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The Disney live-action remake 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥� came in at No. 1 at the box office for the second weekend in a row following its March 17 opening. It seems to be more difficult than it used to be for a movie to stay in the top spot for multiple weekends, though the March opening date for 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥澛爈ikely gave it an advantage (despite the increasing competitiveness of the early spring months).

鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥澛燼chieved its top spot by grossing more than $88 million in its second weekend. The new movie 鈥淧ower Rangers,鈥� which is based off the 1990s Fox children鈥檚 television series, came in second, grossing more than $40 million in its opening weekend.聽

The holdover 鈥淜ong: Skull Island,鈥� which opened on March 10, placed third, taking in more than $14 million, while the new science fiction film 鈥淟ife鈥� opened below that, placing fourth with an opening weekend gross of more than $12 million. The 鈥淴-Men鈥� superhero movie 鈥淟ogan,鈥� which opened in early March, placed fifth after taking in more than $10 million.聽

The new action comedy 鈥淐HiPs,鈥� which is based off the 1970s TV show of the same name, opened in seventh place, grossing more than $7 million in its opening weekend.聽

A movie placing first at the box office two weeks in a row, as 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥澛爃as done, is a relatively common feat now, but data shows that a movie ruling over the box office for months is a feat that was much easier to achieve in decades past. Movies like 鈥淭ootsie,鈥� 鈥淭itanic,鈥� 鈥淗ome Alone,鈥� and 鈥淏ack to the Future鈥� were all able to achieve double-digit weeks of placing No. 1. The only movie to stay at No. 1 for more than four weeks since 2000, according to the website聽Box Office Mojo, is 鈥淎vatar.鈥澛�

鈥淸'Home Alone'] ended up being No. 1 weekend after weekend after weekend,鈥� secure in the No. 1 spot for 12 weeks, director Christopher Columbus remembered in an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2015. 鈥淲hich doesn鈥檛 happen anymore.鈥澛�

Why doesn鈥檛 a movie stay at No. 1 for weeks on end now? Hollywood Reporter writer Pamela McClintock noted at the end of summer 2016 that the gross of many movies during that season plummeted during their second weekend and Jeff Bock, a box office analyst, told the Hollywood Reporter that part of the reason is there is so much competition.聽

鈥淪tudios spend so much time and effort getting the word out for opening weekend that business plateaus and it simply cannot sustain itself in the weeks that follow," Mr. Bock said. "Why? Every weekend, especially in the summer, there's a new 'event' populating theaters.鈥澛�

And so putting a movie in what was previously seen as a 鈥渟lower鈥� month 鈥� the March month for 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥澛燿efinitely counts as that 鈥� can benefit a movie. The film 鈥淭he Martian鈥� came in at No. 1 at the box office for four weekends after opening in early October 2015. Deadline writer Anthony D鈥橝lessandro attributed some of the movie鈥檚 financial success to that less popular release date. 鈥淔ox saw that they had the goods with 鈥楳artian鈥� and moved it away from its original Thanksgiving launch date...,鈥� Mr. D鈥橝lessandro wrote at the time. 鈥淏y flipping 鈥楳artian鈥� to the first weekend in October, Fox has the entire month to itself before Sony鈥檚 鈥楽pectre鈥� shows up on November 6.鈥�

With the expansion of blockbusters to other months besides the summer and the November-December period, however, opening in a quieter month may not be such a unique solution anymore. While 鈥淏eauty and the Beast鈥澛爃as triumphed, it wasn鈥檛 the only blockbuster hopeful to open in March 鈥� far from it. David Sims of The Atlantic noted that the month also saw the opening of 鈥淜ong: Skull Island,鈥� 鈥淟ogan,鈥� and 鈥淧ower Rangers,鈥� with 鈥淕host in the Shell鈥� set to debut on March 31.聽

鈥淣ow, as franchise films like Logan clean up at the box office, it鈥檚 clear that the summer now begins in March...,鈥� Mr. Sims wrote on March 13.