Back in January of this year, there was a lot of excitement about the success of Jon Watts' Spider-Man: No Way Home, but that excitement was tainted by everything else that was going on at the box office. As the Marvel blockbuster repeatedly claimed the title of "#1 Movie In America," it was hard not to also notice that the victories were attained against almost zero competition.
Now, about eight months later, we are back to being in that exact same place thanks to the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home's "More Fun Stuff" cut. Check out the full Top 10 for this weekend below, and join me after for analysis!
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Version* | $6,000,000 | $810,793,477 | Row 0 - Cell 3 | 3,935 |
| 2. Top Gun: Maverick | $5,495,000 | $698,824,744 | 4 | 3,113 |
| 3. DC League Of Super Pets | $5,450,000 | $80,806,058 | 6 | 3,115 |
| 4. Bullet Train | $5,400,000 | $85,932,558 | 2 | 3,117 |
| 5. The Invitation | $4,705,000 | $13,749,963 | 1 | 3,114 |
| 6. Beast | $3,640,000 | $25,419,575 | 3 | 3,217 |
| 7. Minions: The Rise Of Gru | $3,130,000 | $358,867,065 | 8 | 2,457 |
| 8. Thor: Love And Thunder | $2,446,000 | $339,962,296 | 9 | 2,090 |
| 9. Jaws | $2,300,000 | $2,300,000 | Row 8 - Cell 3 | 1,246 |
| 10. Where The Crawdads Sing | $1,865,000 | $84,855,398 | 10 | 2,074 |
After Earning Over $1 Billion In The Winter, Spider-Man: No Way Home Adds $6 Million To Its Domestic Total
If one rewinds the clocks back to 2019 and takes a look at the box office for the first weekend in September, one rediscovers that the winner of the Friday-to-Sunday battle on the big screen was won by Andy Muschietti's IT Chapter Two – which had one of the most successful openings of any horror movie ever. Hype was at high levels thanks to the popularity of the film's predecessor, and the Stephen King adaptation made $91.1 million in three days.
In 2022, the number one movie at the box office in that same weekend made approximately 6.5 percent of that total. A truly brutal ouch.
Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Version is about 13 minutes longer than the version of the film that was in theaters last December and made available home video in the early months of the year, and Sony Pictures made the call to give the extended cut a wide release in nearly 4,000 locations this past Friday. It clearly didn't turn out to be the fresh win that the studio wanted it to be, as it made an estimated $6 million.
For those who want to be saved the trouble of doing the math, that's an average of $1,525 per location – which looks particularly rough when you remember that Spider-Man: No Way Home made $59,995 per location when it first hit theaters back in December. It's Sony's second underwhelming Marvel movie re-release of the year, as you may remember that the studio made the call to put Daniel Espinosa's Morbius back on the big screen in June (hoping to make money off of people laughing at its awfulness). That dismal decision resulted in just a $289 per location average.
It's not exactly hard to decipher what went wrong here. After Spider-Man: No Way Home hit theaters back in December 2021, it ended up staying in the Top 5 at the box office for 13 weeks – and that only happens if there is a strong contingent of fans who are paying to see it multiple times. Since then, the blockbuster has been released digitally and on 4K/Blu-ray/DVD, and die-hard fans have purchased copies en masse and surely enjoyed it at least one more time in the comfort of their own homes.
Spider-Man: No Way Home – The More Fun Stuff Version is technically arriving just a couple months after the original version fully left theaters (which happened at the end of June, per The Numbers) and after the home video release. With the movie still fresh in audiences' memory, and the knowledge that this new cut will surely be available to watch at home in a few weeks/months, is it any surprise that we didn't see massive crowds going to see it this weekend?
Sony has said that the impetus behind the theatrical release of the expanded film was in celebration of Spider-Man's 60th anniversary, as the web-slinger first arrived in the pages of Marvel Comics in August 1962. Sadly, these box office results aren't much of a birthday present.
Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., The Only New Wide Release This Weekend, Failed To Crack The Top 10
Part of the reason why Spider-Man: No Way Home – The Fun Stuff Version was able to win the box office this weekend with a $6 million haul is because the film industry didn't put up much competition against it. It seems that Hollywood figured that everyone would be too busy with the end of summer and the start of the school year to go to the movies. Hence, Adamma Ebo's Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. was the only new feature title in wide release this weekend, and you'll notice that it's missing from the chart above.
Distributed by Focus Features, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. only made $1.4 million in the past three days... and it's hard not to put at least a touch of the blame on the fact that the film wasn't released as a theatrical exclusive. Instead, the choice was made to give the film a hybrid release, as it started streaming on Peacock this past Friday in addition to playing on the big screen. We can't say how well the movie did on the service, as Universal doesn't release subscription or traffic numbers, but it feels fair to assume that the more convenient option lured away at least some movie-goers who otherwise might have purchased a ticket to see it at their local cinema.
Will the box office situation improve as we get deeper into September? We'll just have to wait and find out with the diverse slate of new releases set to hit theaters on Friday. This lineup includes the Ayan Mukerji's fantasy adventure Brahmastra Part One: Shiva, Zach Cregger's horror feature Barbarian, and Petr Jákl's historical drama Medieval. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday to see how the rollout of these films ends up impacting the Top 10 (let's keep our fingers crossed for some big surprises).
Meanwhile you can learn about all of the films that are set to be released on the big screen between now and the end of the year with our 2022 Movie Release Calendar. The good news is that even if September does turn out to be a bust, there are a lot of big and exciting titles that should make big waves in the coming months.
