After two weeks playing bridesmaid at the box office to the adaptation of Broadway's "Mean Girls" musical, Jason Statham's unlikely action hit "The Beekeeper" is the new queen bee at the box office.
It was an admittedly whisper-quiet weekend at movie theaters, but Statham's apiary action flick buzzed its way through that silence for a first-place finish with $7.4 million.
That brings the film's domestic take to more than $42 million. With international grosses nearing $62 million, "The Beekeeper" has swarmed to more than $104 million worldwide.
Looking slightly less fetch in its third weekend, "Mean Girls" dropped to the number two spot after sliding more than 37% from last weekend.
The musical brought in $7.3 million, bringing its earnings in North America to nearly $61 million. The movie has been less successful elsewhere, bringing in just $22.6 million so far for a worldwide tally of more than $83 million.
In third is another musical, "Wonka." The song and dance prequel to the Gene Wilder classic brought in $5.9 million in its seventh weekend. Domestically it has brought in more than $195 million so far. Outside the U.S. it has fared even better, with grosses totaling nearly $357 million. Worldwide, "Wonka" has so far made more than $552 million.
Fourth place at the weekend box office belongs to "Migration," which also held the spot last weekend.
The animated family comedy continues taking wing with a slight 5% drop from last weekend. The $5.2 million it brought in this weekend allowed the film to flap its way past $101 million in America.
Elsewhere it has made nearly $105 million for a global gross of more than $206 million so far.
Also repeating in the same position as last weekend, the R-rated rom com "Anyone but You" notched another tiny drop, this wekend just 11%, to keep the number five spot.
The movie brought in another $4.8 million as its domestic box office approaches $72 million, a figure no box office analyst imagined possible when it opened six weeks ago.
It has made another $55.4 million overseas for a worldwide box office total of nearly $127 million so far.
Outside the top five, two movies that were nominated for Best Picture Academy Awards last week saw their weekend numbers vastly improve.
The fantastical, idiosyncratic sci-fi comedy drama "Poor Things" jumped 43% from last weekend, making $3.04 million in sixth place, while the satirical "American Fiction" rose an even more impressive 65% from last weekend, bringing in $2.9 million.
Here are the top ten movies at this weekend's box office:
1. "The Beekeeper" ($7.4 million)
2. "Mean Girls" ($7.3 million)
3. "Wonka" ($5.9 million)
4. "Migration" ($5.2 million)
5. "Anyone but You" ($4.8 million)
6. "Poor Things" ($3.04 million)
7. "American Fiction" ($2.9 million)
8. "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom" ($2.8 million)
9. "Godzilla Minus One" ($2.6 million)
10. "The Boys in the Boat" ($2.2 million)
