Jason Statham’s ‘A Working Man’ Steals the Spotlight, Knocks ‘Snow White’ Off Its Box Office Throne
Hollywood got a wake-up call this weekend as Jason Statham’s gritty thriller A Working Man roared to the top of the box office, leaving Disney’s Snow White eating dust. Studio estimates released Sunday showed Statham’s latest action flick pulling in a solid $15.2 million debut, while the live-action remake stumbled hard in its second week. Here’s how it all went down.
Statham Strikes Gold, Snow White Takes a Tumble
No one saw this upset coming. After a shaky start, Disney’s Snow White—helmed by Marc Webb and starring Rachel Zegler—was expected to hold onto the No. 1 spot in U.S. and Canadian theaters. But bad buzz and a brutal 66% drop in ticket sales sent it plummeting to $14.2 million for the weekend. With a $250 million price tag, the film’s global haul of $143.1 million after two weeks has turned it into a fairy-tale flop.
Meanwhile, A Working Man, from Amazon MGM Studios and director David Ayer, exceeded all predictions. Statham, reteaming with Ayer after last year’s $162 million hit The Beekeeper, plays a construction worker with a secret military past in this Sylvester Stallone-co-written thriller. Sure, critics were lukewarm and audiences gave it a “B” CinemaScore, but $15.2 million on opening weekend proves Statham’s still got that rare star power. Sound familiar? The Beekeeper kicked off with $16.5 million, and A Working Man is hot on its heels.
What Else Hit Theaters?
The weekend wasn’t just about Statham and Snow White’s showdown. A handful of newcomers arrived, though none shook the box office like A Working Man:
- ‘The Chosen: The Last Supper’: This Christian TV series spinoff nabbed $11.5 million across 2,235 theaters. Season 5’s theatrical rollout is already a hit with fans, with more episodes coming through April.
- ‘Death of a Unicorn’: A24’s quirky horror-comedy, starring Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd, follows a dad and daughter who accidentally hit a unicorn. It pulled in $5.8 million from 3,050 theaters—cute, but no game-changer.
- ‘The Woman in the Yard’: Blumhouse’s low-budget ($12 million) chiller, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra and starring Danielle Deadwyler, scored $9.4 million in 2,842 theaters. Critics trashed it, but that’s not bad for a creepy tale about a mysterious yard lurker.
Oh, and let’s not forget a surprise win: the 1997 Studio Ghibli gem Princess Mononoke. Hayao Miyazaki’s classic raked in $4 million on just 347 IMAX screens—a flex for hand-drawn art in the age of AI animation hype.
Hollywood’s Rough Start to 2025
Zoom out, and the picture’s less rosy. Ticket sales are lagging—down 11% from this time in 2024 and a whopping 40% from 2019, per Comscore. Paul Dergarabedian, a senior analyst at Comscore, isn’t panicking yet: “Hopefully A Minecraft Movie can level up the box office next weekend. We need some momentum after these shaky weeks.” The family-friendly flick will duke it out with Snow White for the kid crowd.
Smaller Stories, Big Heart
Rounding out the weekend, Sony Pictures Classics’ The Penguin Lesson debuted with $1.2 million across 1,017 theaters. Steve Coogan stars as an Englishman in 1976 Argentina who saves a penguin from an oil spill—quiet, but charming.
The Top 10 Rundown
Final numbers drop Monday, but here’s the estimated Top 10 for Friday through Sunday in U.S. and Canadian theaters (via Comscore):
- A Working Man – $15.2 million
- Snow White – $14.2 million
- The Chosen: The Last Supper – $11.5 million
- The Woman in the Yard – $9.4 million
- Death of a Unicorn – $5.8 million
- Princess Mononoke – $4 million
- Captain America: Brave New World – $2.8 million
- Black Bag – $2.2 million
- Mickey 17 – $1.9 million
- Novocaine – $1.5 million
Statham’s triumph might just be the jolt Hollywood needs. Will Minecraft keep the streak alive? Stay tuned.
