Robert Pattinson’s moody superhero adventure “The Batman” prevailed at the box office again.
The Warner Bros. film earned $66 million from 4,417 North American theaters in its second weekend of release, propelling its domestic tally to a robust $238.5 million. After only 10 days on the big screen, “The Batman” ranks as the highest-grossing movie of 2022, as well as the second-highest grossing movie since the onset of COVID-19. Only “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which has generated a stellar $792 million in North America, has earned more money at the domestic box office in the past two years.
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Ticket sales for “The Batman” declined 41% from its debut, a better hold than most comic book tentpoles — pandemic or not. Other COVID-era releases, such as “The Suicide Squad,” “Eternals,” “Black Widow” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” plummeted anywhere from 53% to 71% in their sophomore outings. Other DC adaptations, including “Justice League,” “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” and “Wonder Woman,” dipped between 43% to 69% after its inaugural weekend.
At the international box office, “The Batman” earned $66.6 million from 75 overseas market, taking its global total to a huge $463.2 million.
Positive reviews and strong word-of-mouth have kept audiences coming back to “The Batman,” which co-stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Paul Dano as the Riddler. Directed by Matt Reeves, the PG-13 “The Batman” — which runs at a butt-numbing three hours — takes a gritty look at Bruce Wayne’s earlier days as “the world’s greatest detective.”
The $200 million-budgeted “The Batman” has been a needed commercial smash for Warner Bros. After releasing its entire 2021 film slate simultaneously on HBO Max, “The Batman” is the studio’s first exclusive theatrical release in 12 months. Going forward, Warner Bros. has announced plans to keep its movies in cinemas for 45 days before putting its new titles on HBO Max.
Without any new nationwide releases, “The Batman” had no trouble towering over domestic charts. In a distant second place, Tom Holland’s video game adaptation “Uncharted” nabbed $9.2 million from 3,725 North American venues. After four weeks of release, the PG-13 action-adventure has earned $113 million.
A concert film “BTS Permission to Dance on Stage: Seoul” landed in third place, bringing in $7 million from 800 theaters. That’s basically blockbuster status for a live cinema event, especially since it played in fewer than 1,000 locations.
At No. 4, Channing Tatum’s PG-13 canine adventure “Dog” made $5.3 million from 3,407 venues. Those receipts bring the film’s domestic tally to $47.8 million. “Spider-Man: No Way Home” finished the weekend in fifth place, earning $4.07 million from 2,702 screens. Sony’s comic book behemoth has managed to stay in the top five since its debut, which is impressive because the film opened in theaters 13 weeks ago.
Until Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum’s romantic comedy “The Lost City” hits the big screen on March 25, “The Batman” will have free rein over movie theater marquees. Though attendance and ticket sales have struggled to rebound, Hollywood is hoping that several upcoming releases, such as “Morbius,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” will help box office revenues inch closer to pre-pandemic heights.
“If moviegoing reaches a level that’s down -20% from 2019 levels before the end of the year, that would be a very good result,” says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.
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