Box Office Discussion Thread

Thanksgiving weekend is usually a strong moviegoing weekend, and, thanks to the ongoing pandemic, this Thanksgiving didn't reach the lofty heights of two years ago, when families flocked to Frozen II and adults sampled Knives Out. However, when judged on a more modest scale, this Thanksgiving was a smashing success.

Leading the charge Encanto, Disney's latest, about a magical family in Colombia, and the one family member without any gifts. It opened to $27.2 million over the three days after Thanksgiving, and has grossed $40.6 million since its opening last Wednesday. Given that the year's biggest animated film, Boss Baby: Family Business, has only grossed $57.3 million, it seems certain that Encanto will take that title sometime in the next couple of weeks. Whether it will be able to keep it away from Christmas release Sing 2 remains to be seen. But with no family titles on the horizon until Sing's debut, Encanto should be able to clean up in December, and likely become the first animated film to top $100 million since the aforementioned Frozen II.

In second, Ghostbusters: Afterlife had a strong hold, and came surprisingly close to keeping the weekend crown. The three-decades-later sequel brought in $24.2 million and now has a ten-day total of $87.5 million. The film will likely become the year's 12th $100 million grosser by next weekend, and has a shot at returning to #1.

Opening in third, House of Gucci had (depending on how you'd classify Old) the best or second-best opening of the year for an adult-aimed drama, taking in $14.4 million, and a total of $22 million since Wednesday. It has already more than doubled the grosses of director Ridley Scott's other 2021 collaboration with Adam Driver, The Last Duel. Unlike either Ghostbusters or Encanto, which have at least two more weeks before direct competition arrives, Gucci has to contend with the fellow Oscar possibilities already out, plus Spielberg's West Side Story remake which opens next weekend. Still, unless word of mouth proves toxic, Gucci should probably make it to $50 million, which would be a triumph at this point in time.

In fourth, Eternals stabilized, taking in $7.9 million for a total of $150.7 million. It should probably make it to about $165 million by the time Spider-Man: No Way Home swings into theaters.

Not everything could be a winner this weekend, and horror newcomer Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City didn't welcome much of an audience. The film suffered easily the worst opening of any entry in the franchise, scaring up a mere $5.3 million. It has collected $8.9 million since its Wednesday arrival. Unless it has better-than-expected legs, it could easily end up under $20 million by the end of its run.

The holdovers that made up the rest of the Top 10 proved fairly resilient, all having only modest drops from the weekend before. Clifford the Big Red Dog licked up another $5 million for a total of $43 million, and looks certain to top $50 million before the end of its run. King Richard, which could have used some of that audience that chose House of Gucci instead, brought in $3.3 million for a ten-day total of $11.4 million. Unless it is able to put together a sustained holiday season/awards season run, it will be the lowest-grossing vehicle for Smith since his leading man debut in Six Degrees of Separation in 1993--and that mostly played art houses.

In 8th, Dune took in $2.1 million, finally topping $100 million in the process. It stands at $102.2 million, and also passed Godzilla vs. Kong to become the highest-grossing film released day-and-date on a streamer with no upcharge. We'll see at the end of the month if The Matrix Resurrections can finally break the HBO Max curse, or if it is also destined to massively underperform.

Rounding out the Top 10 are two long-running October releases, No Time to Die and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which earned $1.7 million and $1.6 million, respectively. Totals are $158.1 million and $209.5 million.

Debuting outside the Top 10, Licorice Pizza opened to a staggering $86,000 per theater. Of course, the film was only playing in four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, but that's a number that suggests that plenty of people still want to turn out to see movies on the big screen. As Paul Thomas Anderson's 70s-set, coming-of-age dramady expands in the coming weeks and months, that per-screen will come way, way, way down, but perhaps it, along with House of Gucci, will signal that adults are finally coming back to the movies.

The first weekend of December is always a slow time at the box office, as studios rarely release anything major in this frame, and nearly all the Thanksgiving films suffer big drops. Indeed, there are no wide releases this weekend, though semi-wide films like the horror thriller Wolf and the anime Sword Art Online could make inroads into the lower half of the Top 10. At the top, it looks like it will be a competition between Encanto and Ghostbusters for #1, with a good chance that both titles fall to under $15 million. Which one will prevail? We'll find out next week.

2021 looked like it would be a good year for musicals. Alas, two adaptions of recent Best Musical Tony winners, In the Heights and Dear Evan Hansen, fizzed at the box office, and two other musicals, Cinderella and Everybody's Talking About Jamie, were shuttled off to Prime, where they debuted to largely negative reviews before disappearing out of sight. Tick...Tick...Boom! at least got good notices and might land Andrew Garfield an Oscar nomination, but is still largely a niche Netflix entry. In that environment, it's not too surprising, though awfully disappointing, that Steven Spielberg's much-anticipated redo of West Side Story landed with a thud.

The musical, starring Ansel Elgort and newcomer Rachel Zegler, drew raves, but could only pull in $10.6 million opening weekend, or less than what In the Heights made during its underwhelming opening--at that was also streaming on HBO Max. Story, on the other hand, isn't streaming anywhere. To be fair, early December has long been somewhat of a rough time at the box office, and Christmas releases, thanks to the extremely lucrative Christmas-New Year's week and a January mostly filled with junk, tend to have longer legs than films released elsewhere in the year, especially if they are award contenders, as Story most definitely is. Still, even with that in mind, everyone involved was hoping for an opening a bit better than that.

Indeed, it was nearly eclipsed by two-time champ Encanto, which slid to second with $10 million. While not a blockbuster, Disney's latest is easily the highest-grossing animated title since Frozen II and will likely be hitting $100 million well before the end of the year. It currently stands at $71.9 million.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife continues to show some life, as the action comedy sequel/reboot brought in $7.1 million for a total of $112 million. In fourth, House of Gucci also continues as one of the rare films aimed squarely at adults to be doing solid business. It brought in $4.1 million for a total of $41.1 million. With Christmas coming, both these films might be able to earn another $20-25 million or so.

