‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Death Rumors Were Exaggerated, but 2019 Box-Office Struggle is Real

In what could be the final release from 20th Century Fox before it becomes subsumed by Disney, “Alita: Battle Angel” was clearly the #1 film this weekend.

It performed better than expected, with $41.7 million anticipated for the four-day weekend.“Alita” bested the second weekend of “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” and two films that opened Wednesday, “Isn’t It Romantic” and “Happy Death Day 2U.” Along with “What Men Want,” also in its second week, they also represent the state of business at the moment — and the industry has much bigger concerns than which categories are shown live at next Sunday’s Oscars.This will be a rock-bottom Presidents’ Day Weekend, with ticket sales down at least a third; in comparison to some years, it’s only half.

One of those years was 2018, when “Black Panther” led to 31 million tickets sold.

That was an extreme case, but the drop

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