Statham’s 'A Working Man’ upsets ‘Snow White’ to take No. 1 at the box
office
[March 31, 2025]
By JAKE COYLE
NEW YORK (AP) — In an unexpected upset, the Jason Statham thriller “A
Working Man” took No. 1 at the box office, besting the rapidly declining
“Snow White,” according to studio estimates Sunday.
Even after a lackluster debut, the Walt Disney Co.’s live-action remake
was predicted to remain the top film in U.S. and Canadian theaters over
the weekend. Instead, “Snow White,” plagued by bad buzz and backlash,
nosedived in its second weekend and dropped 66%.
At the same time, Amazon MGM Studios’ “A Working Man,” directed by David
Ayer, beat expectations with a $15.2 million debut. Co-written by
Sylvester Stallone, “A Working Man” reteams Statham and Ayer following
last year’s successful “The Beekeeper” ($162 million worldwide). This
time around, Statham plays a construction worker with an elite military
past.
While reviews have been mixed and audiences only gave “A Working Man” a
“B” CinemaScore, showing Statham has carved out something rare in the
movie industry today: bankability. “A Working Man” opened similarly to
“The Beekeeper,” which launched with $16.5 million.
The bigger headline, though, might have been the fast erosion of ticket
buyers' appetite for “Snow White.” The film, directed by Marc Webb and
starring Rachel Zegler, had been hoped to lift movie theaters after a
painful start to 2025. Produced for more $250 million, the film has
turned into a poisoned apple, with a two-week global haul of $143.1
million.
Next weekend, Warner Bros.’ “A Minecraft Movie,” is expected to win the
weekend and will, like “Snow White,” target family audiences.
A trio of newcomers – A24’s “Death of a Unicorn,” Universal and
Blumhouse’s “The Woman in the Yard,” and the Fathom’s “Chosen: The Last
Supper” – also opened over the weekend, though none made a big impact.
“The Chosen: The Last Supper,” fared the best, with $11.5 million in
2,235 theaters. The Christian TV series, now in its fifth season, has
regularly driven ticket sales before streaming. More episodes will roll
out in theaters through April.
“Death of a Unicorn,” a horror comedy starring Jenna Ortega and Paul
Rudd, portrays a father and daughter who hit a unicorn on the road while
they're driving. The movie collected a modest $5.8 million from 3,050
theaters.
The weekend’s more straightforward horror contender, Blumhouse’s “The
Woman in the Yard,” starring Danielle Deadwyler, debuted with $9.4
million from 2,842 cinemas. In “Black Adam” director Jaume Collet-Serra’s
film, a mysterious woman keeps appearing in a family’s front yard.
Though it cost little to make, with a production budget of $12 million,
it has been slammed by critics.
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This image released by Amazon MGM Studios shows Jason Statham in a
scene from "A Working Man." (Dan Smith/Amazon MGM Studios via AP)
 One of the weekend’s biggest
successes was the 1997 Studio Ghibli classic “Princess Mononoke."
The Hayo Miyazaki film grossed $4 million across just 347 IMAX
screens. Distributor GKids touted that result as a victory for
humanity over technology. Earlier in the week, a new version of
ChatGPT allowed users to render images in Studio Ghibli-like
animation.
Sony Pictures Classic’s “The Penguin Lesson,” starring Steve Coogan
and Jonathan Pryce, opened with $1.2 million at 1,017 theaters.
Coogan plays an Englishman teaching in Argentina in 1976 who rescues
a penguin from an oil spill.
With flagging ticket sales overall, Hollywood marked the first
quarter of 2025 with a sizeable box-office deficit. Sales are down
11% from the same point in 2024, and nearly 40% from 2019, according
to Comscore.
“Hopefully ‘Minecraft’ can help the marketplace level up since after
some underwhelming weekends at the box office we need to get some
momentum back at the multiplex,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior
media analyst for Comscore.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures due Monday, the following list factors
in estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and
Canadian theaters, according to Comscore:
1. “A Working Man,” $15.2 million
2. “Snow White,” $14.2 million.
3. “The Chosen: Last Supper,” $11.5 million.
4. “The Woman in the Yard,” $9.5 million.
5. “Death of a Unicorn,” $5.8 million.
6. “Princess Mononoke,” $4 million.
7. “Captain America: Brave New World,” $2.8 million.
8. “Black Bag,” $2.2 million.
9. “Mickey 17,” $1.9 million.
10. “Novocaine,” $1.5 million.
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