In its last week of having the superhero genre all to itself, Eternals grossed $3.2 million for a total of $161.3 million. Horror flop Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City continues to hang around, scaring up $1.7 million for a total of $15.9 million. Family hit Clifford the Big Red Dog earned $1.7 million, for a total of $47.7 million.

Most films this week held up very well. Not Christmas With the Chosen: The Messengers. The concert film/Nativity narrative has proven to be very front-loaded, with its second weekend down to $1.2 million. Its 12-day total is $13.4 million, and it seems likely to fall short of $20 million, though given how unheralded the film was to begin with, even this gross is near miraculous.

Rounding out the Top Ten are two long-running October releases that each made less than a million: Dune and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. They're standing at $106.2 million and $212 million, respectively.

Both those films, along with fellow October blockbuster No Time to Die had better weekends--on fewer screens--than the week's other wide newcomer, National Champions. The college football drama somehow got simutaiousnly intercepted and sacked, as it could muster up only $0.3 million. The only two new films to open lower while debuting on over 1000 screens was 2007's Sarah Landon and the Paranormal Hour and 2009's Transylmania, neither of which starred anyone you had ever heard of. If you want to catch National Champions, you'd better hurry, as it will likely be down to just one showtime at most theaters by Friday.

This weekend brings the highly anticipated opening of Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which Spidey's plan to have Dr. Strange make everyone forget he's Peter Parker backfires, allowing villains from prior Spider-Man franchises (most prominently, Alfred Molina's Doc Ock) to invade the MCU. This is widely expected to be the first film since The Rise of Skywalker two years ago to debut to over $100 million. While I have seen some estimates projecting it will pass Skywalker's $177.4 million opening, I suspect it will open somewhere below that, though I wouldn't be surprised to see it top Frozen II's $130.3 million arrival. Bravely competing with Spidey is Nightmare Alley, a stylish neo-noir from Guillermo del Toro, starring Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, and Willem Dafoe (doing double duty this weekend). How big will No Way Home open to? Will Nightmare attract the adult audience that eluded West Side Story? Will the musical display strong second-weekend legs? We'll find out next week.

Since movie distribution returned to more-or-less normal in May, with most multiplexes open and studios actually releasing films instead of endlessly kicking them down the road, something has been off. While films were opening just as wide as they were before the pandemic, opening weekends had become lower, drops had become steeper, and final grosses had become smaller. There was certainly a lot of blame to go around, from the pandemic's lingering effects, particularly with the rise of Delta, to the much-shorter theatrical windows, in which even the films that hadn't opened day-and-date on a streaming service would be available on one and/or on DVD within a couple months of theatrical release. While some individual titles met or even exceeded expectations, overall, business was way down, and there was a sense that even the hit movies were leaving money on the table.

Spider-Man: No Way Home had been expected to pull the box office out of its doldrums to some extent, as it was widely expected to have the first $100 million+ opening since Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker almost exactly two years ago. Most observers were thinking of an opening in the $130-$150 million range. Instead, Spidey had hit $120 million by the end of Friday alone, and proceeded to rewrite the record books, not just for the pandemic, but of all time.

The film opened to a jaw-dropping $260.1 million--enough to become the highest grossing film of 2021 in just three and a half days--and happens to be the second-best opening ever, behind only Avengers: Endgame's. For comparison, the opening of Spider-Man: Homecoming in the summer of 2017 was $117 million and Spider-Man: Far From Home's in summer of 2019 was $92.6 million. Plus, the last holiday season Spider-Man movie, the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, opened to $35.4 million in 2018. So no one was expecting this explosion, which came despite the rapid rise of Omicron.

So what does this mean for the box office going forward? While I thought that the obituaries for moviegoing were premature, this doesn't mean the industry is back. Clearly, millions of people who hadn't been to a theater since at least February 2020 came out this weekend, but was No Way Home a one-off for them, or did they rediscover the joy of moviegoing? The answer to that question will be extremely important to the industry moving forward.

Spidey sucked up roughly 92% of ticket sales over the weekend, leaving everything else fighting over scraps. In a very distant second was Disney's moderate animated hit Encanto, which added $6.5 million for a total gross of $81.5 million. I still think the film should make it to $100 million, but the studio might be cutting the film off at its needs by making it Disney+'s Christmas gift to subscribers.

Word of mouth wasn't enough to save West Side Story, which tumbled 65% from last week's underwhelming opening, to $3.4 million, for a ten-day gross of $18.2 million. That keeps it below where In the Heights was at the same point in its run, after it suffered a similar second-weekend drop. We'll see if grosses stabilize going forward, but if Wicked, whenever it comes out, isn't a monster hit, we might not see another Broadway musical adaption for a long, long time.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife came in fourth, adding $3.4 million for a total of $117.3 million. We'll see if there's enough juice left over Christmas to top the 2016 version's $128.4 million.

Living up to its name, the noir Nightmare Alley had an absolutely dreadful opening, taking in a mere $2.8 million for fifth, an opening that puts it on par with the already-forgotten Angelina Jolie flop Those Who Wish Me Dead from May. This one will likely ultimately outgross that one, both because of awards buzz and the Christmas holidays, but this is going to lose a fortune.

House of Gucci came in sixth, adding another $2 million for a total of $45 million. It should top $50 million by New Year's.

Doing well enough on the Bollywood theater circuit to open in 7th was Pushpa: The Rise-Part 1. It took in $1.3 million.

In eighth, Eternals catered to people who apparently couldn't get into Spider-Man but wanted to see something from Marvel. It took in $1.2 million for a total of $163.6 million.

Finishing in the Top 10, but with grosses lower than $1 million, were Clifford the Big Red Dog and Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City. Grosses for those titles stand at $48.9 million and $16.8 million, respectively.

