Box Office: Chris Pratt’s ‘Mercy’ Topples ‘Avatar 3’ With $11.2M but Can’t Outrun Brutal Winter Storm

Mercy me.

A massive winter storm impacting much of the U.S. is taking a toll on the domestic box office as numerous communities and cities advised citizens to stay home and more than 400 hundred theaters closed. Overall revenue is expected to fall to the lowest point of the year to date, while it’s also the first weekend to come in behind the same frame in 2025.

The weekend’s winner is Timur Bekmambetov‘s new thriller Mercy, starring Chris Pratt as a man who is on trial for murdering his wife. In a chilling development, he learns his fate rests in the hands of an artificial intelligence judge. On Saturday, MGM Amazon Studios reported an estimated $12.6 million opening before the extent of theater closures was known.

Overseas, it started off with a promising $11.6 million.

In North America, the storm isn’t Mercy‘s only challenge. Critics have snubbed the film, while audience exits are only so-so, including a B- CinemaScore.

Mercy does get bragging rights for being the film that finally toppled James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash after ruling the roost the five previous weekends.

Fire and Ash, from 20th Century Fox and Disney, remains a powerhouse, regardless. In North America, it came in No. 2 with an estimated $7 million, putting its domestic cume at $378.5 million for a global haul of $1.379 billion. And it easily trounced Mercy overseas in earning another $28 million to clear the $1 billion mark internationally, which is no easy feat in this day and age.

Fellow Disney animated blockbuster Zootopia 2, holding at No. 3, brought in $5.7 million in North America as the record-breaking film notched another milestone in crossing the $400 million mark domestically. After nine weekends, Zootopia 2 has grossed an eye-popping $1.744 billion worldwide, including $401.4 million domestically and $1.343 billion internationally.

Between the two films, Disney has dominated the global and international charts for nine consecutive weekends.

Director Paul Feig’s Sydney Sweeney-Amanda Seyfried vehicle The Housemaid also continues to clean up for Lionsgate. It held at No. 4 in its sixth outing with an estimated $4.2 million for a domestic tally of $115.4 million. The female-skewing film has earned a stunning $294.9 milion globally, becoming Feig’s top-grossing film, not adjusted for inflation.

Nia DaCosta’s elevated horror-zombie sequel 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple isn’t so lucky. After opening behind expectations at the MLK Holiday box office, it fell to No. 5 in its sophomore outing with $3.6 million for a domestic total of $21.4 million and $46.1 million globally.

The fabled box office bump that movies can enjoy after landing top Academy Award nominations has diminished over the years, but it can still be a factor. Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, from A24, had been an overperformer even before landing nine top nominations on Jan. 22, including best picture and best actor Timothée Chalamet (most are betting he wins). This weekend, the film is set to come in No. 6 with an estimated $3.5 million, a drop of just 35 percent.

That could be the second-best hold of any film in the top behind Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, another Oscar frontrunner that landed eight nominations for Focus Features after winning best drama at the Golden Globes Jan. 11. The art house pic, which started off playing in select runs in November, expanded into a total of 1,276 theaters this weekend. Moving into the top 10, it grossed $2 million for a domestic haul of $17.6 million. Steven Spielberg and Sam Mendes are hitting the awards campaign trail hard for Zhao.

The only other new release of the weekend was Return to Silent Hill, from Chris McGurk’s Cineverse Entertainment. The reboot landed with a thud, earning just $3.3 million.

“The film has a total investment of only $3.5 mil, so it will be very profitable for us and a great addition to our library and streaming channels,” McGurk said in a statement. “The weather clearly was big factor this weekend and impacted the box office significantly for everyone. Hopefully the industry will get some of this missed demand back during this week and next weekend if the weather improves.”

Staying relatively high up on the chart is an ongoing special 25th-year anniversary rerelease of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Warner Bros. and Fathom are partnering on the event. The three films collectively brought in another $6.7 million domestically and $12 million overseas for a cume of $18.7 million.

Jan. 25, 8:15 a.m.: Updated with revised numbers.
Jan. 25, 11:45 a.m.: A previous version of this story had incorrect numbers for Avatar 3. THR regrets the error.

This story was originally published Jan. 24 at 11:23 a.m.