Daisy Ridley's New Zombie Movie Staggers In Week 2 With One Of The Worst Drops Of All Time
We Bury the Dead had a brutal second weekend at the box office. The new zombie movie, which debuted on January 2, stars Daisy Ridley as Ava Newman, a young woman who searches for her missing husband (Matt Whelan) amid a burgeoning zombie apocalypse in Australia. While We Bury the Dead reviews have been solid, earning it a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 85%, it has so far failed to connect strongly with audiences. On its debut weekend in domestic theaters, it had a lukewarm commercial reception, earning $2.5 million from 1,172 theaters and debuting at No. 11. However, its sophomore weekend has gone from lukewarm to devastating. Per Box Office Mojo, as of Sunday morning, We Bury the Dead is projected to conclude its second weekend at the domestic box office with just $371,885 from 851 theaters. This drop of 85.1% sees 2025's We Bury the Dead tying with the concert movie For King + Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas - Live and the Bill Skarsgård action-comedy Boy Kills World for the seventh-worst week 2 drop of all time for a non-re-release. While part of the reason that it has dropped is the fact that it is playing in 321 fewer theaters during its second weekend, its per-screen average has also capsized from $2,134 in week 1 to just $436 in week 2, a factor that contributes to this drop much more profoundly than the number of theaters. Below, see the current Bottom 10 week 2 drops of all time for non-re-releases:
Rank
Title
Domestic Debut
Week 2 Drop
#1
Christy (2025)
$1.3 million
-91.7%
#2
Collide (2017)
$1.5 million
-88.5%
#3
National Champions (2021)
$301,028
-88.4%
#4
Undiscovered (2005)
$676,048
-86.4%
#5
The Chosen: Last Supper Part 2 (2025)
$7 million
-86.2%
#6
Overlord: The Sacred Kingdom (2024)
$1.1 million
-86.1%
#7
For King + Country: A Drummer Boy Christmas - Live (2024)
$2.3 million
-85.1%
#8
Boy Kills World (2024)
$1.7 million
-85.1%
#9
We Bury the Dead (2026)
$2.5 million
-85.1%
#10
Slow Burn (2007)
$778,123
-84.7%
One potential reason that We Bury the Dead has capsized so quickly at the box office is that the people who have seen it have largely shared middling to negative reviews. The Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter gives it a far inferior 47%, aggregated from more than 250 ratings from verified ticket buyers. Another reason for this drop could be the fact that it faces major competition from other 2026 horror movies. The creature feature Primate debuted on We Bury the Dead's sophomore weekend, and the conversation about the zombie movie may also be drowned out by the multiple anticipated wide release horror movies set to debut before the end of February, which include 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Return to Silent Hill, The Strangers: Chapter 3, and Scream 7. Additionally, as the chart reveals, more than half of the worst week 2 drops of all time come from movies that debuted in the past five years. This speaks to a larger trend in cinemas, which is that, in spite of the 2020s generating some of the biggest box office hits of all time, including Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, and Avatar: The Way of Water, there doesn't tend to be a middle ground for new releases.
While We Bury the Dead has suffered from this trend, it is possible that the movie can make up for its theatrical limitations with its performance at home with its impending VOD and streaming releases, which could help it reach a much broader audience. Enjoy ScreenRant's box office coverage? Click below to sign up for my weekly box office newsletter (make sure to check "Box Office" in your preferences) and get exclusive analysis, predictions, and more: Sign Up
Release Date
January 2, 2026
Runtime
95 minutes
Director
Zak Hilditch
Writers
Zak Hilditch
Producers
Grant Sputore, Joshua Harris, Kelvin Munro, Mark Fasano, Ross M. Dinerstein
