Box Office: ‘Spider-Man’ Tops ‘Avengers: Infinity War And Nears $700 Million

In non-Scream ($13.35 million on Friday for a likely $35-$45 million MLK weekend) box office news, Belle opened in 1,350 theaters yesterday, including some IMAX auditoriums, courtesy of GKIDS. Mamoru Hosoda’s acclaimed, buzzy animated feature, a kind of Internet-specific take on Beauty and the Beast, earned $542,000 yesterday for what will likely be an over/under $1.95 million Fri-Mon gross. That’s not mind blowing, but those who wanted to see this in a theater are at least getting a week or so to do so. I’m probably seeing it tonight with the kids, so I’ll report back tomorrow. And since that was the only other newbie of note (India’s Bangarraju will earn around $246,000 this weekend as I patiently wait for RRR to pop back up on the release slate), let’s move on to Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

Spider-Man: No Way Home lost the top spot last night, which is normal for the recent super-duper December openers (we can’t all be Avatar). Speaking of Avatar, the competition poised by Scream’s opening is on par with Denzel Washington’s The Book of Eli, which earned $38 million over the Fri-Mon frame in 2009 while Avatar remained tops in weekend five with $54 million. Nonetheless, No Way Home (which opened 3.3x times bigger over its $260 million Fri-Sun debut) held firm against real competition, earning another $5.15 million (-37%) for a new cume of $683 million. That puts it, sans inflation, just above Avengers: Infinity War ($679 million) to make it the fifth-biggest domestic grosser of all time behind Black Panther ($700 million), Avatar ($760 million), Avengers: Endgame ($858 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($937 million). 

We’re probably looking at a $21.5 million (-35%) fifth-weekend gross and a $26.75 million Fri-Mon haul, putting it past $700 million and past Black Panther by Sunday or Monday with an eventual $704 million 32-day domestic cume. That’ll put it in fourth place on the all-timer’s club and past the inflation-adjusted totals of The Dark Knight ($532 million in 2008/$697 million adjusted) and Thunderball ($65 million in 1965/$700 million adjusted). Once it passes Black Panther ($715 million adjusted), Jurassic World ($652 million in 2015/$719 million adjusted) and The Avengers ($623 million in 2012/$720 million adjusted), it’ll be the ninth-biggest tickets-sold movie over the last 30 years. It also could, emphasis on “could,” be over $1.6 billion worldwide by Monday night. So, rank doesn’t matter here and both Spider-Man 3 version 2.0 and Scream 5 are both winners.  

Universal and Illumination’s Sing 2 continues to be the Tomorrow Never Dies to Spider-Man: No Way Home’s Titanic, earning another $3.76 million (-32%) despite being available on PVOD for the last week. That sets the jukebox musical up for an $8.56 million (-26%) fourth weekend, a $11.42 million holiday haul and a $122.5 million domestic cume. It’ll leapfrog Jungle Cruise ($117 million) and Free Guy ($122 million) to become the tenth-biggest grosser of 2021. Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife ($126.4 million after a $1.02 million Fri-Mon weekend) is next in its sites as it passes $200 million worldwide. The King’s Man grossed $630,000 (-31%) on Friday for a $2.39 million (26%) weekend and $2.92 million Fri-Mon holiday haul. The World War I-set prequel will have $29.285 million on Monday, or about what The Golden Circle earned in two days. 

Universal’s The 355 was a non-starter last weekend, earning just $4.8 million despite boasting an all-star “Film Twitter loves them” cast. The Jessica Chastain/Lupita Nyong’o/Penelope Cruz/etc. ensemble actioner earned $660,000 (-62%) on Friday for a likely $2.39 million (-48%) weekend and $2.87 million holiday gross. That’ll give Simon Kinberg’s star-driven original a mere $8.95 million domestic cume. American Underdog continued to live up to its title, with a likely $1.86 million (-20%) fourth weekend, $2.27 million Fri-Mon gross and $21.737 million domestic cume. Licorice Pizza continued to stick it out, with a likely $920,000 (-6%) Fri-Sun weekend and $1.18 million Fri-Mon weekend in just 772 theaters. That’ll give MGM’s leggy dramady a $9.864 million domestic cume, which isn’t half-bad (especially on a Covid curve and pre-Oscar nominations) for a star-free Paul Thomas Anderson flick.  

Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner’s West Side Story will earn $890,000 (-35%) and $1.13 million over the Fri-Sun/Fri-Mon weekend, giving the $100 million musical a $34 million domestic cume. It’s still bigger than any awards season flick outside of Dune ($107 million) and House of Gucci ($51 million), but this it’s another “rank is irrelevant” scenario. Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections will earn $1.08 million over the Fri-Mon holiday for a $36.1 million domestic cume. It will be lucky to crack $8 million this weekend in China after a $2.7 million Friday and $3 million Saturday. Sony reissued Venom: Let There Be Carnage into 1,435 theaters (+1,373) over the holiday in a bid to get past Venom’s $213.5 million domestic cume. Mission likely accomplished, with a $477,000 16th weekend gross and new $213.177 million cume as of Monday.