After bursting onto the silver screen last weekend with what many called an overperformance, “Uncharted” continued to blaze its box-office trail. The film grossed another $23.3 million this weekend, pushing its domestic total to a solid $83.4 million. This 47.2% drop from its opening is quite solid for a film of its stature, though it definitely was assisted by the lack of any new major releases. “Uncharted” will unfortunately have to face a juggernaut at the box office next weekend as “The Batman” comes to theaters. Though this will not completely dismantle its run, Gotham’s “Dark Knight” will certainly hurt its potential. That being said, with over $80 million in its first two weekends domestically and over $170 million worldwide, the $120 million budgeted film is doing quite well. With these numbers, not only is “Uncharted” breaking the norm of the video game genre but it is also cementing the superstar status of its star Tom Holland.
Coming in second place is last weekend’s other surprise, Channing Tatum’s “Dog.” This film collected another $10.1 million at the domestic box office this past weekend, posting an incredible 32% drop. The success of “Uncharted” was relatively surprising, but I do not think “Dog” grossing $30 million in its first two weekend’s was on the mind of any box office prognosticators. It is certainly a great sign for the box office’s health that a film of its stature is overperforming.
In third place with yet another week in the top three, is the third highest grossing film domestically, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” This box office colossus posted a weekend gross of $5.8 million, pushing its domestic total to an unworldly $779.8 million. With another sub 25% drop, this film simply does not seem to be stopping. With the caped crusader coming to town next week, you would expect “Spider-Man” to take a hit. But I do not know, perhaps more people rolling through theaters will diminish its drop. All I know at this point is this film will end up grossing above $800 million domestically, perhaps even more. Just to put this in perspective, “No Way Home” was released in December and we are about to enter the first weekend of March. The length of the film’s run is simply insane.
In fourth and fifth place are repeats from last week, with “Death on the Nile” and “Jackass Forever” grossing $4.5 million and $3.2 million respectively. Both films dropped 31.4% and 39% respectively, which are respectable drops, but both probably wanted more in this fairly stagnant box office weekend. “Jackass Forever” will likely be dropping out of the top five next weekend.
And now, for the film we’ve been hyping up throughout the article, “The Batman” will be coming to theaters next weekend. This is by far the biggest release of 2022 thus far, giving the film the chance to set the bar for the yearly domestic box office ahead of the summer blockbuster season. I would place my estimate right around $150 million for its opening weekend, though I can easily see this film earning $175+ million. The film does not have the hype of “No Way Home” leading to its opening gross of an incredible $260 million in December, but it is a much anticipated reboot of a beloved character with well-received trailers and significant social media buzz. That being said, I think this is a film that may see its worth more in legs than in opening weekend, as I expect a strong critical and audience reception, where word-of-mouth will bring its audience gradually to theaters.
This is supposed to be the start of a new Batman franchise for Warner Bros., so they are certainly expecting to open with a bang. We will find out next week.
