‘Novocaine’ Needs Just $8.7 Million Opening to Lead Extremely Poor Box Office

A mid-March weekend at the box office is supposed to be a busy one with spring break beginning and four-quadrant films on offer. But the film industry is in such a terrible slump that Paramount’s R-rated action comedy “Novocaine” was able to take No. 1 with an opening weekend of just $8.7 million.

That’s a decent result for “Novocaine,” which comes with an $18 million price tag and might be able to find some legs among college students on spring break and action movie fans still open to the film’s general concept of a mild-mannered protagonist thrust into an ultraviolent journey that bears similarities to films like “Nobody” and “Love Hurts.” Along with a B on CinemaScore, “Novocaine” earned Rotten Tomatoes scores of 82% critics and 88% audience.

But the overall total for this weekend is expected to come in at an anemic $55 million, similar to the $56.6 million of last weekend. This is not only the lowest weekend of 2025 so far and a 39% year-over-year drop, but it is also the worst overall total seen on a non-pandemic March weekend since March 29, 1996, when the fourth weekend of the MGM comedy “The Birdcage” led the charts to an overall unadjusted $52.6 million total.

Next weekend sees some relief in the form of Disney’s “Snow White,” but that will be limited as the film is expected to open somewhere in the vicinity of the $45.9 million opening of the 2019 remake of “Dumbo,” making it a threat to become a high-profile flop in Disney’s remake series. Despite that, it may be the highest opening weekend between now and the start of the summer blockbuster season in May, unless Warner Bros.’ “Minecraft” and “Sinners” can get some traction.

More to come…

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