Jack Quaid’s action-comedy “ Novocaine ” topped a painfully slow weekend at the box office with $8.7 million. For theater owners, however, there’s not too much to celebrate: It’s one of the worst debuts to still capture the No. 1 spot (at least since the pandemic ground moviegoing to a halt).

Dan Berk and Robert Olsen's action comedy Novocaine starring Jack Quaid can take some pride that it has earned the superlative "#1 Movie In The United States and Canada," but you'll note looking at the Top 10 that things are going a big slow on the theatrical front these days. Scope out the numbers in the chart below and join me after for analysis.

Novocaine could have been written by a 12-year-old, and I’m not sure I mean that pejoratively. It’s a riff on superhero stories, but it’s been thought up with a whiff of dopey plausibility: The film’s protagonist,