Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Box Office

  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Speeds Past Expectations to Potential $70M Domestic Opening

    ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Speeds Past Expectations to Potential $70M Domestic Opening

    It looks like Sonic the Hedgehog is a bonafide box office draw now, as the sequel has become the first true giant family film to release at the box office. At this rate, the film is on its way to $67M, but could even pull in around $69M at the domestic box office. It nabbed an impressive $26.5M on Friday in 4,234 theaters across North America, which also includes its still impressive $7M from Thursday previews. As such, it is currently already $10M ahead of its predicted income and if it keeps up the momentum could go even further.

    It’s also one of the few films to manage to top its predecessor, which managed to open to $58M back in 2020. The benefit was that they managed to roll out the film right before the pandemic hit. While the Ben Schwartz-led project wasn’t able to keep up the usual momentum, it still performed quite well and it’s great to see that the success carried over into the latest entry. As of now, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is definitely taking the top spot for the weekend.

    Other films struggled a bit this weekend, as Michael Bay‘s Ambulance didn’t quite muster enough energy, as it pulled in $3.2M on Friday. It currently is on its way to making $8.1M over the weekend even with its strong push via IMAX and premium formats. Morbius wasn’t doing much better, as it faced a massive 70% drop in its second weekend and seemingly lost all momentum after the negative word-of-mouth with it getting one of the lowest CinemaScore for a Marvel film.

    Source: The Hollywood Reporter

  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Eyeing a $60M+ Opening Weekend After Strong Domestic Previews

    ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ Eyeing a $60M+ Opening Weekend After Strong Domestic Previews

    It looks like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is on its way to opening with a strong weekend, as it has taken in $6.25M domestically through its previews from Wednesday and Thursday. To put that into comparison, the film has managed to pass Morbius ($5.7M) and Uncharted ($3.7M), which is motivating after the only real major release being The Batman in 2022 so far. It seems most of the income is from Thursday, which is to be expected with around $5M. That still puts it ahead of the first entries’ $3M back in 2020 before the pandemic hit.

    So far, the question remains if the family-focused film can carry the weekend to potentially pass Jumanji: The Next Level‘s $59.3M opening weekend. Family films have mostly struggled quite a bit as of late due to the pandemic. So, it’ll be interesting to see if the film continues its draw for a younger audience and pulls in people, but it seems clear that it has a good chance to potentially take the top spot.

    Currently, the prediction is that the film will take in around $60M to $75M, but Box Office Pro doesn’t deny that there’s a chance it could perform even better. We have to keep in mind that the film already took in $30M last weekend internationally in only 31 markets. 22are set to join this weekend and its only real competition is Ambulance and Everything Everywhere All At Once, which target a very different audience. So, we’ll see just how it’s weekend will go.

    Source: Box Office Pro, Deadline

  • ‘Morbius Takes Top Spot at the Domestic Box Office With $39M

    ‘Morbius Takes Top Spot at the Domestic Box Office With $39M

    Morbius has been welcomed by audiences with harsh critique, but even its negative reception by critics didn’t stop the film from still nabbing $39.1M at the domestic box office. The film opened across 4,268 theaters in the North America. It’s still a strong pull even for the film landing at 17% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it won’t break any records.

    To put that in comparison though, Venom managed to pull in $80M back in 2018 before its sequel even went on to pull $90M during the pandemic. While it still remains an issue to this day, we’ve been seeing stronger openings for the usual crowd-pleasing films. Internationally, it hasn’t managed to break the $100M, as it was just shy with $84M.

    To be fair, Sony hasn’t invested that much like other big blockbuster films this time around, as the production budget for Morbius was around $75M. The big test always remains how strong the holding is going into the second weekend, but with word-of-mouth being as it is, we might likely expect a considerable drop going in. For now, we can only theorize.

    Source: Variety

  • ‘Morbius’ Opens to $5.7M in Thursday Previews, Eyeing a Potential $50M- Opening Weekend

    ‘Morbius’ Opens to $5.7M in Thursday Previews, Eyeing a Potential $50M- Opening Weekend

    Morbius is a curious case of a film constantly getting pushed back even after it originally eyeing a release in January of 2020. After all that, it was welcomed by some harsh reviews and opened up to a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has now seemingly still managed to pull in $5.7M on a Thursday, which is half of what Venom: Let There Be Carnage got last year. It’s not a great opening but with a $75M budget it’s still nothing to get worried about for Sony.

