It feels good that over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, the number one film will be a civil rights drama. Hidden Figures beat out Rogue One last weekend to be the top grossing film, and it’s showing no signs of slowing down. According to THR, the film pulled in $5.5 million on Friday and is likely to pull in about $23 million over the holiday weekend. Its current box office total is $39 million, which is impressive. Given the critical acclaim and commercial success, don’t be surprised if Hidden Figures gets a Best Picture nomination.

However, other Oscar hopefuls weren’t so lucky this weekend. Ben Affleck’s Live by Night didn’t do well in limited release, and its fortunes didn’t improve when it expanded to 2,822 theaters this past week. While Affleck’s previous directorial efforts have done fairly well at the box office, Live by Night tanked, garnering only a ‘B’ CinemaScore and $2.9 million on Friday for a projected weekend gross of $6-7 million. The film cost $65 million to make, and it doesn’t look like it will come anywhere close to recouping that at the domestic box office.

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Image via Paramount Pictures

While a Ben Affleck gangster drama failing to perform may be a bit of a surprise, perhaps we shouldn’t be too shocked that Martin Scorsese’s 2 hour and 41 minute meditation on faith has failed to attract an audience. Silence expanded to 747 theaters, but only managed to earn $660,000 on Friday for a projected weekend gross of $2-3 million. Scorsese’s passion project cost about $50 million to make, and it’s a shame that people haven’t turned out for it. Silence is a tough film, but it’s absolutely worth seeing.

Also expanding this weekend was Peter Berg's Patriots Day.  While the film isn't likely to break into the awards race, it's projected to make $14 million-$15 million as it expands nationwide into a total of 3,120 theaters, which isn't too shabby for a film with a $40 million budget.  It will be interesting to see if it has legs like Berg's previous January release, Lone Survivor.

When it comes to new releases, Monster Trucks was a flop. Surprisingly, a film that was partially dreamt up by a four-year-old failed to appeal to audiences, and while it did net an A CinemaScore, the movie has a projected four-day gross of $12 million-$13 million from 3,111 locations against a $125 million budget. So I wouldn’t get your hopes up about Monster Trucks 2 or seeing if your local pre-school has any aspiring producers.

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Image via STX Entertainment

But not everything was bleak for new releases. The Bye Bye Man, despite receiving dismal reviews, proved there’s always an audience for cheap horror. Despite a dismal ‘C’ CinemaScore (side note: When it comes to CinemaScore, anything less than ‘A-’ is considered disappointing), the movie pulled in $5.4 million Friday from 2,200 cinemas for a four day gross of $15 million-$16 million. With a reported production budget of $7.4 million, that’s a huge win for STX Entertainment.

And while it didn’t do quite as well as The Bye Bye Man, Sleepless is proving Jamie Foxx’s starpower by performing better than expected. The film opened on 1,803 locations and is expected to make $10 million over the four-day weekend.

Finally, La La Land continues to use its awards prowess to become the must-see movie of the season. The film is expected to earn $16-17 million over the four-day weekend, which would bring its domestic total to $76 million. That’s not too shabby when you consider that Hollywood hasn’t produced an original musical since Newsies.

Come back tomorrow for the full weekend box office report.

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Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Paramount
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Image via Lionsgate