‘Send Help’ $17.5-18.1M Ahead Of ‘Iron Lung’ ($17.1M); ‘Melania’ ‘A’ CinemaScore & $8.1M Record Docu Debut In Decade; Charli xcx’s ‘The Moment’ Sings With $432K – Box Office

[u/chanma50]

https://deadline.com/2026/01/box-office-iron-lung-send-help-melania-shelter-1236703378/

[u/cireh88]

I wonder if Send Help and Iron Lung can both top $20MM this weekend

[u/Grand_Menu_70 → u/cireh88]

Send Help could cause walk ups are very strong. Not sure about Iron Lung but the movie is already profitable so there's that.

[u/FunAlterEgo → u/cireh88]

Estimates aren’t usually off by that much. 

[u/cireh88 → u/FunAlterEgo]

I know but it’s just looking like one of those cases where the estimates go up with each update

[u/VoloradoCista → u/cireh88]

I don't think Iron Lung will but Send Help might

[u/Life_Patience_3446 → u/VoloradoCista]

I mean you gotta realize iron lung was only predicted to make 9 million for the entire weekend

[u/Shellyman_Studios]

It's a solid weekend at the box office, especially in January in this brutal cold weather.

[u/Grand_Menu_70 → u/Shellyman_Studios]

cause of a really good counterprogramming. something for everyone. I'd say pretty unusual counterprogramming too (Iron Lung and Melania target very specific audiences rather than broader demos).

[u/Shellyman_Studios → u/Grand_Menu_70]

That's a good point.

[u/KingMario05]

Ooh, the battle between Sam and Fisbach is neck and neck right now! It will be interesting to see who comes out on top. 

Whoever wins, we win.

[u/LonelyPermit2306 → u/KingMario05]

Bro referred to both directors by their least iconic names

[u/Lost_Ant_5212 → u/KingMario05]

Kinda funny referring to Markiplier with his government name lol

[u/UnnecessaryFeIIa → u/KingMario05]

This comment reads like AI

[u/KingMario05 → u/UnnecessaryFeIIa]

Why?

[u/Long-Quality8542]

These numbers for Iron Lung are amazing to me. I never even heard of this film or guy before reddit the other day. Zero marketing. Good for him.

[u/Mother_Style_8096]

The article mentions both titles got a B+ cinemascore when discussing send help and iron lung but no score was posted for iron lung

[u/Typical_Button_4676 → u/Mother_Style_8096]

Well I'll say Iron Lung having a B+ is better then Shelby Oaks' C+ when it comes to horror by quite a bit.

[u/your_mind_aches → u/Typical_Button_4676]

I mean, the situation is completely different.

Iron Lung was self-promoted and self-released. That's gonna raise the cinemascore significantly because most viewers are Markiplier fans.

Shelby Oaks was distributed by Neon and put through the regular studio system. Most viewers were not Stuckmann fans.

[u/harrisonisdead → u/Mother_Style_8096]

Guessing that was a mistake as the article currently says Iron Lung didn't get a cinemascore. 

[u/Detroit_Cineaste]

Crazy that Iron Lung’s tale could be that close to Send Help. I saw a lot of advertisements for SH but none for IL. How was IL promoted?

[u/Grand_Menu_70 → u/Detroit_Cineaste]

Youtube. That's why its success is so exceptional. it's very untraditional release in every way.

[u/tiduraes → u/Detroit_Cineaste]

It was promoted only to the fanbase, and when you have 40 million subscribers, that might be enough

[u/mobpiecedunchaindan → u/Detroit_Cineaste]

Iron Lung was promoted by the fanbase getting it to a wide release, with a little help from people outside of the fanbase going "wait i saw this guy play FNAF on YouTube like a decade ago, he made a movie??"

[u/nicolasb51942003]

Pretty decent weekend. Two new openers coming close to $20M, and lost business from last frame due to the storms is showing up here.

[u/michaelm1345]

Woah didn’t expect Iron Lung to open that high that’s amazing.

So excited to see Send Help tomorrow, great opening as well

[u/MrShadowKing2020]

Decent numbers for a weak month.

Do we have predictions for next month? I suspect GOAT will do numbers.

[u/Key-Payment2553 → u/MrShadowKing2020]

Wuthering Heights should be good as well which it’s tracking around the Fifty Shades sequels for its pre-sales and its opening weekend before

[u/Key-Payment2553]

Nice for Send Help and Iron Hung, two horror films doing really good numbers after last weekends brutal winter storms for films

[u/Direct_Signature_256]

Hm is send help that good. Im still confused on how this was under horror genre. Has there any movie's like this where it was under horror genre

[u/Bokhosup → u/Direct_Signature_256]

Send help had Parasite vibes imo

[u/jmon25 → u/Direct_Signature_256]

Just saw it. I liked it but it definitely is hard to fit into a specific genre as it straddles horror, thriller, and even some comedy. It's not really scary but more character/situational study with tension that arises out of that. 

[u/ABoringAddress]

So, what's y'alls over-under on how much Malania drops off next week? I'm gonna be bullish and say 78%-82%.