BTS Rocks $33 Million Global As ‘Uncharted’ Tops $300 Million Worldwide

In non-Guano Man weekend box office news, Sony’s Uncharted continued to hold firm as the definitive “other” movie in a ridiculously barren marketplace. Seriously, there’s no damn excuse for Hollywood, and not just Disney, to just not release anything of value during this normally jam-packed period. But yes, Disney deserves special public shaming for not offering up the terrific/crowdpleasing Turning Red into conventional theatrical release. I’m sure it’ll nab big viewership numbers on Disney+, but it damn well could have notched such figures *after* a 60-90 day theatrical window and conventionally “big” ($450-$650 million) global theatrical release. It’s not supposed to be either/or. Yes, theatrical poses risks, including a risk of public and quantifiable commercial failure, but what is it that Ben Franklin used to say about choosing security over liberty?

Sorry, back to Uncharted. Sony’s Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg adventure earned another $9.38 million (-16%) on weekend four for a $113.5 million 24-day cume. That puts it in fourth place among all video game-based movies (sans inflation, for now anyway) behind Tomb Raider ($131 million), Detective Pikachu ($144 million) and Sonic the Hedgehog ($148 million). It’s looking like a domestic finish of around $140 million, behind (when adjusted for inflation) only Detective Pikachu, Sonic the Hedgehog, Mortal Kombat ($70 million in 1995/$148 million adjusted), Pokémon: The First Movie ($85 million in 1999/$154 million adjusted) and Tomb Raider ($131 million in 2001/$212 million adjusted). The $120 million franchise-starter has now earned $301 million worldwide, with a China release beginning today. It may be the rare video game flick to pass $400 million worldwide.

Meanwhile, BTS Permission to Dance on Stage overperformed this weekend (partially thanks to $35 tickets) in 805 (mostly Cinemark) theaters. The South Korean concert performance was shown twice on Saturday and brings to mind the Super Bowl debut of Disney’s Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana: The Best of Both Worlds 3-D which earned $31 million in 2008 via limited and slightly more expensive tickets. Yes, the tickets for the BTS concert were pricey by theatrical standards, but it’s a lot less than flying overseas and/or shelling out for conventional live concert tickets. The film earned a whopping $6.84 million on Saturday (and $32.6 million worldwide) for a $8,500 per-theater average. I expect to see more “live” events of this nature as theaters try to drum up revenue amid an industry currently drinking the metaphorical streaming Kool-Aid.

Channing Tatum’s Dog earned another $5.31 million (-13%) for a $47.8 million 24-day total. With legs like this, it may yet top $60 million domestic by the end, even if it’s already available on PVOD courtesy of MGM. Not to be outdone, Tom Holland and Zendaya’s Spider-Man: No Way Home earned $4.1 million (-10%) in weekend 13. That’ll bring Spider-Man 3 version 2.0’s domestic cume over $792 million, putting the $800 million mark within reach as it passes $1.876 billion worldwide. The film arrives on VOD on March 15, pushed up a week after the film got leaked online (thanks, pirates) but still following an old-school 90 day window. What a novel concept. Sony doesn’t have a first-party streaming service to juice, but we’ll see if WB sticks to The Batman’s 45 day window.

Death on the Nile, which will arrive on Hulu on March 29, earned another $2.4 million (-12%) weekend in weekend six. That’ll give Kenneth Branagh’s $90 million murder mystery a $41 million domestic cume and $125 million worldwide cume. Sing 2 continues to prove that Disney damn well should have released Turning Red into theaters, with a $1.58 million (-3%) 12th weekend. That’ll give the $80 million toon a $156 million cume as it reaches $366 million worldwide. Jackass Forever will be at around $56 million by tonight while Scream sits at $81 million domestic. Oh, and yes Disney did release Turning Red into some overseas theaters (where Disney+ isn’t in service), for a $3.8 million opening weekend. Warner Bros. and Sony thank you for your, uh, service.