The Monkey and Its Box Office Success
The Monkey, Neon's latest venture into the horror comedy genre, has surprised everyone with its robust box office debut, snagging $14.2 million domestically. This makes it the second-best opening for Neon following Longlegs, which pulled in $22.4 million. Despite a mediocre C+ CinemaScore, the film managed to pull off the strongest horror opening in 2025. Skillfully directed by Osgood Perkins, the film brought the spine-chilling tale by Stephen King to life on the big screen.
Neon seems to have mastered the art of digital marketing. Instead of spending big bucks on TV ads, they invested under $300,000, focusing on online platforms that reach a broader audience. They even went as far as setting up an impressive 8-foot monkey display to generate buzz, along with collaborating with influencers to catch the attention of potential moviegoers. The trailer itself turned heads, clocking an impressive 100 million views within just 72 hours. Pretty wild, right?
The audience demographics for the film leaned towards males, who made up 58% of viewers. Moreover, a significant chunk of the audience was between 25-34 years old, making up 35% of the viewership. Premium Large Format (PLF) screens added to the grandeur, contributing about 12% of the total revenue.
Captain America: Brave New World Faces Box Office Challenges
While The Monkey made its mark, Captain America: Brave New World continued its reign at the box office for its second weekend. It raked in somewhere in the mid-to-high $20 million range, although it’s worth noting that it experienced a steep 68% drop from its initial weekend. Ouch. Nonetheless, this Marvel sequel still managed to score $28.2 million in domestic earnings this weekend, which isn't too shabby.
The movie is already boasting a hefty global total of $289.4 million. However, the decline it’s facing appears steeper compared to other Marvel flicks like Deadpool & Wolverine, which only saw a 54% dip, yet better than Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania at 70%. Captain America: Brave New World carries an eye-popping production budget of $180 million, with a daunting break-even target of $425 million. IMAX tickets contributed a decent $2.3 million to the film’s revenues during its second week.
Both The Monkey and Captain America: Brave New World have their successes and struggles. On one hand, The Monkey is solidifying Neon's reputation as a formidable player in the horror genre, while the Captain America sequel demonstrates some of the challenges faced by the Marvel Cinematic Universe in keeping up the momentum post-Endgame.
