Weekend Box Office: Morbius Bites Off $39.1M; Sonic 2 Opens Overseas

‘Mor’ or Less

The Sony Pictures / Columbia dark villain origin story Morbius opened atop the box office this weekend with an estimated $39.1M.

That’s in line with pre-release projections, although it’s also less than half the openings of  2018’s Venom ($80.2M), 2021’s sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($90.0M), or 2019’s Joker ($96.2M).

Starring Jared Leto, most recently of House of Gucci and with a previous villainous turn as Joker in Suicide Squad and an Academy Award-winning role in Dallas Buyers Club. [Read Boxoffice PRO’s interview with Morbius director Daniel Espinosa here.]

The film’s earnings include $3M from 400 IMAX screens.

Lost and Found

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%).

However, it’s a milder decline than The Hitman’s Bodyguard (-52%), Jungle Cruise (-55%), Zombieland: Double Tap (-56%), The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (-57%), and Men in Black: International (-64%).

Directed by brothers Aaron and Adam Nee, making their major-studio feature film directorial debut, The Lost City Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe.

The Batman

Warner Bros.’ The Batman fell -47% to $10.8M and third place in its fifth frame.

The film has now earned $349.0M domestically. Through the same point in release, that’s:

• -26% behind 2008’s The Dark Knight ($471.0M)
• -14% behind 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises ($409.7M)
• +9% ahead of 2016’s Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($319.4M)
• +59% ahead of 2017’s Justice League ($219.5M)

[Read Boxoffice PRO’s recent article on a history of the Batman franchise’s box office history here.]

Hardly Zero

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. 

The film claimed second and fifth place in its first two frames, and now stands at $31.4M. Through the same point in release, that’s +4% above Dragon Ball Super: Broly ($30.0M) and -15% behind Demon Slayer: Mugen Train ($37.1M).

Jujutsu is a fantasy following a boy who attends a school for sorcerers.

RRR

Sarigama Cinemas’ RRR – Rise Roar Revolt, a 3h 7m Telugu-language action film about Indian revolutionaries in the 1920s, claimed third place last frame with a $9.5M start. That was despite playing in only 1,200 theaters, or less than one-third the reach of the top films in the marketplace.

The film’s opening weekend came in -9% behind the $10.4M opening of fellow Telugu-language title Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. In its second frame it fell -83% to sixth place and $1.6M, steeper than the -67% sophomore frame drop for Conclusion.

Home for a While

Still ranking seventh place with $1.4M, despite now being available on digital platforms, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has now spent all 16 of its weekends in the top 10.

That marks the most weekends since Frozen also spent 16 such weekends in late 2013 and early 2014. And the last time a film spent 16+ weekends in the top 10 before Frozen? Chicago, which also spent 16 such frames in late 2002 and early 2003.

And what was the last time a film spent 17+ weekends in the top 10? My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which spent 19 such frames in 2002. If No Way Home manages to spend the next frame in the top 10 as well, it will mark the most such weekends since Greek.

2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming spent 11 weekends in that tier, while 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home spent seven.

No Way Home’s $802.7M domestic total ranks #3 all time, behind only 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens with $936.6M and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame $858.3M.

Specialty Box Office

Last weekend, A24’s Everything Everywhere All at Once opened with $501K on 10 screens. That $51,131 per-screen average was the biggest of 2022 so far, beating the $34,606 average of Neon’s The Worst Person in the World on four screens February 4.

It was also the fourth-highest average in the pandemic/post-pandemic era, behind the first two frames for United Artists’ Licorice Pizza (with $86,289 and $60,426, both on four screens last November 26 and December 3) and the debut of Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: No Way Home with $59,995.

In its second frame now, Everything earned an estimated $1.01M, breaking into the top 10 in 10th place. It also expanded slightly to 38 screens, ahead of its projected wide expansion next weekend. The film’s $26,631 per-screen average remained the best at the box office for the second straight weekend.

The genre-defying film is directed by Daniels – the joint nickname of directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, who previously helmed Swiss Army Man – and stars Michelle Yeoh (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Crazy Rich Asians). It will expand nationwide on April 8.

