The Batman scores another weekly win, while an anime leads several newcomers.
The Batman had another strong weekend, taking in $36.7 million. That's enough for the dark comic book thriller to climb to almost exactly $300 million. Even though competition is about to get much tougher, it might have enough juice in the tank to make it to $400 million. If it can pass that milestone, it will be the first non Disney/MCU release to hit that mark since Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom did so in 2018. At any rate, as there has never been a year that earning $300 million domestic wasn't enough to get into the yearly Top 10 (and it definitely doesn't seem like this is the year to break that streak), this will definitely be one of the year's highest grossers, no matter what.
Early in the year seems to be an excellent time to release spinoffs of popular anime TV series in the North American market. In 2019, Dragon Ball Super: Broly shocked just about everyone by earning $30 million, a record for a non-Pokémon anime in the North American market. That was shattered last year by Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train, which earned just under $50 million. It's unlikely that Jujutsu Kaisen 0, a prequel to the popular show about high school students who fight demonic curses, will be able to top that. But the $14.8 million it took in over the weekend, and the $17.8 million it earned since opening last Wednesday, indicate it is going to come fairly close. Anime titles tend to drop off quickly, so don't expect Jujutsu Kaisen to stick around for weeks on end. But it should head back to Japan with at least $35 million+ of American money.
Uncharted continues a solid run, taking in $7.8 million, good enough for third this weekend. It now has charted a course to $125.7 million, moving it past Free Guy to be the biggest franchise starter of the pandemic era. It has an outside shot of getting to Sonic the Hedgehog's $149 million.
Opening in fourth is the retro horror film X, which disappointed a bit with a $4.4 million opening, despite largely fantastic reviews. Unless word-of-mouth saves this, this one seems destined to be rediscovered once it hits streaming.
Dog continues to be the sleeper hit of the winter/spring, as it brought in $4 million to bring its gross to a doggone $54.1 million. A final gross around $65 million seems to be in the cards. In its 14th weekend, Spider-Man: No Way Home finally fell out of the Top 5, coming in sixth with $3.1 million, for a gross of $797.5 million. It seems likely to be past the $800 million mark by the end of this coming weekend. Death on the Nile continues to sail along, bringing in $1.7 million for a total of $43.5 million.
Opening in 8th, despite, like X, getting strong reviews, is the mobster drama The Outfit, which could only muster up $1.5 million for the weekend. Like X, this one seems ripe for discovery once it hits streaming.
On the other hand, The Kashmir Files opening in ninth is quite impressive, as it is playing in far fewer theaters than the rest of the Top 10. The controversial Indian film, concerning a woman's search for the truth about what happened to her family in the Hindu exodus from the Kashmir Valley in 1990, took in $1.5 million, as the film was praised by the Indian government but condemned by Muslims over what they saw as an inaccurate account of what happened during that time.
In tenth, the decidedly uncontroversial Sing 2 took in $1.5 million, for a total of $158.4 million. It finished just above new horror film Umma, which came in just under the Top 10 with just under $1 million.
Other than Batman, it's been a fairly slow month in terms of new releases. That ends this weekend, as The Lost City kicks off a solid month of would-be blockbusters leading to the summer movie season. The action comedy stars Sandra Bullock as a romance novelist who gets kidnapped by eccentric billionaire Daniel Radcliffe to help him find the titular city (refusing to believe that Bullock just made the whole thing up for a book) and Channing Tatum as her book's dimwitted cover model, who decides to go rescue her. The campaign for the movie doesn't hide the fact that Brad Pitt is also in this, though how big his part is is unknown. With surprisingly strong reviews, it seems highly likely to dethrone The Batman from the top spot. Also opening, hoping for slots in the lower half of the Top 10 is the mountain-climbing thriller Infinite Storm and the Bollywood war drama RRR. Will The Lost City be found on top? Or could Batman swoop in for one more week at #1? We'll find out next week.
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