Three of this weekend's new titles, all franchise cogs, debut today, ahead of Christmas. Sing 2 reunites most of the cast from the first one from five years ago, including Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, and Taron Egerton, as McConaughey's theater-owning koala tries to get his friends a performing platform in the big city. The World War I-set The King's Man is a prequel to the action/comedies Kingsman series (which starred Egerton, who is not in this one), starring Ralph Finnes, who has to fight the mad Russian monk Rasputin (Rhys Ifans, also doing double duty in No Way Home). The Matrix Resurrections sends Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), who have apparently forgotten their prior adventures, back into...well, see the title. This weekend sees the arrival of the Denzel Washington-directed A Journal for Jordan, starring Michael B. Jordan as a soldier who keeps a journal for his newborn son. American Underdog is a biopic starring Zachary Levi as quarterback Kurt Warner, who went from stocking grocery store shelves in 1994 to leading the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl championship in 2000. While none of the new films will likely challenge Spider-Man for #1, how well they open will be a key test to see if No Way Home has truly changed anything. If the two originals are able to open above $10 million and at least two of the franchise cogs are able to debut over $50 million, then perhaps moviegoing is really back. We'll find out next week. Until then, have a very merry and wonderful Christmas.

With no new titles in the marketplace, the hope was that the holdovers would not only perform similarly to last weekend, but even see a bump. Unfortunately, that's not what happened, as nearly every movie fell from its Christmas weekend totals. In many cases, the falls were small, but they were still falls, suggesting that the shot in the arm that Spider-Man: No Way Home provided to our nation's theaters might be temporary.

Spidey continues to dominate, taking in $56 million for a total of $613.6 million. That's enough for it to enter the all-time domestic Top 10. At this point, $700 million seems assured, and depending on how it navigates an increasingly thin-looking January, $800 million is not out of the question. It will likely finish its run as the third or fourth highest-grossing film of all time, a gross that makes me wonder if, without Covid, it could have challenged Avengers: Endgame for #2. Then again, without Covid, I'd expect the competition to be more vigorous, as it increasingly is looking like Spider-Man may be the only title that audiences are willing to risk getting Omicron to come out to see.

Well, Spider-Man and Sing 2. The animated musical finished a solid second this weekend, taking in $20.2 million, nearly even with last weekend's gross. That, combined with strong weekday grosses, has earned it a 12-day total of $90.3 million, just below Encanto. By next weekend, it will be both the highest-grossing animated title of 2021, and the 14th and likely final film of the year to cross the $100 million mark.

The King's Man held up decently, battling through to a $4.6 million weekend, for a 12-day total of $19.6 million, a total that is still well below what either of its predecessors made on their opening weekends. Indeed, it seems very likely that the film ultimately won't even reach either film's opening weekend gross.

American Underdog seems to be the one soft performer that might be able to find some January legs, if the studio is willing to spend some money to advertise during the NFL playoffs. However, its second weekend grosses aren't promising, as it fell from its two-day opening last weekend, to $3.9 million, for a nine-day total of $14.8 million. The film isn't a sack, but it sure isn't a touchdown, either, at least at this point.

The Matrix Resurrections is the weekend's big loser, dropping a whopping 64% to $3.8 million, suggesting that the entire audience for the fourth and apparently unwanted Matrix movie pretty much turned out last weekend. Its 12-day gross is $30.9 million, and it will be lucky to make it to $40 million at this point.

West Side Story continues to dance along, taking in $2.2 million for a total of $29.6 million. This year, Oscar nominations aren't out until February 8, which will likely be too late to provide much of a boost.

For whatever reason, Ghostbusters: Afterlife jumped back into the Top 10 this weekend, bringing in $1.5 million for a total of $123.4 million. Licorice Pizza continues to do OK business in more limited release, earning $1.3 million for a total of $6.4 million.

The Denzel Washington-directed A Journal for Jordan won't be remembered as the flop that The King's Man or Matrix Resurrections will be, but there's no doubt that it also is a huge disappointment. It fell almost half from last weekend's two-day opening, earning $1.2 million for a nine-day total of $4.8 million. Since it isn't going to be an awards player, this one might have been better off opening in February or March.

Rounding out the Top 10, Encanto continues to be hurt by being available already on Disney+, which, more than Sing 2, seems to have cut the legs right out of the film. It brought in $1.1 million for a total of $91.4 million. Disney does have a knack for getting its films past big round numbers like $100 million--at least on paper, but it will take a lot of fancy accounting to find the remaining $8.6 million.

Going back to 2008, a new horror movie has typically been the first new wide release of the New Year, most likely opening on the Friday after New Year's. The tradition was broken last year, with the first new wide release being the Liam Neeson Old Man of Action vehicle The Marksman, and this year, the first new wide release is a Young Women of Action flick. The 355 stars Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o, Diane Kruger, Fan Bingbing, and Penélope Cruz as a group of international spies who have to work together to keep a superweapon from falling into the wrong hands. The cast is unusually good for a first Friday of January release, but there's usually a reason films like this come out at this time of year. So don't expect much critically or commercially from The 355. It likely won't challenge Spider-Man for the top spot, but it could take out Sing 2 for #2. We'll find out for sure next week.

MLK weekend proved very fruitful for the latest 25th anniversary commemorative sequel, as Scream, the fifth installment of the iconic horror franchise and the first since 2011, had a strong opening, scaring up $30 million, which makes it the third-best January horror opening of the last decade, behind only the M. Night Shyamalan pair of Glass and Split. It finishes only a few million behind the openings of Screams 2 and 3 (though, since those movies were released in 1997 and 2000, respectively, both films sold a lot more tickets on their opening weekends). It's also the third-best horror movie opening of the past year, behind only Halloween Kills and A Quiet Place Part II. The film should be looking at a minimum final gross of around $60 million, and if things go really well, it could make it north of $80 million. Not bad for a movie that only cost $25 million.