After A24’s horror title X debuted in sixth place last weekend with $2.1M, this frame it declined -53% to an estimated $1.0M and ninth place. This marks the first weekend A24 has earned two of the top 10 films since Lady Bird and The Disaster Artist in December 2017.

Focus Features’ horror title You Won’t Be Alone debuted with an estimated $125K in 147 theaters, for an $850 per-screen average.

The film has found balanced success across multiple DMAs in the domestic market, with Los Angeles and New York combining for a quarter of the film’s North America box office. San Francisco, Chicago, Denver, Austin, and Washington DC all contributing to a strong limited release.

Four Alamo Drafthouse locations rank among the top ten performing domestic theaters for the title through Saturday. Chicago’s Music Box Theatre emerging as the movie’s top performing location in its release in the U.S. and Canada.

Overseas

• Morbius began with $44.9M overseas in 62 markets, debuting with a $84.0M global total. Just like its domestic opening, that’s less than half the global start for 2018’s Venom ($205.5M) or 2019’s Joker ($247M). Top markets for Morbius include the U.K. ($4.2M), Mexico ($3.8M), and France ($3.3M).

• Ahead of its April 8 domestic release, Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2 began with $25.5M overseas in 31 markets, which the studio says is 2% ahead of the original film’s rollout in like markets. Top territories include the U.K. ($6.4M), France ($5.7M), Australia ($2.8M), Spain ($2.2M), and Germany ($2.1M). A handful of additional major markets open next weekend: Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Israel release next week. Sonic 2 will be expanding to Japan on August 19.

• The Batman earned $13.4M overseas this weekend in 77 markets, for a $361.5M overseas and $710.5M global total. Top overseas markets to date are led by the United Kingdom ($50.2M), Mexico ($29.5M), Australia ($25.6M), France ($23.6M), Brazil ($21.6M), and China ($20.1M). The film remains the top-grossing global release of 2022 so far, ahead of China’s action sequel Water Gate Bridge with about $626.0M.
  
• Ahead of its April 22 domestic release, Universal’s animated The Bad Guys earned $10.5M in 41 overseas markets this weekend, including new openings in the U.K., Australia, and Italy. The film’s overseas total now stands at $28.7M, led by Spain ($4.5M) and Mexico ($4.1M), and will open in China on April 29.

• Ahead of its April 8 domestic release, another Universal title – thriller Ambulance – earned $3.3M in 59 overseas markets this frame. The overseas total currently stands at $18.6M, led by Saudi Arabia ($2.8M) and Mexico ($2.0M), and will open in China on April 22.

Weekend comparisons

Total box office this weekend came in around $79.2M, which is:

• -3% below last weekend’s total of $82.0M, when The Lost City led with $30.4M.
• 4.2x the equivalent weekend in 2021 with $18.8M, as the box office was taking its first pandemic-era steps back to normalcy as Nobody led with $6.8M.
• -42% behind the equivalent weekend in 2019 with $137.8M, when Disney’s live-action Dumbo led with $45.9M.

YTD comparisons

YTD box office stands around $1.44B, which is:

• 5.5x this same point in the pandemic recovery year of 2021 ($261.5M).
• -19% behind this same point in 2020, with $1.78B. (The box office was essentially shut down at this point in 2020, so the 2022 YTD comparison will exceed 2020’s not long from now.)
• -40% behind this same point in 2019 ($2.42B).

Top distributors

As has been the case all year so far, the leading distributor in the domestic market remains Sony Pictures with $419.6M. Warner Bros. ranks #2 with $360.0M. 

Paramount currently claims third with $195.3M and Universal claims fourth with $131.4M. 

Disney seems poised to take the crown at some point this summer or possibly fall, particularly when including their subsidiary 20th Century Studios releases.

Leading the month

As Boxoffice PRO had predicted all last month, The Batman seemed potentially poised to exceed 50% of March’s box office by month’s end. Now that the month has over, the film indeed earned 58.0% of the month’s box office.

That feat has only been accomplished by three films in the 21st century, two of them in the past year alone:

• The Avengers (51.9% of the box office in May 2012)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (54.7% in September 2021)
• Spider-Man: No Way Home (62.2% in December 2021)

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates: April 1-3, 2022