‘Mean Girls’ Takes 1st Place at Box Office

A guest purchases a ticket in front of a box office at AMC movie theater in Lincoln Square, New York, US, March 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
A guest purchases a ticket in front of a box office at AMC movie theater in Lincoln Square, New York, US, March 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
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‘Mean Girls’ Takes 1st Place at Box Office

A guest purchases a ticket in front of a box office at AMC movie theater in Lincoln Square, New York, US, March 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo
A guest purchases a ticket in front of a box office at AMC movie theater in Lincoln Square, New York, US, March 6, 2021. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon/File Photo

Winter storms and cinema closures in North America didn’t dampen the opening weekend for “Mean Girls.” The Paramount release, adapted from the Broadway musical and the 2004 Tina Fey movie, earned $28 million in its first three days in theaters according to studio estimates Sunday. Not accounting for inflation, that’s more than the $24.4 million the first movie made in its opening weekend, The Associated Press reported.
The “Mean Girls” competition over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend featured several new releases, including the Jason Statham action movie “The Beekeeper" and the Jay-Z produced biblical satire “The Book of Clarence," in addition to a slew of awards contenders capitalizing on buzz from recent nominations and the Golden Globes.
As with “Barbie,” another enthusiastically pink movie, female audiences made up the vast majority (76%) of opening weekend ticket buyers for “Mean Girls.” According to exit polls, 70% were between the ages of 18 and 34, which, yes, means that it had appeal for audiences who hadn’t been born when Regina George was first introduced to the world.
“The property is iconic,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount’s president of domestic distribution. “Tina Fey is legendary and her contemporary twist has resonated with audiences, particularly the female audience.”
This iteration of “Mean Girls” stars Angourie Rice, Auli’i Cravalho and Reneé Rap, who played Regina on stage. It was originally planned to go straight to streaming on Paramount+, but the studio pivoted after test scores were positive. Social media played a big part in getting the word out and “Mean Girls” also inspired groups of friends to go to the movies together. An estimated 40% went with two or more friends.
Fey returned to write and co-star in the new film, which was directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. and cost a reported $36 million to produce. Reviews have been more positive than not, with a 70% on Rotten Tomatoes, but audiences gave it a B CinemaScore which may not bode especially well for word-of-mouth appeal. Recent musicals like “Wonka” and “The Color Purple” scored in the A-range. The studio is optimistic after this weekend though. It also made $6.5 million from 16 international markets.
“It’s no secret that the release calendar is a little light for the first couple months of the year and because of the reception to this film we stand a chance of broadening this audience,” Aronson said. “It really is a crowd-pleaser.”
Amazon and MGM’s “The Beekeeper" debuted in second place with an estimated $16.8 million from 3,303 theaters. Men made up approximately 62% of ticket buyers and audiences overall gave it a B+ CinemaScore. By the end of the four-day weekend, the studio expects it to have made $19.1 million. Miramax handled the international distribution for “The Beekeper,” which also grossed $20.4 million from 49 territories.
Third place went to “Wonka,” which added $8.4 million in its fifth weekend. The Timothée Chalamet-led musical has now made over $178 million domestically and $500 million globally.
“Musicals are on a roll,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “It seems like a lot of studios run away from putting musical on their films for fear of limiting their audience pool, but I think this is a genre Hollywood should embrace and highlight.”
The Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell romantic comedy “Anyone But You,” a Sony release, is turning into a bit of a sleeper success as well, making nearly $7 million in its fourth weekend. By Monday, its domestic total should be around $56.5 million. Universal and Illumination’s “Migration” rounded out the top five with $6.2 million in its fourth weekend.
Not everything landed this weekend, though. “The Book of Clarence,” a faith-based comedy/drama with a starry, ensemble cast including LaKeith Stanfield, Omar Sy, RJ Cyler, David Oyelowo, Alfre Woodard and Teyana Taylor is not off to a promising start. The Legendary Pictures release opened to an estimated $2.6 million from just over 2,000 locations.
Written and directed by the British singer-songwriter Jeymes Samuel (stage name The Bullitts), it was self-consciously styled after Golden Age biblical epics like “The Ten Commandments.” It has also gotten mixed reviews, with 68% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B CinemaScore.
The Walt Disney Co. sent its 2020 Pixar film “Soul” to movie theaters this weekend as well, where it made $429,000 from 1,350 locations in North America. It's the first of several Pixar movies, including “Luca" and “Turning Red,” that Disney is bringing to theaters this winter after all had streaming-only releases on Disney+ during the pandemic.
Hollywood's awards season is also in full swing, and though many top contenders are already available to watch at home, some are still rolling out in theaters and hoping to capitalize on new nominations and awards shows like last weekend's Golden Globes. “Poor Things,” which was a big winner, added $1.8 million from only 580 theaters. “All of Us Strangers” took in $474,000 from 120 screens. “American Fiction” expanded nationwide and made $1.9 million from 625 screens. “The Zone of Interest,” playing on 25 screens, also crossed $1 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Tuesday.