For Scream to rise, Spidey had to fall, as Spider-Man: No Way Home took in $20.1 million to fall to second after a four-week run at the top. The film's gross stood at $698 million after Sunday, meaning it's now passed $700 million and the final gross of Black Panther to stand 4th on the all-time domestic list. There might be enough left in the tank to pass Avatar's $760.5 million for third all-time, but it will likely run out before $800 million, well before either Avengers: Endgame or Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Still, this is a remarkable achievement, even more so coming in the middle of the pandemic.

Even streaming on PPV at home, Sing 2 continues to take advantage of being the only family movie out in wide release right now, pulling down another $8 million for a current gross of $119.1 million. It seems likely to finish between $130 and $140 million, not bad, but still only about half of what its predecessor made.

Actioner The 355 dropped half from its dismal opening last weekend, shooting up $2.3 million for a ten-day total of $8.4 million. It will likely finish between $10 and $15 million. The King's Men continues to do surprisingly decent business despite flopping out of the gate, bringing another $2.2 million for a total of $28.6 million.

Opening in sixth is the anime Belle. The modern-day riff on Beauty and the Beast, directed by Mamoru Hosoda, whose Mirai became the first anime title not released by Studio Ghibli to receive an Oscar nomination for Animated Feature, opened to $1.7 million. Most theaters are running both the subtitled and English dubbed versions.

American Underdog is the only other film this week to top $1 million, earning $1.6 million for a total of $21 million. Finishing under $1 million but still making the Top 10 were Christmas leftovers West Side Story, Licorice Pizza, and The Matrix Resurrections, which has earned $33.8 million, $9.6 million, and $35.8 million, respectively.

As horror movies tend to have big second-weekend drops, Scream probably shouldn't get to comfy at #1. There's a solid chance that Spidey might swing back to the top spot next weekend. Probably not opening at #1 is the Christian drama Redeeming Love, about a farmer who falls for a prostitute in 1850s California. Some Christian movies open very well, but I don't think this one will. Then again, I could be surprised and see Love redeemed by opening on top. We'll find out next week.

January is usually not a great month moviewise, as most of the new releases are generally poor in quality that will hopefully open well, before a quick fadeout. Even by that standard, though, January 2022 has been unusually awful, with just four new wide releases, only one of which made any sort of box office impact. Luckily for theaters still stuck showing Christmas flops to increasingly tiny audiences because of the lack of new product to replace them, help is coming in February.

But first, they had to get through the last weekend of January, the rare weekend with no new wide releases whatsoever. Predictably, that allowed Spider-Man: No Way Home, to top again, for the sixth time in its seven-week run. The superhero saga brought in another $11 million for a gross of $735.9 million, a total that puts it only about $25 million behind Avatar for #3 all-time. Even with increased competition in February, it should be able to come up with that total.

The one film to keep Spider-Man from a clean sweep at the top since December, Scream, came in second, pulling in $7.2 million. That brings the horror sequel's total to $62 million, and it should top out above $70 million, maybe even as high as $75 million. While Scream 6 hasn't been officially announced yet, it seems like a good bet to slash its way to theaters, perhaps as early as next January.

Sing 2, the one non-Spider-Man title from December that's also an unqualified hit, came in third, grossing $4.7 million to bring its total to $134.4 million. Except Sing 3 in a few years time.

Despite no new competition this week, Christian drama Redeeming Love fell by roughly half from its opening last weekend. The western love story brought in $1.8 million, for a ten-day total of $6.6 million. It will likely finish around $10 million or so.

The King's Men, which has surprisingly turned out to be fairly leggy, came in fifth with $1.7 million. The action comedy is now up to $34 million, and has West Side Story in its crosshairs.

Flop actioner The 355 and disappointing biopic American Underdog round out the titles that finished above $1 million for the weekend, grossing $1.3 million and $1.2 million, respectively. The two films are now at $13 million for 355 and $24.7 million for Underdog.

Rounding out the Top Ten are Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Licorice Pizza, and West Side Story. Their totals are $128.1 million, $11.8 million, and $36 million.

Even with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, February looks to be a very promising month in terms of new releases, with a number of titles that look like they could be breakout hits. This weekend sees the arrival of Jackass Forever, the fourth installment of the film series (spun off from the long-ago MTV series) in which Johnny Knoxville and friends hurt and/or humiliate themselves and each other for the lulz. This is the first entry in over a decade, since 2010's Jackass 3D, which opened north of $50 million (though there was the hit 2013 spinoff Bad Grandpa and Action Point, Knoxville's flop 2018 attempt to combine Jackass-style stunts with a scripted narrative). Don't expect this one to make anywhere near that amount, but it should have a decent start. Also aiming for #1 is the sci-fi thriller Moonfall (which sounds awfully like the name of a Jackass stunt), in which rogue scientists Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson try to prevent the moon from hurtling into the Earth. This is directed by Roland Emmerich, who has previous experience destroying the planet with Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, and 2012. Don't expect this to make anywhere near any of those films, but it might be able to pull up some solid business itself. Will Jackass knock its way to #1? Will Moonfall rise to the occasion? Or will Spider-Man beat the odds and spend another week on top? We'll find out next week.

In many ways, Super Bowl weekend was a rather unique weekend for new releases. All three of the new wide releases were headlined by actors over 50. Two of the three were original screenplays, and while the third is both a sequel and a remake, it's not from an IP that Hollywood is eager to produce numerous clones of. Unfortunately, this may be the last weekend like this for a good long while, because none of the films did particularly well.

