In case you hadn't noticed, movie fans are pretty damn excited about Jon Watts' Spider-Man: No Way Home. Last year at the box office was one marked by tamped expectations due to the on-going impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but in the last few weeks the Marvel blockbuster has been performing as though it were released pre-March 2020. It's been fascinating to watch it soar on the box office charts – though what's good news for Spider-Man is bad news for everybody else.
Check out the full Top 10 for this past weekend in the chart below, and join me after for analysis.
| TITLE | WEEKEND GROSS | DOMESTIC GROSS | LW | THTRS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Spider-Man: No Way Home | $33,015,000 | $668,753,195 | 1 | 4,012 |
| 2. Sing 2 | $11,950,000 | $109,012,985 | 2 | 3,713 |
| 3. The 355* | $4,800,000 | $4,800,000 | Row 2 - Cell 3 | 3,145 |
| 4. The King’s Man | $3,272,000 | $25,091,034 | 3 | 3,040 |
| 5. American Underdog | $2,413,000 | $18,742,589 | 4 | 2,728 |
| 6. The Matrix Resurrections | $1,860,000 | $34,317,103 | 5 | 2,875 |
| 7. West Side Story | $1,413,000 | $32,157,045 | 6 | 2,290 |
| 8. Ghostbusters: Afterlife | $1,140,000 | $125,064,125 | 7 | 1,501 |
| 9. Licorice Pizza | $1,028,156 | $8,198,967 | 8 | 772 |
| 10. House Of Gucci | $632,348 | $50,085,553 | 12 | 607 |
Spider-Man: No Way Home Passes The Avengers To Become The Third Highest Grossing MCU Title
Slipping only 41 percent from weekend-to-weekend, Spider-Man: No Way Home added another $33 million to its domestic total, and in doing so has hit some history-making benchmarks. On top of the fact that it has more firmly established itself as the highest grossing film of 2021 – having thus far made $668.8 million domestically and $1.5 billion globally – it has now officially become the third most successful title in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, per The Numbers.
When Joss Whedon's The Avengers came out in 2012, it stunned the planet with its big screen dominance, but Spider-Man: No Way Home has now outpaced it thanks to the earnings from this past weekend (thus far it has made $21.2 million more in ticket sales). That's presumably as high on the franchise chart as the title is going to climb, however, as it would need $512.1 million more to outdo Joe and Anthony Russo's Avengers: Infinity War, and $1.3 billion more to kick the Russos' Avengers: Endgame out of the top spot.
While there is clearly a great deal of enthusiasm for the latest web-slinger blockbuster, that's not happening.
On the domestic front, Spider-Man: No Way Home has now made over $444 million more than Destin Daniel Cretton's Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, which was the number one North American release of 2021 before its Marvel cousin came along (before it left theaters, Shang-Chi made $224.5 million, outgrossing both Andy Serkis' Venom: Let There Be Carnage and Cate Shortland's Black Widow)
Spider-Man: No Way Home has successfully held on to the title of "#1 Movie In America" for four weeks straight now – easily facing down competition from Lana Wachowski's The Matrix Resurrections and Garth Jennings' Sing 2 – but it may see its streak come to an end this week. The Marvel behemoth is clearly still drawing in big crowds (that $33 million from this weekend is still three times as much as what Steven Spielberg's West Side Story made in its opening), but Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett's Scream is hoping to make a splash and steal the throne.
As much excitement as there has been around Spider-Man: No Way Home's box office performance and what it has done for the industry, it's hard not to notice how pitiful everything else is doing by comparison. There was sincere hope around the Marvel blockbuster's debut weekend that it would create a "rising tide lifts all boats" situation, and that its audiences would feel an increased comfort returning to theaters – but thus far that's not something we've seen.
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is surely having a major impact, but what we're seeing in a more general sense is that movie-goers at large made are making an exception for Spider-Man: No Way Home in their film watching habits that they aren't making for other new releases. This is a mindset that could have a devastating effect on all non-blockbusters/non-IP productions moving forward.
The 355 Fails To Spark Much Interest As The Weekend's Only New Movie In Wide Release
The performance of Simon Kinberg's The 355 this weekend is a good case in point. Given the critical response to the action movie and lack of any real buzz, the film wasn't expected to put up shocking numbers in its first three days, but even still it's a state state of affairs when a film with a cast including Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong'o, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Sebastian Stan, and more can't even hit a $5-7 million prediction from Variety.
Universal Pictures can't be happy with that result – they must have seen some kind of potential in it having delayed it from January 2021 to January 2022. However, the current state of the world dictates that a movie needs some kind of big hook if it's going to draw audiences to theaters these days, and The 355 arrived in cinemas hook-less.
Its life in theaters is unlikely to be long, but with Universal now set up to stream titles 45 days after release on Peacock, the film may still find an audience.
Sing 2 Crosses $100 Million As It Holds On To Second Place In The Top 10
Certainly not doing anything to help the image of The 355 is the continued success of Sing 2. Released during Christmas weekend, the animated film has definitely been overshadowed by the outrageous numbers put up by Spider-Man: No Way Home, but it has continued to draw crowds, and demonstrated that lure with another silver medal performance – allowing the Simon Kinberg film to only get the bronze in its opening.
With another $12 million added to its domestic haul, Sing 2 has now made $109 million domestically – making it only the 14th title from 2021 to hit a nine-digit total in North America. The take has pushed it past both Denis Villeneuve's Dune and Adam Wingard's Godzilla vs. Kong, though it still sits far behind both of those titles on the worldwide charts. Globally the film has made $191 million to date, suggesting it will have a very hard time surpassing its 2016 predecessor, which made $631 million.
Will audiences' desire to not be spoiled by the surprises of Scream result in the film having a shockingly good weekend? The buzz we've heard thus far regarding the quality of the movie has been very positive, so we are definitely keeping our fingers crossed. Be sure to head back here to CinemaBlend next Sunday for our full breakdown of the Top 10, and to get a look at everything set to hit theaters and streaming in the coming months, head on over to our 2022 Movie Release Calendar.
