UNCHARTED sailed to the top of the box office by earning $44M in North American theatres, better than most experts had predicted. Thursday previews set the tone for the film’s opening weekend with a robust $3.7M. Though critics panned it with a 39% Rotten Tomatoes rating, those who actually bought tickets were more enthusiastic, giving a 88% audience score.
With this latest success, both Sony Pictures and Tom Holland have landed at the top of the box office in eight of the last ten weekends – quite a nice run. This further cements Holland into the position of being one of Hollywood’s most likable and bankable stars.
Channing Tatum’s buddy movie DOG finished second with $15M, meeting its pre-release expectations. A favorite with both critics (78%) and audiences (91%) on Rotten Tomatoes, this film should enjoy a long run in theatres and wind up success for its distributor United Artists Releasing. This weekend’s other new release THE CURSED failed to attract much interest, with a meager gross of $1.7M at 1,687 locations.
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME finished in third place with $7.2M, which was an incredibly low drop of only 4% from last weekend’s results. The movie that will not go away is now the third highest-grossing film of all all-time, grossing $770M over ten weeks in theatres.
None of the three new wide releases from last weekend placed in the top three in their second week. DEATH ON THE NILE came in fourth with $6.3M, a drop of 51% from its opening. MARRY ME earned $3.7M, a drop of 54%, and BLACKLIGHT earned $1.8M, a drop of 49%.
This all adds up to the total box office estimate for the weekend of $95.3M, a healthy 75% compared with the same weekend in 2019 when $127M in tickets were sold. After a dismal January, February is showing some signs of life. Next week will bring two new wide releases, STUDIO 666 and CYRANO. However, most exhibitors are already looking ahead, to the March 4th opening of THE BATMAN, with indications of intense interest based on online activity and advanced ticket sales.