    Still, the weekend will be the ultimate test, as photos of seemingly empty theaters are making the rounds and hints that the latest blockbuster entry may lose its momentum quite fast. While at best it could score around $45M, it might be closing in on $35M by the end of its weekend run. Early predictions did have it at potentially breaking $50M opening weekend early on, which could still be possible if it somehow picks up in its second weekend.

    Sony wasn’t dumb and invested less into the picture knowing that Morbius isn’t a household name like Venom is. Most of its marketing put all its money on building up the connection to Spider-Man. We even got various hints at it either being part of the MCU, Maguire‘s universe or even the Amazing franchise. Yet, as director Daniel Espinosa openly leaked the post-credit sequences a week ahead of its release, it’s unclear if there are any expectations of the film moving forward.

    Source: Forbes, Box Office Pro

  • ‘The Batman’ Has Passed $500M Worldwide as it Heads Into a Weak Chinese Opening

    ‘The Batman’ Has Passed $500M Worldwide as it Heads Into a Weak Chinese Opening

    It looks like The Batman is passing milestone after milestone, as it has now finally passed the $500M mark. After pulling in another $5.75M on Wednesday, the film stands at an impressive $258.2M domestically. In addition to $247.5M from the global box office, the film now has earned a total of $505.8M. It has now passed Venom: Let There Be Carnage‘s $501M but is trailing behind F9 and No Time To Die, who both benefitted from a Chinese release. Box office in China has been rather subpar sadly, which is making its chances at $1 billion now a bit more unsure, as predictions have it at $10M to $15M from its initial projected $30M due to a rise of COVID cases and closing cinemas.

    Forbes has added a fun aspect about the film’s box office success, as it is now the highest-grossing film featuring a serial killer with Paul Dano‘s Riddler. The comic book genre has become an odd gateway for casual viewers to watch films they’d otherwise avoid due to its genre-specific nature or even more adult-skewed rating. In a way, they have replaced the old genre films at this point, which isn’t an uncommon thing that happens throughout cinema’s life-cycle. For some time, romantic comedies were all the rage before vanishing into thin air.

    The comic book genre has the advantage that it absorbs any time of storytelling, making it the perfect Frankenstein genre to reach wider audiences with stories that are new to them, even if it still remains at this dismay to those believing it is “killing cinema.” Ironically, it is not only keeping the business as stable as possible in very uncertain times but also introduces audiences to new aspects of films they’d otherwise not even blink an eye towards.

    Source: Forbes, ScreenRant, THR

  • ‘The Batman’ Holds Exceptionally Strong in 2nd Weekend as Uncharted Passes $300M

    ‘The Batman’ Holds Exceptionally Strong in 2nd Weekend as Uncharted Passes $300M

    The Batman has had an impressive hold on the box office in its second weekend, as the film managed to stick with a -51% drop with $66M. If you exclude the preview nights, it would stand at -41%, which is even more impressive. It’s now the strongest second-weekend hold, as it passed The Dark Knight’s -53% and even surpasses most of Marvel Studios’ holds which average at around 60%. It’s an impressive feat for a three-hour film as it now stands at $238.5M domestically.

    The film already passed $400M yesterday and it currently looks likely that it’ll pass $500M by the end of the week. Keep in mind, the film has yet to release in China, which will give it another strong boost going into the end of the month. It still seems to be building towards a $1 billion run, especially with that holdover but the coming weeks might paint a better picture. Overall, the film is performing exceptionally and it’ll be exciting to follow.

    Overall, it’s been a strong weekend as Spider-Man: No Way Home also is still building up towards $800M, as it currently now stands at $792.2M with a $4M intake over its 13th weekend. The other Tom Holland-led project Uncharted still held on to the second spot pulling in $9.25M over the weekend and now at $113.3M domestically. The film has now passed $300M worldwide and Sony is definitely happy with its performance. So, a sequel announcement might be in the near future.

    Source: Deadline, Forbes

  • ‘The Batman’ Passes $300M Worldwide Ahead of China Release

    ‘The Batman’ Passes $300M Worldwide Ahead of China Release

    Matt Reeves and Peter Craig’s latest film is making quite the bank even as most expected its three-hour runtime and darker take might get in the way. Still, here we are talking about The Batman having already passed $300M after earning an additional $11.77M on a Tuesday. It only dropped 1% from Monday, which further highlights the incredible staying power of the DC film. For a comparison point, as Forbes points out, it had a stronger hold from Sunday to Monday than Alice in Wonderland, Logan, Captain Marvel, and more.

