‘The Batman’ Tops ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ With $273 Million Cume

With no Hollywood competition of note, since STX delayed Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune, Warner Bros. The Batman topped the domestic box office for the third Friday in a row. Matt Reeves and Peter Craig’s Dark Knight Detective story, starring Robert Pattinson, Zoe Kravitz and Paul Dano, earned another $10.6 million and dropped just 43% from last Friday. That positions the $185 million tentpole for a $39 million weekend (-41%) as it races past the $300 million mark on day 17. Its current total is now $273 million, right between The Amazing Spider-Man ($262 million in 2012) and Man of Steel ($291 million in 2013). After tomorrow, it’ll be the second-biggest straight-up reboot in North America behind only Spider-Man: Homecoming (which, thanks to an MCU connection and an Iron Man supporting appearance, earned $334 million in 2017).

That possible 41% drop in weekend three would put it awfully close to the smallest third-weekend superhero/comic book drops. As I noted when Shazam! dropped just 32% in weekend three (thanks to Easter weekend), The Batman’s 41% drop will sit alongside the likes of Shazam! (-32% in 2019), Aquaman (-40% in 2018), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (+15% in 2018), Wonder Woman (-29% in 2017), The Matrix (-20% in 1999), Blade (-21% whose third weekend was Labor Day in 1998), The Crow (-34% whose third weekend was Memorial Day in 1994), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (-28% in 1991), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (-25% in 1990) and Batman (-36% in 1989). That’s damn impressive and I’m expecting The Lost City to be less of an issue for The Batman than was Avengers: Endgame to Shazam.

Whether due to being the only game in town, being a genuinely well-liked and well-reviewed tentpole event or probably a little of both, The Batman is again showing that the right movie can still party like it’s 2018. Sure, it’s bombing in China ($8.5 million in two days), but that’s due to circumstances beyond WB’s control (namely an upswing in Covid and years of decreased interest for Hollywood exports). Besides, presuming a continued 51/49 domestic/overseas split, The Batman is now at $543 million worldwide and might be just past $600 million worldwide tomorrow. Sure, we may be looking at a global cume closer to $700 million than $800 million, but A) the legs means we can’t be sure yet and B) it’ll have tripled its budget by tonight. So, yeah, it’s doing just fine.

Speaking of “doing fine without China,” Sony’s Uncharted has earned $9 million in China thus far, but earned another $2.27 million (-7%) on its fifth Friday for a likely $8.74 million (-6%) weekend. That’ll give the Tom Holland/Mark Wahlberg actioner a $127 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). When you don’t cost $200 million, you don’t need every territory to deliver best-case-scenario results. Sure, Spider-Man: No Way Home cost around $200 million, but it’ll pass $800 million domestic next weekend (after a $3.61 million 14th-weekend gross) and should be close to $1.88 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 another $1.13 million (-18%) on Friday for a $4.3 million (-18%) weekend and $54.4 million 31-day total. Again, 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 straight-up drama since Little Women ($108 million) in late 2019. Universal’s Sing 2 will earn $1.77 million (+10%) in weekend 13, bringing its cume to $159 million and reminding us that Pixar’s Turning Red would have kicked butt theatrically. The sixth Scream film has been dated for March 31, 2023, and Scream will earn $258,000 (-45%) for a $81.4 million domestic total.