Boogie, Zack Snyer's Justice League and More in This Week's MPAA Ratings Bulletin

By Chris Kavan - 02/03/21 at 11:40 AM CT

Welcome back to another edition of the pandemic box office madness. This week, the trifecta of Denzel Washington, Jared Leto and Rami Malek managed to propel The Little Things to a Covid-era win with a $4.8 million debut, the best for an R-rated film since the whole pandemic hit. It hit that mark despite being one of the same-day streaming titles on HBO Max and also with less-than-stellar reviews (47% on Rotten Tomatoes). It turns out people will still show up for big name stars, even if the film is a throwback to 90s-era crime thrillers. According to HBO the film was also their top-streaming title though, as expected, no solid numbers were given. While it is well below the opening for Washington's previous films (The Equalizer 2 opened with $36 million), with the box office still in such disarray, this qualifies as a win. Worldwide, The Little Things stands at $7.6 million.

In second place, the animated Croods: A New Age continued to show strength, actually gaining a slight 2.5% compared to last weekend with $1.8 million and raising its domestic total to just under $44 million and a worldwide total of $144.4 million. Wonder Woman 1984 landed in third, down 18.8% after being taken off HBO Max after its one-month streaming window closed. It stands at $39.2 million domestic but has done much better overseas with a worldwide total of $152 million. The Marksman relinquished its top spot and dropped a hefty 38.4% to land in fourth place with $1.3 million and a new $7.8 million domestic total. Monster Hunter rounded out the top five with $740,000 and a $11.1 million domestic total ($19.4 million worldwide).

Once again the future of the box office looks a tad bleak with the biggest upcoming titles being Tom and Jerry on 2/26, followed by Raya and the Last Dragon on 3/5 (both will be streaming at the same time on HBO Max and Disny+ respectively).

For actual ratings this week, there is something to talk about with basketball biopic Boogie (which has a wide release in early March) and streaming title Zach Snyder's Justice League both on the menu.

MPAA Official Logo

In order to tell a compelling story, you need the right elements. Eddie Huang, restaurateur and author (probably best known for Fresh Off the Boat which was adapted into a hit ABC comedy) and now first-time director of Boogie may seem like an odd choice, but where there is a first there is passion and hopefully it can capture that feeling. Boogie takes place in Queens, New York where our title character Alfred 'Boogie' Chin (Taylor Takahashi) is on the cusp of greatness. A basketball phenom, he dreams of the NBA but his daily life presents many challenges - from deciding to go to college to girlfriend drama to on-court rivals to just the burden of his life - and it lies heavy on his shoulders. While there have been many sports biopics - both for real and imagined characters - there have been almost none dealing one from an Asian-American perspective and Huang seems like a great fit for bringing the underrepresented group to the big screen. And while sports aren't exactly my go-to genre of choice, any film that can challenge and inspire is a win in my book. Rated R for language throughout including sexual references, and some drug use.

When it comes to films, come directors hate to use the word "Director's Cut" while other may lament the way the film turned out (Richard Donner and Superman, anyone?). Rarely do things turn out like they have for Zack Snyder, who is about to unleash a four-hour epic version of a much-maligned superhero film in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Not that everything has gone smooth with off-screen drama involving the likes of Ezra Miller and Ray Fisher casting a cloud over things. At one time it was rumored to be a mini-series, but Snyder has decided on one long cut promising new characters cut from the original, more Joker (Jared Leto) and extended scenes. And it now has an R-rating as opposed to the PG-13 for the 2017 version. Now does all this mean this version of the Justice League will be a better film? I still say it's too early to say, but despite his many dubious choices I still think Snyder is a solid director and I'm still willing to give him another shot. Rated R for violence and some language.

Well, at least we still have something to look forward to in these trying times and you can still check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below while you're at it:

12 MIGHTY ORPHANS

Rated PG-13 for violence, language, some suggestive references, smoking and brief teen
drinking.


ASSAULT ON VA-33

Rated R for violence and language.


BOOGIE

Rated R for language throughout including sexual references, and some drug use.


FINAL ACCOUNT

Rated PG-13 for thematic material and some disturbing images.


INVERSION

Rated R for drug content, language throughout, brief sexual material and nudity.


NIGHT OF THE KINGS

Rated R for some violent material, language and nudity.


SAS: RED NOTICE

Rated R for strong/bloody violence and language throughout.


THE SEVENTH DAY

Rated R for violent content, disturbing images and some language.


STRIP DOWN, RISE UP

Rated R for language, sexual material, brief graphic nudity and some descriptions of sexual
abuse.


TOGETHER TOGETHER

Rated R for some sexual references and language.


THE VOYEURS

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity including brief graphic nudity, language and some disturbing images.


WALKING WITH HERB

Rated PG for some mature thematic elements and brief language.


ZACK SNYDER'S JUSTICE LEAGUE

Rated R for violence and some language.

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