I felt as if I could test the echoing accoustics of my local multipex Thursday evening when I went to see and review “Wolf Man” and “One of Them Days” (and “The Room Next Door”). The cinema was that empty.

A group of four older men who gather for movie nights there were the only punters in attendance for “Wolf Man.” And no showing, early or late, of “One of Them Days” drew anyone at all.

So naturally I reported that, seeing it as an omen for the weekend to come. Every cineplex is a polling sample, even the ones in BFE, Va.

Deadline.com’s early take on the Thursday and Friday ticket turnout confirmed that. “Wolf Man” did enough business Thursday to suggest a $20 million+ three day weekend was within reach, more for the four-day Martin Luther King Day holiday period. “One of Them Days,” with underwhelming pre-release “awareness” numbers, looked like maybe $9 million was heading its way.

But actual butts-in-seats Friday splashed ice cold water all over that. Now Deadline is projecting $14-15million or so for the over-praised, laugh-starved “One of Them Days” over four days. “Wolf Man” might clear $12 million.

That means the long-running animated hit “Mufasa” will win yet another undeserving weekend, with a $16+ million take, according to Deadline.

“One of Them Days” won the three day weekend by $100k, edging “Mufasa” with both just over $11 million. “Wolf Man” opened in THIRD place over three days –$10.6.

Nobody needs another werewolf movie. But if you do take a shot at that genre, Robert Eggers (“Nosferatu“) suggests you make it stylish, remake a classic version and make a very bloody period piece. “Nosferatu” is on track for a $5 million MLK Day weekend take, and should clear the $100 million domestic box office mark by next weekend.

If you’ve noticed a much wider gap these days between the review aggregator sites Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic, “One of Them Days” might be your biggest clue as to what’s happened. The always-less-credible and systemically suspect “Tomatoes” has purged many of the most experienced critics in a youth movement that guarantees higher, less discerning/discriminating scores.

As I saw the laughably praised “One of Them Days” as an audience of one Thursday night and comedies are meant to be seen with a laugh-along-with-you audience, I ducked into 20 minutes or so of it between movies on a movie marathon Friday in the Big City (RDU) to see if I was missing the boat. A one-third-full house, largely the Black target audience, sat there as stone faced as I was at much of the slow-paced piffle that passed by on the screen. I didn’t hear one laugh.

And that’s what “word of mouth” could look like for this film.

Even Katt Williams looked like he wished he has something funnier to say/play. The Keke Palmer/SZA patter has no sizzle. “One of Them Days” is like a “Friday” without enough comically promising ideas to work with, without the pacing, punchy editing and punchy script to come off. Love that irrepressible Keke, and it’d be nice if she managed a hit. But damn.

None of the titles dominating the box office this fall and winter have been must-see dazzlers, going back to “Wicked,” which is still in the top ten (another $4 million and change).

But maybe the weather, the LA fires and the State of Disunion is dampening people’s mood to go to the movies, despite the need for escape from the news, etc., is what we’re seeing.

The LA fires-delayed Oscar nominations (Sunday, now?) wrong-footed every studio with “Oscar bounce” hopes for what would have been the first weekend after their “contenders” became “nominees.”

So “The Room Next Door,” “The Last Showgirl” and “The Brutalist” open wider, and finally-wider-released (or re-released) “Sing Sing” and “Nickel Boys” made it into a lot of cinemas. They might win more business Monday as folks who Oscar-watch play catch-up.

The over-praised “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera” has shed half its opening weekend audience and may hit the $9 million mark on its second (4 day) weekend. It plunges all the way from #1 to #5, trailing the families and game-movie-nerds still turning out for “Sonic the Hedgehog 3.”

“A Complete Unknown” ($5) is still on the top ten. As is “Babygirl” (barely, $2.5).

Overall, this weekend is shaping up as some sort of all-time non-COVID low for the January holiday weekend box office.

I’ll update these figures later as I knock out reviews for a few “contender” titles Sat. and Sunday.