Jack Quaid in Novocaine
Paramount’s ‘Novocaine’ No. 1 Debut Can’t Lift Disastrous Box Office Weekend
March 16, 2025
Paramount Pictures’ action comedy Novocaine, starring Jack Quaid as a man who feels no physical pain, topped the weekend box office despite a low projected $8.7 million in ticket sales through March 16.
The tally, which was below modest projections of around $10 million and included $1.5 million in sneak Thursday screenings, means that just $7.2 million in tickets were sold starting Friday. The movie sold another $1.8 million in tickets internationally.
The ‘R’-rated movie spearheaded the worst overall domestic weekend box office of the year — despite four new releases — and is the slowest theatrical start for the month of March in 29 years. The current 2025 box office is almost 39% behind the similar time period in 2019.
In the No. 2 position was last weekend’s chart topper Mickey 17, starring Robert Pattinson. That film saw revenue plummet 60% to $7.6 million, followed close behind by Black Bag, the Focus Features ‘R’-rated spy thriller directed by Stephen Soderbergh, with $7.5 million in revenue ($11.7 million globally). Black Bag stars Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender as a husband-wife duo caught up in espionage.
Marvel Studios’ Captain America: Brave New World ranked No. 4 with $5.2 million in ticket sales, upping its North American total to $186 million.
Studiocanal’s Paddington in Peru, distributed by Columbia Pictures, made a projected $3.85 million for the weekend, upping its North American total to $41.3 million through Sunday.
The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie bowed at No. 5 with $3 million in revenue, followed by The Last Supper, which saw $2.8 million in ticket sales.
A24’s new drama Opus, starring Emmy winner Ayo Edebiri (“The Bear”) and two-time Oscar winner John Malkovich, underwhelmed already low expectations with just $1 million in ticket sales — less than half of already weak industry expectations — to round out the weekend box office.
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