Despite the rush to crown YouTuber Markiplier and Melania Trump as the king and queen of the January box office last week, their reigns appear short-lived. Neither Mark Fischbach, a.k.a. Markiplier, nor Trump could convince their legions of fans to brave the cold and skip the Super Bowl to return to theaters. Both Fischbach’s directorial debut, Iron Lung, and the hot-button advertisement for fascism, Melania, dropped hard in their second weekends, allowing Sam Raimi’s Send Help to claim another week atop the box office, with fellow vacationer, Kevin James, not far behind.
Fischbach deserves all the credit in the world for making his $3 million adaptation of an obscure video game a hit. Not only did the enterprising content creator write, direct, and star in the picture, but he’s also behind the distribution. The only reason it ended up at theaters across the country was word of mouth, with Fischbach encouraging his fanbase to call their local theaters and demand they book the film. It opened on 4,000 screens thanks to them.
But both Iron Lung and Melania are playing like another specialty money-maker at the box office: anime. Despite strong-to-great openings for Chainsaw Man and Demon Slayer, both experienced massive drops from week one to two. Demon Slayer, which opened to a surprising $70 million, dropped 75% the following week. Chainsaw Man opened to $17 million and dropped 66%. At number three, Iron Lung fell 63%, earning just $6.7 million in its second weekend. The movie is already a success, but it reveals that these niche releases are extremely front-loaded in terms of returns. Those not already familiar with Markiplier just aren’t interested in his movie. Thankfully for him, he has enough loyal viewers to make the movie a hit. Melania isn’t so lucky. The $75 million documentary sank like a stone, falling from number three to number 10, with $2.3 million, a 66% drop. It seems like anyone remotely interested in seeing it saw it last week. It might have secured the highest-grossing opening for a documentary in years, but because Amazon spent a fortune acquiring and advertising it—to say nothing of its documentary subject walking away with a $28 million paycheck—this movie has bombed.
It was a particularly weak weekend at the box office. Between the Super Bowl and a massive winter storm hitting much of the country, the multiplex did not make compelling arguments to leave the couch. Nevertheless, Sam Raimi’s Send Help stood strong, with a modest $9 million, a 53% drop. It’s not Boffo B.O., but it was enough to fend off Kevin James’ Solo Mio, which brought in $7 million. There was also another one of those niche, specialty movies that scored in its first week and will probably disappear in its second. At number four, the tour documentary and concert film about the K-pop group Stray Kids, Stray Kids: The DominATE experience, made $5.6 million.
The biggest surprise rounded out the top five: Luc Besson’s Dracula made $4.5 million. Apparently, people were dying for their French auteur’s stateside return or were dying to see Caleb Landry Jones vamp. It is only a little unsettling that disgraced filmmakers with histories of sexual assault allegations constitute a fifth of the box office. Joining Dracula on the other side of the top five is another horror film: The Strangers: Chapter 3 managed $3.4 million at number seven, continuing the series’ steady downward trajectory. In 2024, Chapter 1 made $11.8 million in its opening weekend; Chapter 2 made $5.8 million in 2025. Luckily, with the trilogy-capping Chapter 3, director Renny Harlin is getting out while the getting’s mid. Dollface’s stans aren’t as loyal as Markipliers. Though similar to Iron Lung, the Strangers trilogy was shot for cheap years ago and has probably recouped its costs already. Thankfully, The Strangers trilogy is not the type of thing anyone would spend $75 million to release.
Here’s the full top 10 (per The Numbers):
- 1) Send Help ($9 million)
- 2) Solo Mio ($7 million)
- 3) Iron Lung ($6.7 million)
- 4) Stray Kids: The DominATE experience ($5.6 million)
- 5) Dracula ($4.4 million)
- 6) Zootopia 2 ($4 million)
- 7) The Strangers: Chapter 3 ($3.4 million)
- 8) Avatar: Fire And Ash ($3.7 million
- 9) Shelter ($2.4 million)
- 10) Melania ($2.3 million)
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