Leading the charge was Death on the Nile, Kenneth Branagh's follow-up to his surprise smash Murder on the Orient Express from 2017. Once again, Branagh plays Agatha Christie's detective Herclue Poirot, investigating yet another murder on a mode of transportation that no one can get off of among a group of rich travelers, played by an assortment of familiar faces. Death came in at the lower end of expectations, opening to $12.9 million, or less than half of what Murder opened to in November 2017. While that was good enough for #1, it's not exactly a number that inspires much confidence. Murder ended up having strong legs, as did another all-star whodunit, Knives Out, in 2019. If Death can develop similar legs, it might be able to do all right for itself, though it will likely fall well short of $100 million.

Last week's top film, Jackass Forever, was predictably front-loaded, as it fell 65% in weekend #2 to $8.1 million, for a ten-day total of $37.5 million. This puts it well behind the second weekend of the original Jackass, from 2002, in both weekend and overall gross, which probably means this will end up as the lowest grosser of the franchise (though, since I have yet to see it, I am not sure how gross it is compared to its predecessors. Thank you folks, I'll be here all week). Still, with a budget of only $10 million, this one should still be nicely profitable. Expect Paramount and MTV to try to talk Johnny Knoxville into recruiting a new, 20-something crew for Jackass: The Next Generation, possibly streaming soon on Paramount Plus.

Opening disappointingly in third is Marry Me, the new Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson romcom. Despite better-than-expected reviews, Valentine's weekend audiences surprisingly did not say "I do" to the film, as it opened to only $8 million (the fact it also hit Peacock to stream day and date probably didn't help). Like Death on the Nile, this one has a decent shot at having some legs, but for those hoping that the success of Hustlers (and the breathless tabloid coverage of Bennifer 2.0) meant J.Lo was back will be crestfallen.

Spider-Man: No Way Home continues to perform well, especially for a film that has been out for 9 weeks now, as it came in fourth with another $7.5 million. Spidey ended the weekend with $759.4 million, placing it just inches below Avatar's final gross. By now, he has blown past Avatar to #3 of all time.

Opening in fifth is Blacklight, the latest Liam Neeson actioner. The thriller couldn't attract much of an audience, opening to a mere $3.5 million. That's actually less than his Honest Thief, which opened in October 2020 when many theaters were still closed and box office was a fragment of what it is now, took in its first weekend. We'll see if his late April thriller Memory can improve on this.

In sixth, Sing 2 continues to do decent business as the only family movie in wide release right now, taking in $3.1 million for a total of $143.5 million. Scream also held up decently, with another $3 million for a total of $73.3 million. Moonfall fell sharply in its second weekend, as the sci-fi thriller lost 70% of its already disappointing opening weekend audience. It took in $3 million for a ten-day total of $15.3 million.

In ninth is Licorice Pizza, this weekend's highest-grossing Oscar nominee, other than Spider-Man, which took advantage of its Best Picture nomination and theater expansion to take in $1 million. Its gross is $14 million. Rounding out the Top Ten is the IMAX concert documentary The Beatles: Get Back-The Rooftop Concert, an exerpt from the recent Disney+ documentary, that presents the group's legendary final performance in full. In three weeks in IMAX theaters, it has grossed $0.9 million.

Outside the Top Ten, films that saw post-Oscar nomination surges included Belfast, The Worst Person in the World, Drive My Car, Dune, and King Richard.

Three more new films open wide this weekend. Likely leading the way, and hoping to post the best opening since Spider-Man, is Uncharted, the action-adventure adaption of the popular video game series starring Spidey himself, Tom Holland, as well as Mark Wahlberg as a pair of adventures seeking the lost fortune of Ferdinand Magellan. Antonio Banderas co-stars as a rival treasure hunter. Don't expect great reviews for this, but star power and name recognition should make any opening less than $30 million be seen as a disappointment. Also going wide is Dog, in which Channing Tatum, also making his directorial debut, plays an Army Ranger tasked with taking a service dog to the funeral of a comrade. The other new film is The Cursed, a period horror film in which a small French town is plagued by what might be a supernatural presence. Will Uncharted chart a course for #1, or could Dog or The Cursed pull an upset? We'll find out next week.

It's a good time to be Tom Holland. After playing (one of the) title character(s) in Spider-Man: No Way Home, he watched as that film wildly exceeded even the most optimistic expectations, to the point that Sony decided to put Holland front and center for the ad campaign for Uncharted, to the point you'd be forgiven for forgetting that Mark Wahlberg is even in the film. That decision paid off as Uncharted holds up strongly in its second weekend, taking in $23 million for a ten-day total of $83.1 million. The actioner passes Scream to become the highest-grossing film released in 2022, and should be at or very close to $100 million by the end of the coming weekend.

Holding up even better at #2 is Dog, the Channing Tatum-led comedy-drama about a road trip involving Tatum's Army Ranger and a service dog. Dropping only a bit more than 30%, the film grossed $10.2 million for a ten-day total of $30.9 million. At this point, it looks like it has a good shot at a final above $50 million and with it, the best performance by a dog movie since The Call of the Wild.

The aforementioned Spider-Man: No Way Home just keeps going, as it grossed another $5.8 million to run its total up to $779.9 million. At this point, it's a near-lock for $800 million. We'll see if the arrival of the Caped Crusader at your friendly neighborhood multiplexes this weekend can finally stymie Spidey's run.

Death on the Nile cruised once again into fourth, as its all-star gang of murder suspects brought in $4.5 million, for a gross of $32.8 million. In fifth, Jackass Forever has a decent shot of passing the final gross of the original in a few weeks. It took in another $3.1 million for a total of $52 million, which, even if it ends up the lowest-grossing of the franchise, is still a very solid number for a cheaply produced movie from a long-dormant franchise whose original audience has likely grown out of the franchise's signature stunts and pranks.

In sixth, Sing 2 continues to cruise along, earning $2.3 million for a gross of $151.4 million. The J.Lo. romcom disappointment Marry Me slips to 7th, taking in $1.9 million for a total of $20.3 million.