    What is playing right into The Batman‘s hand is that there aren’t any major releases until May. Right now, the expectations of the second weekend are similar to most with it being around 60%, but we’ll see if word-of-mouth boosts the film after all. Still, going from a pandemic standpoint the film is already competing with most major releases of the year and is very likely to pass Dune and Eternals at this rate.

    Will the film pass a billion? That’s the big question, as it is performing quite well internationally. The biggest advantage the film has lies in its confirmed release in China. The 45-day release window for digital might hurt it, however, as China is also infamous for piracy. It is releasing ahead of its digital availability, but there’s still some time before that happens that it’s available in Chinese theaters. For now, it seems likely the film will pass $400M by this weekend.

    Source: Forbes

  • ‘The Batman’ Surprises With Strong Sunday With a $134M Opening Weekend

    ‘The Batman’ Surprises With Strong Sunday With a $134M Opening Weekend

    Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth, as The Batman‘s final numbers have found their way online and surprised many with the film’s Sunday dropping by 21% from Saturday, which is way lower than its initial 35% estimate. As such, it pulled in $34M and now stands at a strong $134M opening weekend rather than the initially reported $128M.

    These numbers further solidify The Batman as Warner Bros.’ strongest opening since the pandemic started, and is Matt Reeves‘ biggest opening for any of his releases. The big question remains just how strong its legs are going to be, especially with the confirmed April release on HBO Max. Their 45-release window strategy will open up some new challenges but could set the standard for the future of cinema.

    Still, a 10% drop from the expectations is quite astonishing, and that is for a very genre-defining take on a superhero film. Batman is a very popular character, but it seems like a sign that people were waiting for this kind of film to offer something unique. It seems that even the almost three-hour runtime wasn’t going to scare anyone off, and it’ll be interesting to see how strong its second weekend might be.

    Source: Twitter

  • UPDATE: ‘The Batman’ Eyeing a $120M+ Domestic Opening Weekend

    UPDATE: ‘The Batman’ Eyeing a $120M+ Domestic Opening Weekend

    UPDATE: It looks like there’s been an update on the numbers, as the final cume for Friday has arrived with $57M. While it’s only $2M higher than the previously reported number, it does bump The Batman to a potential $120M.

    Source: THR

    Just yesterday, we learned that The Batman took in around $21.6M in its Thursday previews. In total, the film has now made $55M if you include Friday’s box office numbers in the domestic market. As such, it’s definitely on its way to passing $110M over the weekend, but it’s still possible that it could go higher. As such, the film is now the sixth highest opener for March, just behind Alice in Wonderland‘s $116.1M. It’s a strong start for the 2022 box office and is now on its way to becoming the biggest performer for Warner Bros. with a theatrical release since 2019’s Joker, which opened with $96.2M.

    In the pandemic, the film will still fall short of Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s $121.9M but it’ll still take the second-best spot. As pointed out by Deadline, even with non-pandemic times it’s an incredible opening and worthy of praise especially given that the film is also one of the longest releases during these times. At this rate, it’s safe to say that Matt Reeves‘ first foray into Batman may already be on its way to join the $1 billion club by the end of its runtime. It’s only unclear how the 45-day theatrical window might hurt it in the long run.

    Source: Deadline

  • ‘The Batman’ Kicks-Off With $21.6M Domestically, En Route to Become Warner Bros.’ Best Pandemic Opening

    ‘The Batman’ Kicks-Off With $21.6M Domestically, En Route to Become Warner Bros.’ Best Pandemic Opening

    It looks like the first numbers are in and even with a 3-hour runtime, The Batman is on its way to becoming a big player at the box office. As the pandemic still adds some uncertainty, Frank Pallotta has shared that the film managed to get $21.6M in its Thursday previews. Variety recently shared the film was on its way to a $125M+ domestic opening over the weekend and it is seeming more and more likely. As such, the film might become Warner Bros.’ best opening since the pandemic started and the second film to pass $100M at the box office over its opening weekend.

    It is worth noting that this isn’t the best opening weekend for a Batman film. That title still goes to The Dark Knight Rises with $30.6M. Yet, it’s slightly above The Dark Knight‘s and with hints at a strong international start, it may already be on its way to join the $1 million club. You also never know how strong the momentum carries over into the weekend, as some films also started dragging in more viewers through word-of-mouth. Rotten Tomatoes audience score is in the 90s and it seems to be quite the crowd-pleaser. So, it’s going to be an interesting weekend.

    Source: Variety, Variety, Rotten Tomatoes