Box Office Discussion: Along Stayed a "Spider"

 Spider-Man: No Way Home ruled yet again, while The 355 was 187ed.

The holidays are over, meaning the Christmas bonanza (which was largely limited to two movies) is also over, and theaters are facing a rather bleak January before some potential hits arrive in February.  Luckily, the biggest movie of them all, Spider-Man: No Way Home, is sticking around and still doing solid business.  In its fourth weekend, it found another $32.6 million, to bring its total to $668.4 million, enough to push it past Jurassic World and Titanic to sixth of all time.  It seems likely to pass Avengers: Infinity War this weekend to break into the all-time Top 5.

In second, moderate hit Sing 2 composed another $11.6 million, brining its total to $108.7 million, becoming the 14th film of 2021 to hit the century mark.  Sing held up decently, despite now being available for PPV rental (at the whopping price of $25, but depending on the size of your family, that might be a bargain compared to tickets, not even including popcorn and sodas).  It will finish substantially below the original, but should still be considered a success.  And it might be the only opportunity for families to go to the theater for the foreseeable future, with Disney's decision to cancel the theatrical release of Turning Red and instead make it the third straight Pixar film to go straight to Disney+.  The next scheduled animated film is DreamWorks's The Bad Guys in late April.

Opening dismally in third is The 355, the female-oriented action movie whose impressive cast (including Jessica Chastain and Penélope Cruz) attracted little attention.  The film got shot up with a mere $4.6 million, and seems likely to finish between $10 and $15 million, an inauspicious start for the year in film 2022.  At least it has a week to boast about being the highest-grossing movie released in 2022.

Christmas and even a couple of Thanksgiving leftovers round out the Top 10.  The King's Man has developed some better than expected legs, but is still standing at just $25 million.  American Underdog is not going to be a top dog, with a gross of $18.7 million.  The Matrix Resurrections had yet another big drop, and stands at $34.3 million.  West Side Story took the Golden Globe for Comedy/Musical on Sunday night, but unfortunately, the ceremony wasn't televised, so there won't be any box office boost.  It stands at $32.1 million.  

Rounding out the Top Ten are November releases Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Licorice Pizza (which, admittedly, didn't go wide until December), and House of Gucci.  Those films stand at $125 million, $8.2 million, and $50.1 million, respectively.

This week sees the one January release that could challenge Spider-Man for the top spot.  Scream follows the Halloween naming convention of just giving the decades-later sequel the same title as the original, to hide the fact it is, in fact, a decades-later sequel (Scream 4 was nearly 11 years ago, and the original just celebrated its 25th anniversary).  Franchise stalwarts Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette return, to try to figure out the new person who has put on the Ghostface costume and is slaughtering another generation of high school kids.  Horror always plays well in early January, and this one could attract both young gorehounds and their parents, who might have fond memories of going to see the original when they were in high school or college.  Also possibly making the lower reaches of the Top Ten are anime Belle and Bollywood entry Bangarraju.  Will Scream, with its cast full of twenty-somethings playing high schoolers, end Spidey's reign on top?  Or will Spider-Man, with its cast full of twenty-somethings playing high schoolers, prevail for the fifth weekend in a row?  We'll find out next week.