Raspy-voiced Hit Machine Rod Stewart Turns 80

Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
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Raspy-voiced Hit Machine Rod Stewart Turns 80

Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File
Singer Rod Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s. Kirsty Wigglesworth / POOL/AFP/File

Singer Rod Stewart, who helped British rock conquer the world with a string of megahits, turns 80 on Friday -- with no plans to slow down.
Stewart, with his distinctive spiky blond hair and raspy voice, dominated pop charts during the 1970s and 1980s with hits like "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Young Turks", notching up more than 250 million record sales worldwide.
He also made headlines for a prolific love life that included relationships with a string of models and actresses including Britt Ekland.
Despite his landmark birthday, Stewart says he has no plans to retire.
"I love what I do, and I do what I love. I'm fit, have a full head of hair and can run 100 meters (330 feet) in 18 seconds at the jolly old age of 79," he wrote last year.
The star will play the legends slot at the famed Glastonbury music festival this summer.
Although his forthcoming European and North American tour dates will be his last large-scale project, he has said he plans to concentrate on more intimate venues in the future.
He will headline a new residency in Las Vegas from March to June.
A tour is also slated for 2026 for Swing Fever, the album he released last year with pianist and ex-Squeeze band member Jools Holland.
As he has approached his ninth decade, Stewart has also made headlines for quirkier reasons such as his passion for model railways and his battle with potholes that have prevented him from driving his Ferrari near his home in eastern England.
The singer, who was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2016, has been married three times and has fathered eight children. His third wife is model and television personality Penny Lancaster.
From London to global star
Stewart's story began in north London on 10 January 1945, when Roderick Stewart was born into a middle-class family.
After a "fantastically happy childhood", he developed a love of music when his father bought him a guitar in 1959, and he formed a skiffle band with school friends a year later.
He joined the band Dimensions in 1963 as a harmonica player, exploring his love of folk, blues and soul music while learning from other artists such as Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in London's blossoming rhythm and blues scene.
Stewart's career took off in 1967 when he joined the renowned guitarist Jeff Beck's eponymous new band, which also included future Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, allowing him to develop his raw and soulful vocal style and stagecraft while exposing him to a US audience.
He and Wood took up the offer to join mod pioneers Small Faces following the departure of their singer Steve Marriott in 1969 -- the band soon changing its name to The Faces -- shortly before Stewart released his debut solo album.
It was his 1971 third solo release, "Every Picture Tells a Story", that confirmed him as one of the world's most successful artists, reaching number one in Britain, Australia and the United States, where it went platinum.
The album helped define Stewart's rock/folk sound, featuring heartfelt lyrics and heavy use of unusual instruments such as the mandolin, particularly prominent on the album's standout hit "Maggie May".
"I just love stories with a beginning, middle and end," he once said.
'I had the last laugh'
Focusing on his solo career after 1975, Stewart's "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" released in 1978 was not to everyone's taste.
"Once the most compassionate presence in music, he has become a bilious self-parody -– and sells more records than ever," Rolling Stone magazine said in 1980.
Never one to be cowed by the critics, Stewart defended this phase, telling an interviewer that audiences "absolutely love it, so I had the last laugh".
Richard Houghton, author of the book "Tell Everyone -- A People's History of the Faces" said that Stewart had "possibly the most distinctive voice in rock music".
The singer had successfully combined writing classic songs of his own such as "Maggie May" or "You Wear It Well" with taking other people's songs -- from Bob Dylan to Tom Waits -- and making them his own .
More recently, there had been four albums of the "classic songs of the 1930s from his Great American Songbook catalogue".
Houghton said audiences could expect to see plenty more of Stewart.
"He's like any entertainer. He loves the spotlight. He's not going to sit at home watching the television when somewhere around the world there's a crowd wanting to hear him sing 'Mandolin Wind' or 'First Cut Is The Deepest' one more time.
"Rod will keep singing until the day he drops," he added.