'The Chosen' Has Surprisingly Outperformed These Major Movies At the Box Office

A quirk of naming coincidence created one of the clearest examples of The Chosen's surprising box office muscle. The Chosen: Last Supper - Part 1 didn't just have a strong opening weekend - it completely overwhelmed the entire theatrical run of an unrelated film that happened to share part of its name.

The standalone title The Last Supper found itself totally eclipsed, as The Chosen: Last Supper's opening weekend didn't just surpass the other film's opening - it exceeded its entire theatrical haul. The distinction highlights how The Chosen has cultivated a dedicated audience willing to show up on opening weekend, something many traditional studio releases struggle to achieve despite larger marketing budgets.

A24's Death of a Unicorn, featuring rising star Jenna Ortega fresh off her Wednesday success, was positioned as a quirky genre comedy with appeal to younger audiences. With Paul Rudd co-starring and Téa Leoni making her first film appearance in over a decade, the film seemed primed for a solid box office performance. Yet The Chosen proved the stronger draw.

While Death of a Unicorn managed just $5.8 million during its opening weekend, The Chosen: Last Supper - Part 1 nearly doubled that figure. Critics weren't particularly enthusiastic about Unicorn following its SXSW premiere, and audiences gave it a lukewarm B- CinemaScore. Even Jenna Ortega's substantial social media following (38.6M followers) couldn't overcome The Chosen's passionate fanbase, demonstrating that star power doesn't always translate to ticket sales.

Blumhouse Productions has built its reputation on delivering profitable horror films with modest budgets, making it one of Hollywood's most reliable hit factories. However, their PG-13 horror release The Woman in the Yard found itself outperformed by The Chosen: Last Supper - Part 1 during their competing opening weekends.

While Blumhouse's offering managed $9.4 million from 2,842 locations, The Chosen pulled in more than $2 million more with a similar theater count. Audience reception told part of the story - The Woman in the Yard earned a dismal C- CinemaScore, while The Chosen scored an impressive 99% on Rotten Tomatoes' audience meter.

Robert De Niro's star power wasn't enough to save The Alto Knights from being thoroughly outperformed by The Chosen. The De Niro-led film proved to be one of the season's biggest disappointments, dropping a staggering 65% in its second weekend.

After an underwhelming debut of just shy of $3.2 million, The Alto Knights managed only $1.1 million in its second frame, leaving its worldwide total less than The Chosen's opening weekend alone. This stark difference highlights how The Chosen has built a reliable audience that turns out consistently, while even established Hollywood names can struggle to draw crowds without the right project and marketing.

Paramount's action thriller Novocaine, starring Jack Quaid, demonstrates another case where a mainstream studio release with conventional marketing couldn't match The Chosen's audience engagement. The film experienced a steep drop in its third weekend, signaling audience disinterest.

Novocaine fell 61% during its third weekend, grossing only $1.45 million. This placed it tenth on the weekend charts, far behind The Chosen: Last Supper - Part 1 in third place. Despite Paramount's distribution muscle, Novocaine couldn't sustain audience interest, with its total reaching just over $18.7 million after three weekends.