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You know things aren’t great when a weekend sees two holdovers in a close race for #1 and the winner takes it with just $30M.

That’s Hollywood’s yo-yo distribution strategy at work, making it feast or famine at the boxoffice every other weekend. Last year’s strikes are blamed for today’s lack of big movies — but the crisis reflects how long the AMPTP took to reach a settlement with the striking actors and writers.

Meanwhile, back at the multiplexes, Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s KUNG FU PANDA 4 was still number one in weekend two with $30M — down only 48.27% — at 4,067 theatres ($7,376), per Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian. It reportedly was produced for a modest (for animation) $85M. It’s done $107.7M domestic with a global cume of $176.5M.

WB/Legendary Entertainment was a close #2 with weekend three of  DUNE: PART TWO with $29.1M (-37.03%) at 3,847theatres ($7,564). It’s done $205.3M domestic with a worldwide cume of $494.7M. D2 reportedly cost $190M (or more) to produce, with Legendary paying most of it.

Lionsgate’s PG-13 stray dog adventure ARTHUR THE KING opened without much bite in third place to $7.5M at 3,003 theatres ($2,498). Hollywood handicappers were talking about a $10M debut. It reportedly cost about $20M to produce. Rotten Tomatoes’ critics are a soft 63%, but audiences are cheering at 98%, so word of mouth should be good.

The weekend’s overall marketplace, per Comscore, totaled $88.2M, down 37% from the prior weekend and down 6% vs. this time last year. Comscore’s year to date tally has 2024 at $1.33B, down 10% from $1.47B in 2023. 

Next weekend will give exhibitors something to help keep the lights on as Sony/Bron Studios launches its PG-13 fantasy adventure comedy GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE at about 4,000 theatres. Media pundits are buzzing about a $50-60M debut.

Going into this weekend, EMPIRE was tracking best with men over 25 (11 points over norm) and next best with women over 25 (eight points over norm). No Rotten Tomatoes scores are available yet.