‘Sing 2’ Scores In Japan As ‘Uncharted’ Passes $200 Million Overseas

In weekend box office holdover news not related to The Batman, Sing 2 got off to a promising start in Japan, opening with $5.9 million. That’s almost as much as The Batman has earned ($6.4 million) in ten days. More importantly, we’re talking about an $80 million animated sequel that has already earned $377 million worldwide, so halfway decent legs in Japan (along with strong legs everywhere else) could very well push it to $400 million worldwide. The Illumination toon has earned $1.48million (-8%) in weekend 13 to bring its domestic cume within spitting distance of The Secret Life of Pets 2 ($160 million in summer 2019). Tell me again that Turning Red had no choice but to go straight to Disney+?

Slightly related, but Universal’s next two films began their respective overseas launches this weekend. DreamWorks’ The Bad Guys opened with $8.5 million in 25 overseas territories. The film, loosely based on a 15-book (and counting) kids-lit series, opens in North America on April 22. Meanwhile, Michael Bay’s Ambulance, about bank robbers who reluctantly hijack an ambulance in an attempt to escape their latest job, opened with $4.4 million in 35 overseas markets, which was about in line with The King’s Man (now at $126 million worldwide on an over/under $95 million budget) and Wrath of Man (which earned $103 million last summer on a $40 million budget). The Jake Gyllenhaal/Eiza González/Yahya Abdul-Mateen II flick opens domestically on April 8.

Sony’s Uncharted has earned $10.3 million in China thus far, but earned another $8 million (-14%) in weekend five. That’ll give the Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg actioner a $126 million domestic cume, putting it within striking distance of the (unadjusted) domestic gross of Tomb Raider ($131 million in 2001). The film will also pass Ghostbusters: Afterlife domestically, showing the value of Tom Rothman’s recent slew of “blockbusters on a budget” (including the upcoming $75 million Morbius). Uncharted passed $337 million worldwide, topping Prince of Persia and now ranking only behind Angry Birds ($353 million), Rampage ($428 million), Detective Pikachu ($433 million) and Warcraft ($438 million) among video game movies. But since Sony’s flick cost $120 million and the Disney flick cost $200 million, well, you get the idea.

Sure, Spider-Man: No Way Home cost around $200 million, but it’ll pass $800 million domestic next weekend (after a $3.2 million 14th-weekend gross) and has now earned $1.84 billion worldwide. MGM is now part of the Amazon empire, which I guess means Dog will get sequels, spin-offs and prequels. I jest, I hope, but the Channing Tatum-directed drama earned $4.3 million (-18%) in weekend four for a $54.4 million 31-day total. Like with Spidey, the debut on PVOD has done nothing to stop theatrical momentum, and the $15 million flick has now out-grossed House of Gucci ($53.9 million) as the biggest-grossing drama since Little Women ($108 million) in late 2019. Licorice Pizza has now earned $17 million, passing the unadjusted $16.2 million gross of The Master.