Opening in eights, Studio 666, a horror comedy starring Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters, playing themselves as their recording sessions in a haunted house goes supernaturally awry, attracted an audience of Foo Fighters loyalists, but few others, as it opened to a meager $1.5 million. These types of films tend to fade very quickly, so don't expect a long run for this one.

Belatedly arriving in ninth is Cyrano, the musical adaption of the classic story, with Peter Dinklage in the title role. This one opened briefly for Oscar qualification at the end of December, before promptly vanishing until now. In somewhat limited release, it had an OK per-screen average, but could still only take in $1.4 million. Maybe this should have tried for a wide release in January, though to be honest, it's hard seeing this do well anywhere on the calendar.

Scream rounds out the Top Ten, taking in $1.3 million for a total of $79.2 million. Its final gross is going to be a lot closer to the finals of the first three entries in the franchise than a lot of people originally expected. Just outside the Top Ten, Cursed, held up well for a horror film, but still only has a ten-day gross of $3.7 million. Meanwhile, The Godfather got a 50th anniversary re-release, which proved to be an offer a whole lot of people couldn't refuse, taking in $1 million on only a handful of screens.

This weekend's sole wide release is the highly anticipated The Batman, yet another reboot of the franchise, with Robert Pattinson stepping into the cowl previously worn by Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Michael Keaton, and Adam West. Anticipation for this one is high, with some estimates suggesting an opening of over $100 million, which would easily make it the biggest since Spidey's pre-Christmas opening. We'll see just how much of a lift Pattinson brings to the grosses next week.

For whatever reason, Hollywood has largely gone on vacation again. The last three weeks have seen only two movies open on more than 2,000 screens, and only one on more than 3,000 screens. The good news for movie theaters is that one massive release is doing a ton of business.

The Batman stayed at #1 for the second week in a row, taking in $66.5 million, a fairly small (for a blockbuster superhero movie) 50% decline from its opening. The thriller's 10-day total stands at $239 million, already pushing it past Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings to #2 on the pandemic era's box office. With little in the way of direct competition for the next couple of weeks, this seems likely to be past $300 million on its way to $400 million in the next couple of weeks. While The Dark Knight Rises (and for that matter, The Dark Knight) seems out of reach, it should pass Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice's $330 million and Joker's $335 million to become the third-highest-grossing Batman (and Batman-adjacent) movie by the end of its run.

Coming in second is Uncharted, the February hit that is still doing decent business in March. The actioner grossed $9.3 million for a total of $113.4 million. In the next week or so, it will pass Jungle Cruise and Free Guy to become the pandemic era's highest-grossing non-franchise movie (or, given that we're getting sequels to Jungle Cruise, Free Guy, and Uncharted, the pandemic era's highest-grossing franchise starter).

Coming in third is not a movie, but a concert, specifically a concert by mega-popular South Korean boyband BTS. The livestream of their Saturday concert, given the rather awkward title of BTS Permission to Dance on Stage-Seoul Live Viewing, was beamed to theaters across the world. BTS fans flooded theaters on Saturday night, as the show grossed $6.8 million in the US. Granted, tickets were considerably higher for the concert than for the actual movies playing at the multiplexes, but still, that's an impressive haul given that there was exactly one showing for the entire weekend at each theater that played it. Numbers like this invite encores, so don't be surprised if there are further showings of the concert in the coming days.

Getting back to actual movies, coming in fourth was the Channing Tatum hit Dog, which brought in another $5.2 million for a gross of $47.7 million. It looks to finish its run north of $60 million. In fifth was long-running megahit Spider-Man: No Way Home, which snagged $4.1 million for a gross of $792.3 million. It should hit $800 million soon, but the one thing that might slow Spidey down has finally launched--availability for home viewing (Sony waited a whole three months to make this available on home PPV, which seems like an eternity these days). That said, Sing 2 is still in the Top 10 even though its been available for digital purchase since January, so who knows? In sixth, Death on the Nile continues to cruise along, earning $2.4 million for a total of $40.7 million.

Opening in 7th is Radhe Shyam, an Indian romantic drama. The film took in $1.9 million and finished in one of the highest slots a Bollywood movie has ever hit in the weekend Top 10.

Rounding out the Top 10 is the aforementioned Sing 2, which took in $1.6 million for a total of $155.9 million, Jackass Forever, which brought in $1.1 million for a total of $56.3 million, and Scream, which is now up to $80.9 million.

Three new movies open wide this weekend, though none of them are likely to challenge Batman's grip on the top spot. The most promising box-office-wise is X, a 70s-set horror movie about a group making a porn movie on a farm in Texas, which clearly displeases someone, as members of the cast and crew keep getting violently murdered. Early reviews have been very strong, and even if this fails to catch on at the box office, it seems very likely to become a cult hit. Also arriving is The Outfit, a thriller starring Mark Rylance as a seemingly meek tailor who, as it turns out, has a particular set of skills beyond just being able to craft a suit. This one is also getting excellent early reviews, and also seems to have the makings of a cult classic. Finally, Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is a prequel to the popular anime series, revealing the backstory of one of the show's characters and how he became an expert fighter of curses. Even if they don't hit #1, these three, along with more limited releases like the Sandra Oh-starring horror film Umma and the Bollywood release Stand Up Rahul, will likely shake up the Top 10. We'll find out to what extent next week.

The franchise film, needless to say, is dominant in Hollywood right now. Since the beginning of the year, six movies have topped the weekend box office chart. Five of them are franchise cogs in some way. Only one movie, the Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg actioner Uncharted, primarily drew in fans based on the leads, and even that film got a big boost from being based on a popular video game series. However, finally, in the last weekend of March, we finally have a new film--the first since Free Guy last August--that is both not based on any prior source and whose leads are the big draw, that ends up at #1.

