The Super Bowl weekend box office has broken a record despite being slow, thanks to the combined might of Dog Man, Heart Eyes, and Love Hurts. The Dog Man release kicked off during the first weekend of February, with the DreamWorks animated movie taking in a smashing 3-day debut haul of $36 million at the domestic box office. Its sophomore weekend sees it competing with the romantic-comedy-slasher hybrid Heart Eyes and the action-comedy Love Hurts, which stars Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan as a charming realtor whose past as a hitman comes back to haunt him.
Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Dog Man is projected to stumble during its sophomore weekend with a 3-day domestic box office total of roughly $13.7 million representing a week-on-week drop of 62%. That is a rough blow when compared to the 49% week 2 drop of 2017’s Captain Underpants, the movie from which it is a spinoff.
However, thanks to the combined might of the two new releases, the overall box office is set to become the best Super Bowl weekend of the 2020s so far, with a $57.8 million haul pushing it ahead of the previous record-holder, which was 2022’s $53.8 million, propelled by Death on the Nile, Marry Me, and Jackass Forever. This 2025 Super Bowl total has been buoyed by Heart Eyes, which is projected to debut at No. 2 with a total between $8.5 and $10 million, and Love Hurts, which should debut at No. 3 with $6 million.
What This Means For The Domestic Box Office
Super Bowl Weekend 2025 Could Be A Great Sign
While Dog Man taking a tumble could be a bad omen for the DreamWorks movie’s prospects, the fact that the Super Bowl weekend is performing relatively well is reflective of the box office’s overall positive trend in 2025. The previous week, Variety had already reported that ticket sales for the first part of the year were up when compared to 2024 and 2023. This shows that the box office is continuing to recover after a damaging beginning of the decade, which has included major theatrical and production shutdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, followed by the 2023 Hollywood strikes.
The Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild both took to the picket lines to fight for fair pay in 2023.
An important sign of recovery is the fact that the box office seems to be rebuilding a “middle class” of movies. This is exemplified by the Heart Eyes release. Although the horror movie may not become a runaway hit, it only cost $18 million and is well on its way toward recouping that investment. 2025 has already been scattered with similar midbudget successes, including Den of Thieves: Pantera and One of Them Days, which could go a long way toward healing the box office, more than singular smash hits such as Top Gun: Maverick or Avatar: The Way of Water.
Our Take On The Weekend Box Office
February Is Uphill From Here
Although Dog Man, Heart Eyes, and Love Hurts have already appealed to general audiences enough to achieve this Super Bowl record, the rest of the month is even more promising. The weekend of Valentine’s Day, for instance, sees the premiere of the upcoming Captain America: Brave New World and the domestic debut of Paddington in Peru, two franchise movies that could provide a huge shot of adrenaline to the market. However, mid-level releases like the Osgood Perkins horror movie The Monkey and A24’s The Legend of Ochi could help continue to rebuild that middle class in the following weeks.
Source: Deadline & Variety
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Movie
My Favorite Movies
My WatchlistDog Man
5/10
Release Date
January 31, 2025
Director
Peter Hastings
Movie
My Favorite Movies
My WatchlistHeart Eyes
5/10
Release Date
February 7, 2025
Director
Josh Ruben
Writers
Michael Kennedy, Phillip Murphy, Christopher Landon
Cast
Movie
My Favorite Movies
My WatchlistLove Hurts
6/10
Release Date
February 7, 2025
Director
JoJo Eusebio
Writers
Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, Luke Passmore
Cast
