banked a #1 debut, and is also in line with the $11.58M #1 performance of Flight Risk in this same frame last year. Although the 3D “filmed for IMAX” presentation was a major part of the marketing, only $1.35M came from IMAX locations, representing 12% of the overall total.
Here’s how the 3-Day looked, including $1.5M in Thursday previews…
- Friday – $5M
- Saturday – $3.9M
- Sunday – $2.2M
While the top spot debut was good optics for the director and MGM, this is easily star Chris Pratt’s lowest opener as a leading man, under Passengers’ $14.86M bow in 2016. Luckily, he will get an animated redemption with Q2’s The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which just today shifted from Friday, April 3, to a Wednesday, April 1 bow.
While this performance is fully in line with our forecasting panel’s forecast, several factors kept Mercy from a bigger opening, including a massive snowstorm that ravaged parts of the US. Also factor in the mixed-to-poor word of mouth between 20% Rotten Tomatoes critical, “B-” CinemaScore, and 2 1/2 stars via PostTrak (45% definite recommend). Audiences were 60% male/40% female and the largest age quadrant was 25-34’s at 27%, while teen appeal was nonexistent for the PG-13 actioner with 4% in the 13-17 bracket.
Here’s how demographics looked…
- 48% White
- 20% Latino
- 18% Black
- 8% Asian
- 6% Native American/Other
Overseas Mercy matched domestic, raising $11.6M from 80 international markets, for a global total of $22.7M. Top 3 markets are China ($2.6M), Mexico ($965K), and the UK ($866K). There are still ten more major markets to open including France and the Philippines (1/28), Malaysia and Singapore (01/29), Korea (2/4), and Taiwan (2/6).
Other Notable Performances
Avatar: Fire and Ash finally fell from its perch atop the charts with -52%, its steepest drop yet, for an estimated weekend total of $7M at #2. (For the curious, the first Avatar got taken down by Dear John while The Way of Water was unseated by Knock at the Cabin.) This takes domestic to $378.5M to maintain #4 standing on the 2025 charts, still chasing Zootopia 2, which just passed the $400M mark ($401.4M). Globally, the third Avatar continues to soar, adding $28.1M across 52 markets, bringing global earnings to $1.378B and maintaining #3 status for 2025. As of now, the $2B threshold of its predecessors is out of reach, and the best Avatar 3 might hope for is around $1.5B. It currently holds the 19th position on the all-time WW chart ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.359B) and behind Avengers: Age of Ultron ($1.395M). Assuming the law of diminishing returns holds, Cameron has already admitted he has to find a way to make the planned Avatar 4 and 5 in a less expensive fashion.
Iconic Releasing’s Return to Silent Hill may have marked the return of the first film’s Christophe Gans, but certainly not a reprise of past box office glory, taking in $3.2M from 1,850 screens for a $1,730 PSA at #7 behind the 6th week of Marty Supreme. His original Silent Hill adaptation had a $20.15M domestic debut via Sony Pictures two decades ago ($94.7M WW), while M. J. Bassett’s Silent Hill: Revelation 3D only grossed $8M ($55.97M WW). The waning popularity of the video game series, along with a boutique release, doomed this roughly $20M production from the start, but 16% RT critical and 30% audience score tell the real tale here.
Next Weekend
After making his biggest global hit ever with the second Doctor Strange entry, director Sam Raimi is returning to his gory roots and bringing that MCU movie’s Rachel McAdams with him. The two-hander Send Help casts McAdams as a put upon employee of an abusive boss (Dylan O’Brien), only for the tables to turn dramatically when the two wind up stranded on an island together. So far early reactions out of the premiere are calling it a return-to-form for Raimi, who last made a smaller-scale genre piece with 2009’s Drag Me to Hell. Will this be a Q1 horror sleeper ala Get Out, Split, or Mama? 20th Century and exhibitors sure hope so, especially after 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple washed out. We could see an upset finish for first place, as the independently produced and distributed movie, Iron Lung, is on pace for a wide release and the support of Gen Z audiences nationwide.
