The Paramount action comedy is off to a good start, but the $55 million overall weekend total is the worst for March since 1996

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).

Five new movies opened wide in theaters this weekend including a starry spy picture from Steven Soderbergh, an A24 thriller, a Looney Tunes movie and a high concept action-comedy with “The