Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Box Office Discussion: My "Chart" Will Go On


 Uncharted and Dog have strong holds, while Studio 666 and Cyrano play to empty houses.

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.

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