Sure, like Free Guy, The Lost City looks utterly derivative of previous movies--the 1984 smash Romancing the Stone comes most immediately to mind--but its screenplay is technically original, and it's hard to imagine the action comedy opening to $30.5 million if its leads were, say, Robin Wright and Zac Efron instead of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum. With solid reviews, this stands an excellent chance of becoming the third film of 2022 to hit the $100 million mark.

After three weeks on top, franchise flick The Batman, which even by franchise standards, is doing extremely well, slipped to second, taking in $20.5 million for a total so far of $331.9 million. A final gross at or near $400 million seems assured.

Opening in third is the Indian thriller RRR, which opened to a fantastic $9.5 million in North America. This is the highest opening weekend gross and the highest chart position for a film from the subcontinent in US. To be fair, tickets for the film were considerably more expensive than for the other films playing at the theater, but even so, this is still a huge opening, and RRR does seem to now be on track to be the highest-grossing Indian film all time in North America.

The aforementioned Uncharted continues to do decent business, taking in $5 million for a total of $133.6 million. As expected, anime Jujitsu Kaisen 0 fell sharply from its impressive opening last weekend, taking in $4.6 million for a 12-day total of $27.7 million. While it likely won't catch up to Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, it should pass Dragon Ball: Broly to become the second-highest grossing non-Pokémon anime title in North America.

X held up quite well for a horror movie, falling less than 50% for a weekend take of $2.2 million. The critically acclaimed slasher has a ten-day total of $8.3 million. The other Channing Tatum vehicle, the sleeper hit Dog, barked up another $2.1 million for a total of $57.9 million.

Spider-Man: No Way Home hit a major milestone over the weekend, becoming only the third film in history to pass the $800 million mark domestically. The superhero saga, which finally looks like its on its way out of theaters, brought in $2 million for an official gross of $800.6 million. Also finally exiting theaters after a very long run itself is Sing 2, which took in $1.4 million for a total of $160.4 million.

Opening in tenth was the little-publicized mountain-climbing thriller Infinite Storm, which could only muster up $0.8 million. You should probably hurry if you're interested in seeing it in theaters. Last week's other wide opening, The Outfit, finished 12th for the weekend, with a ten-day total of $2.7 million.

Normally, April is a quiet month on the box office calendar, with maybe a couple of big titles early in the month, before the second half is dominated by dumps or maybe the first big summer title, which jumps back from the first Friday of May to the last Friday of April. This year, however, with studio shelves groaning under the weight of pandemic-delayed blockbusters, April has been basically transformed into the first month of the summer movie season, with The Lost City being the unofficial kickoff. This week brings the long-delayed Spider-Man spinoff Morbius, with Jared Leto as a biochemist whose attempts to cure his rare condition turns him into a vampire. Michael Keaton is reprising his villainous Vulture from Spider-Man: Homecoming, suggesting that this movie is part of the main MCU (the previous Spider-Manless Spider-Man spinoff, Venom, does not take place in the MCU, other than a couple of post-credit sequences). Also possibly making some noise on the lower half of the chart is newly-minted Best Picture winner CODA, though if Apple+ is as stingy with box office information as Netflix and Prime are with their theatrical releases, we may never know how much the film actually makes. Will Morbius be able to suck the life out of The Lost City and take the top? Or will Sandra and Channing hold off Leto? We'll find out next week.

Sonic the Hedgehog was the last blockbuster of the pre-pandemic era. Opening on Valentine's Day weekend 2020, it opened to $58 million, and was up to $146 million by the time theaters were closed a month later. While Covid probably cost the film a few million, it had earned enough that Paramount was happy to greenlight the sequel teased during the film's mid-credit sequence.

Said sequel has arrived, and despite reviews not nearly as enthusiastic as they were for the first film, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 easily raced to the top, opening to an unexpectedly huge $72.1 million. The sequel, which sees the CGI Sonic (voiced again by Ben Schwartz) once again battle the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) over a magical emerald, joined by two more beloved characters from the video games: the flying fox Tails and the echidna Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba). This looks certain to become the year's third $100 million grosser by the end of the upcoming Easter weekend, and fans can expect the third part, teased again in mid-credits sequence, in 2024 or 2025.

Falling a harsh 74% from last weekend's underwhelming debut, Morbius, the widely panned Spider-Man spin-off, could only muster $10.2 million, for a ten-day total of $57.1 million. At this point, it seems almost certain that Jared Leto's vampire-like anti-hero won't hit the century mark, making future outings with the character unlikely.

Coming in third, action rom-com The Lost City took in $9 million for a gross of $68.7 million. That's enough to push it past Dog, Channing Tatum's other (and much lower-budgeted) movie of the year, but its now beginning to look doubtful that it hits $100 million. Still, it's a bright spot for Paramount, which also released Sonic, and can now boast that it has 4 2022 films with grosses above $50 million (the other two being Scream and Jackass Forever). As of right now, no other studio has more than two films above that number.

Opening disappointingly in 4th is Ambulance. The action-thriller, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as bank robbers who hijack the titular vehicle while being chased by seemingly the entirety of the LAPD, could only manage $8.7 million, easily the worst opening of Michael Bay's directorial career. It probably doesn't help that movies like this one were already migrating to streaming services even before the pandemic (Bay's last film, 6 Underground, was made for Netflix). This one looks to run out of gas under $25 million.

In fifth, The Batman has surprisingly lost a lot of altitude fairly fast, as it took in $6.5 million, for a total of $359 million. $400 million, which once looked almost guaranteed, is now looking out of reach, especially with news breaking this week that the film will already be hitting HBO Max next Monday. Looking at what the Christmas Eve debut of Encanto on Disney+ did to that film's box office foretells The Batman's grim box office future going forward. The same fate very well might be awaiting Sonic, as it will likely be on Paramount+ by Memorial Day.

