SUNDAY AM WRITETHRUafter Saturday PM update:What did this weekend prove at the box office?

Its not just about tentpoles.

However, both movies had something that propelled audiences: They had sticky titles.

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From left: ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,’ ‘Cocaine Bear’ and ‘Jesus Revolution’Everett Collection

It doesnt get much better thanCocaine BearandJesusin your movie titles when it comes to creating want-to-see marketing.

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Not all animals-maul-people movies outside of sharks and King Kong open to great heights.

However,Cocaine Bearwas different.

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JESUS REVOLUTION, Lionsgate /Courtesy Everett Collection

She wasnt all horror or serious, but had campy comedy.

The pic also pawed another $5.3M abroad in 50 markets for a global start of$28.4M.

Detroit overperformed withCocaine Bearby 25%.

Northeast and West coast were the overindexing regions.

Am hearing the movie was screened over 150x.

Tracking only saw this movie at the single digits?

How did they miss this?

The theory is that tracking only polled those people who had been to theaters in recent movies.

That said, its been a while since the faith-based crowd has had a wide release like this.

Its mostly been short-run Fathom Events.

Lionsgate is already hearing from exhibition about repeat business over the weekend.

And the definite recommend here on PostTrak is well, miraculous, at 90%.

You never see that on any movie, including MCU andStar Warstitles.

The pic was 97% positive on PostTrak.

Can we get an Amen?

How will Marvel post-mortem this?

Arent they already plus-ing with every movie they make?

Its the movie we wanted to make.

Box office is what it is.

But its not going to stop people from going back to the theaters.

Thats while two lower-budgeted releases outstrip their projections.

Those tepid audience exits and B CinemaScore are certainly impactingAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.

The movie is expected to do$30M-$32Mthis weekend.

That said, theres no want-to-see for repeat viewing.

UniversalsCocaine Bearis overperforming, despite a B- CinemaScore (M3GANhad a B).

The studio won Friday with$8.65MtoAnt-Man 3s$8.3M(read the review).

Very, very good results.

Uni and rival projections arent expecting a bloody situation.

Universal had a lion-eats-man movie this past summer in Idris ElbasBeast.

Cokey wasted no time jumping into the conversation, including a reply by AMC Theaters for a Bear/Shark showdown.

That exchange received more than 50,000 views and 1,000 likes.

asking for a friend.

ARise of Pablo Escobear 8Bit Gamelaunched, whereby users become Cocaine Bear chasing victims around in aPac-maninspired game.

Updated exits forCocaine Bearare 80% on PostTrak and a 67% recommend.

Does Lionsgate have anotherI Can Only Imagineon its hands?

Jon Erwin codirected both movies.

55 in the pics run.

Saturday AM estimates:

1.)

Cocaine Bear (Uni) 3,534 theaters, Fri $8.65M, 3-day $21.2M/Wk 1

3.)

Any overindexing would be a surprise.

In the movie, the beast goes on a rampage, taking out cops, criminals and hikers.

WETA was involved in the CG creation of Cokey the bear, the main protag here.

We heard that the studio pulled in an estimated $2M from Wednesday previews alone.

Lionsgate is reporting $940K from last nights previews for a lump sum of$3.3Msince Wednesday.