by Conan Simmons – January 10, 2022 – 8:07 pm
A typically slow weekend in January for theaters and naturally the undefeatable Spider-Man remains at the top of the box office. With just over $1.5 billion in the coffers ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ is currently the 8th highest grossing film of all time just ahead of 2012’s ‘The Avengers’ and almost $100 million behind 2019’s ‘The Lion King’. As the wintry month of January wears on there appears no end in sight to Spider-Man’s dominance at the box office.
Next weekend will see the release of ‘Scream’, the latest in the popular horror franchise with returning stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette. It was originally going to open opposite the feature film ‘Sesame Street’ starring Big Bird and Anne Hathaway, but ‘Sesame Street’ has now been removed from the release schedule. Will ‘Scream’ prove to be the hit needed to unseat Spider-Man from the top spot in theaters? Doubtful. ‘Scream’ is being released in January which is never a good sign for the quality of a movie, of course many release dates have changed due to the pandemic. Even so, there doesn’t seem to be any expectations around Hollywood that ‘Scream’ is going to be a hit on the scale of its predecessors. Though there doesn’t seem to be any negative buzz there is also a distinct lack of positive buzz or for that matter audience anticipation.
‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ will likely hold the top spot until at least February when underdog challengers will emerge, barring release date changes. On February 4 theaters will be treated to ‘Moonfall’, a sci-fi pic starring Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson. Hard to say right now if that stands a chance against the mighty web-slinger. February 11 is currently slated for the latest Agatha Christie adaptation, ‘Death on the Nile’, which may change release dates again not only due to Covid-19 but also due to parent company Disney, which owns 20th Century Studios, having to navigate the sex scandal surrounding star Armie Hammer who has been replaced in several upcoming features over the controversy.
It has been suggested that the most likely candidate to finally defeat Spider-Man for the top spot in theaters will come from a film starring none other than the Spider-Man star himself, Tom Holland. ‘Uncharted’, based on the hit video game, will release in theaters on February 18 starring Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg and Antonio Banderas. This is certainly possible as ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ will be entering three months of release by that time, though movies based on video games historically haven’t been the biggest box office hits.
Regardless, the dearth of anticipated releases for the next few months will provide a wide berth for the April release of ‘Morbius’ starring Jared Leto as the antihero and sometimes villain of Spider-Man.
Elsewhere in the box office is the latest new release, ‘The 355’. An action flick starring Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Lupita Nyong’o, Diane Kruger and Fan Bingbing as international spies, ‘The 355’ has failed to catch on with audiences as it debuts in third place at the box office. Perhaps the title is to blame?
Otherwise, it’s the normal holdovers summing up the Weekend Box Office Top 5. The animated sequel ‘Sing 2’, starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, retains second place as action adventure ‘The King’s Man’, starring Ralph Fiennes, and the sports biopic, ‘American Underdog’, starring Zachary Levi bring up the backend.
WEEKEND BOX OFFICE TOP 5 (January 7-9, 2022)
- ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ – $32.6 million – fantasy (drop $23.4 million, 42% down)
- ‘Sing 2’ – $11.6 million – animated (drop $8.6 million, 43% down)
- ‘The 355’ – $4.6 million – action adventure (debut)
- ‘The King’s Man’ – $3.2 million – action adventure (drop $1.3 million, 29% down)
- ‘American Underdog’ – $2.3 million – biopic (drop $1.6 million, 41% down)
Total for Weekend Box Office Top 5 comes to $54.3 million. This is a 39% drop for a loss of $34.1 million from last weekend’s total of $88.4 million.