Caillou Pettis
The Sony Pictures / Columbia dark villain origin story Morbius opened atop the box office this weekend with an estimated $39.1M. The film’s earnings include $3M from 400 IMAX screens. Reviews, including our own here, were poor, but audiences were in the mood for more Marvel action, coming off of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which itself also remains in the top ten.
After debuting on top last frame, Paramount’s adventure comedy The Lost City declined -51% to second place with $14.8M. Compared to the sophomore drops for other adventure comedies from the past few years, that’s steeper than Dog, last month’s title which also starred Channing Tatum (-32%), Free Guy (-35%), Game Night (-39%), Good Boys (-46%), Uncharted (-48%), and Blockers (-48%).
Warner Bros.’ The Batman fell -47% to $10.8M and third place in its fifth frame. The film has now earned $349.0M domestically, with more to come. FUNimation’s Japanese-language anime adaptation Jujutsu Kaisen 0 came in fifth place in its third frame with an estimated $1.9M, a -57% drop.
Moving into the top ten in its second frame is Everything Everywhere All At Once, taking in just over $1M. Just outside the top ten was the Chris Pine and Ben Foster reunion The Contractor (reviewed here), only taking in $535K.
Here’s the full list of the top ten films of the week:
- Morbius – $38.5M – 4,268 theatres
- The Lost City – $18M (-41%) – 4,283 theatres
- The Batman – $12M (-41%) – 3,732 theatres
- Uncharted – $3.1M (-38%) – 3,064 theatres
- RRR: Rise, Roar, Revolt – $2.2M (-77%) – 865 theatres
- Jujutsu Kaisen 0 – $1.9M (-59%) – 2,070 theatres
- Spider-Man: No Way Home – $1.4M (-30%) – 1,705 theatres
- Dog – $1.3M (-39%) – 2,053 theatres
- X – $1.1M (-51%) – 1,799 theatres
- Everything Everywhere All At Once– $1M (+101%) – 38 theatres
Source: Box Office Pro
Marvel is such a lucrative brand name, with so many consumers in its FOMO grip, that a critically-lambasted movie starring an actor no one likes as a character few people have even heard of can still be a hit if it suggests it’s tenuously connected to that brand.
I do wonder how many people accurately separate an MCU or Marvel Studios project from the Sony releases that are Marvel. I know we know the difference, and film nerds, etc, do. But, just a random group at the movies on a Friday night? It probably does just feel like, eh, close enough…