Sunday Studio Estimates | Weekend 4 – 2026
Total 3-Day Domestic Gross: $53,643,031 | (-16.9% vs 2025)
| Title | Weekend Estimate | % Change | Locations | Location Change | PSA | Domestic Total | Week | Distributor |
| Mercy | $11,100,000 | 3,468 | $3,201 | 11,100,000 | 1 | Amazon MGM | ||
| Avatar: Fire and Ash | $7,000,000 | -52% | 3,150 | -150 | $2,222 | 378,492,585 | 6 | 20th Century |
| Zootopia 2 | $5,700,000 | -38% | 2,930 | -170 | $1,945 | 401,427,846 | 9 | Walt Disney |
| The Housemaid | $4,200,000 | -51% | 3,007 | -94 | $1,397 | 115,452,000 | 6 | Lionsgate |
| 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple | $3,600,000 | -71% | 3,506 | n/c | $1,027 | 20,751,000 | 2 | Sony Pictures |
| Marty Supreme | $3,546,859 | -36% | 2,021 | -6 | $1,755 | 86,299,296 | 6 | A24 |
| Return to Silent Hill | $3,200,000 | 1,850 | $1,730 | 3,200,000 | 1 | Iconic | ||
| Hamnet | $2,000,000 | 48% | 1,996 | +1,278 | $1,002 | 17,628,000 | 9 | Focus Features |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring | $2,000,000 | -44% | 1,703 | +1,354 | $1,174 | 325,680,679 | 1,258 | New Line |
| Primate | $1,640,000 | -67% | 2,145 | -819 | $765 | 23,503,000 | 3 | Paramount |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King | $1,600,000 | -30% | 244 | -1,411 | $6,557 | 383,581,648 | 1,154 | Fathom Events |
| The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers | $1,600,000 | -33% | 257 | -86 | $6,226 | 349,701,429 | 1,206 | New Line |
| Anaconda | $1,300,000 | -61% | 1,807 | -617 | $719 | 62,172,000 | 5 | Sony Pictures |
| Clika | $1,275,000 | 522 | $2,443 | 1,275,000 | 1 | Sony Pictures | ||
| The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants | $965,000 | -60% | 1,416 | -523 | $681 | 69,591,000 | 6 | Paramount |
| Greenland 2: Migration | $950,000 | -73% | 1,889 | -829 | $503 | 16,886,000 | 3 | Lionsgate |
| Song Sung Blue | $800,000 | -54% | 1,152 | -441 | $694 | 37,118,000 | 5 | Focus Features |
| No Other Choice | $735,500 | -67% | $1 | 8,367,355 | 5 | Neon | ||
| The Testament of Ann Lee | $676,000 | 91% | 500 | 472 | $1,352 | 1,605,328 | 5 | Searchlight |
| David | $570,673 | -62% | 1,040 | -482 | $549 | 79,266,932 | 6 | Angel Studios |
| The Secret Agent | $220,000 | 10% | 145 | 31 | $1,517 | 2,871,508 | 9 | Neon |
| Is This Thing On? | $191,000 | -80% | 300 | -1,195 | $637 | 6,065,367 | 6 | Searchlight |
| Sentimental Value | $154,000 | 155% | 107 | 47 | $1,439 | 4,453,432 | 12 | Neon |
| Wicked: For Good | $150,000 | -51% | 853 | 439 | $176 | 342,830,000 | 10 | Universal |
| Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 | $75,000 | -76% | 222 | -179 | $338 | 127,703,000 | 8 | Universal |
| Arco | $51,392 | 4 | $12,848 | 89,677 | 11 | Neon | ||
| Resurrection | $39,400 | 43% | 30 | 6 | $1,313 | 570,608 | 7 | Janus Films |
| Magellan | $33,400 | 60% | 20 | 16 | $1,670 | 112,484 | 3 | Janus Films |
| Madagascar | 20,000 | -95% | 136 | -947 | $147 | 194,305,000 | 1,079 | Universal |
| It Was Just an Accident | $20,000 | 10% | 35 | 19 | $571 | 1,775,461 | 15 | Neon |
| OBEX | $6,456 | -19% | 11 | 3 | $587 | 32,452 | 3 | Oscilloscope |
| Mr. Nobody Against Putin | 5,707 | 1 | $5,707 | 13,030 | 1 | Kino Lorber | ||
| Mistress Dispeller | 100 | -95% | 1 | -$2 | $100 | $92,996 | 14 | Oscilloscope |
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