Spider-Man: No Way Home has a monster opening--no asterisk required--leaving everything else, including Nightmare Alley, in the dust.
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.
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