Jumping to sixth, after expanding to 1,250 theaters, is trippy sci-fi actioner comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once, which has emerged from seemingly nowhere to become the cult title of the spring. The film brought in $6.1 million to bring its total to $8.4 million. Unlike some of the titles ahead of it on the chart, the future for this one looks bright, as good word of mouth and strong holds could lift it as high as $30 million.

In 7th, long-running hit Uncharted is the last movie to gross over $1 million for the weekend, taking in $2.6 million for a gross of $142.9 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 this weekend, with grosses of under $1 million, are anime Jujitsu Kaisen 0, massive hit Spider-Man: No Way Home, in what is very possibly its final weekend in the Top 10, and fast-fading Indian epic RRR. The film's total grosses now stand at $33.1 million, $803.8 million, and $13.7 million.

This weekend sees two new wide releases. Already out, ahead of the Easter holiday, is Father Stu, a Christian-based film starring Mark Wahlberg as a failed boxer and two-bit criminal who turns his life around and eventually becomes a priest. Unlike most faith-based films, this one doesn't sugarcoat the profanity, which is why it's the rare one of these that has an R rating. Of course, if there's anyone who knows how to get devout Christians to see an R-rated faith-based film, it's Mel Gibson, who plays Wahlberg's father. The film was written and directed by first-time filmmaker Rosaland Ross, who just happens to be Gibson's current girlfriend. Despite co-starring in Uncharted, Wahlberg has been having a tough time box-office-wise lately, and we'll see if his newest can attract some business. It's likely to be blown out by this week's other newcomer, which opens tomorrow. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore brings the Harry Potter prequel series back after a pandemic-induced 3-1/2 year hiatus, during which Johnny Depp, who played the dark wizard Grindelwald in the first two instalments, was replaced by Mads Mikkelsen (a wise move, given the headlines about Depp this week. Unfortunately, they didn't replace Ezra Miller, who also returns). No one much liked the second installment, so we'll see if putting the name of one of the franchise's most beloved characters (and played in this series by Jude Law) front and center in the title will help juice ticket sales. This seems likely to open at #1, but if Sonic holds up well, it could race to the top again. We'll find out next week.

In many ways, the pandemic era has been good for feature-length animation. The Croods: A New Age was the highest-grossing film of 2020 released after the start of lockdowns. Disney is on a hot streak, with Soul, Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca, Encanto, and Turning Red all winning critical praise. Anime seems to have broken through, with the suburb box office results for Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train and Jujutsu Kaisen 0. Streamers had critically acclaimed winners in Wolfwalkers and The Mitchells vs. the Machines. And while the films themselves were terrible, at least Tom and Jerry and Space Jam: A New Legacy introduced a new generation to classic stars of the golden age of animation.

Of course, the problem is that, other than the anime titles, almost none of this was reflected at the box office. Animation, which used to be about as reliable of a genre as you could get, has only seen one movie gross over $100 million in the last 2 years, and it was the predictably mediocre Sing 2. If animation doesn't want to be permanently regulated to streaming, films are going to have to start putting up some decent numbers.

That's why the start of the new animated film The Bad Guys is encouraging. The DreamWorks Animation title, based on a series of graphic novels, took in a solid $24 million over the weekend, the year's third-best start for a non-franchise movie, and the best for a film that's not a star vehicle. While it is a long way from $100 million, good word of mouth and the lack of family competition (depending on how PG-13ish Bob's Burgers ends up being, Lightyear, opening in mid-June, could be the next wide-release family film) might help it to become the next 2022 title to hit the century mark.

Already well over the mark is Sonic the Hedgehog 2, the other family-friendly title out right now, which sped though another $15.7 million this weekend. It is now up to $146.3 million, putting it past Uncharted for #2 in 2022, and it should zoom past the original's (pandemic-affected) gross by the weekend at the latest. The lack of family competition will also help to juice Sonic's grosses, as it eyes $200 million.

Last week's champ, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, saw much of its audience disapparate, as it fell to $14 million, for a ten-day total of $67.1 million. That this will be the lowest-grossing Wizarding World film by far is a guarantee. The question now is can it even make it to $100 million.

Opening in fourth was violent Viking epic The Northman, which grossed an OK $12.3 million. The film, which is rumored to have cost roughly $70 million, seems designed to play overseas, so any money it makes in North America is likely to be gravy.

Since Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance opened in February 2012, Nicolas Cage has only been in four live-action films that grossed even $1 million domestic. That number became 5 as the extremely meta The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in which Cage plays Nicolas Cage, took in $7.1 million. Given the excellent reviews for the film, that's not a great total, but that's enough to make it his third-highest-grossing live-action film of the last decade. That's not great news for Cage's career, but this film, coupled with Pig, does seem to suggest that Cage is tired of wandering through the straight-to-Redbox wasteland.

Art-house sci-fi smash Everything Everywhere All At Once continues to attract an appreciative audience, as the film declined only 12% from last week, popping up with $5.4 million and a total gross of $26.9 million. The film should blast past $30 million in the next week or so, heading toward $40 and perhaps, if everything goes right, $50 million.

The Lost City continues to fade, as it found $4.3 million for a total of $85.4 million. Father Stu proved that maybe R-rated Christian films, even with all-star casts, might not be wise, as it could only pray up $3.3 million, for a 12-day total of $13.9 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 are two of the more disappointing flops of April. Morbius was only able to come up with $2.3 million for a total of $69.2 million, while Ambulance sped away with $1.8 million for a total of $19.2 million.

With Doctor Strange and the Mulitverse of Madness on the horizon, Hollywood is only releasing one wide-release movie this weekend. Memory is Liam Neeson's latest Old Man of Action thriller, in which he plays an assassin trying to hunt down his latest employers, who now want him dead. The track record on these types of films lately haven't been encouraging. Can The Bad Guys continue to do good work at the top? Or could Sonic race back up to snatch the #1 spot away? We'll find out next weekend.