• by Wayne Friedman , January 15, 2024

Also starting up this Martin Luther King holiday weekend, Amazon MGM Studios’ "The Beekeeper” came in at $16.8 million for second place (in 3,303 locations). Sony Pictures’ “The Book of Clarence” also opened up this weekend at $2.6 million (2,010 locations).

In addition to a  modest production budget (per Comscore) of around $36 million, national TV ad spend for “Mean Girls” was also small -- just $6.8 million pre-release, according to estimates from EDO Ad EnGage. This pulled in 922.4 million impressions from 1,830 airings.

“Mean Girls” played in 3,791 theatrical locations.

“The Beekeeper” TV spend was $12.9 million -- 1,970 airings with 1.4 billion impressions.

Each TV airing of “Mean Girls” averaged 2,380 in online engagements, according to EDO, which measures online "engagements" minutes after a TV airing. “The Beekeeper” averaged 2,200 engagements per airing.

Four upcoming February movies that are ramping up TV spend include: Universal Pictures’ “Argylle,"at $3.4 million and 416 airings (opening February 2); Angels Studios’ “The Chosen” at $1.91 million and three airings (February 1); Paramount Pictures’ “Bob Marley: One Love,”  at $2.1 million and 38 airings (February 14); and Lionsgate’s “Ordinary Angels” at $1.1 million and 166 airings (February 23).

Paramount Pictures' modestly budgeted remake of “Mean Girls” scored $28 million in box-office revenue for its North American opening as a mid-January release, according to Comscore.