The late January dry period for movie theaters continued this weekend, with Sony/Marvel’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” pocketing its sixth No. 1 as no new releases hit screens and overall weekend grosses fell to just $37 million, according to industry estimates.
The Marvel behemoth added $11 million to bring its domestic total to $735.8 million, just under $25 million shy of the domestic run of “Avatar” back in 2009-10. Internationally, “No Way Home” has passed $1 billion in overseas grosses without a release in China, now holding a total of $1.74 billion.
Despite new releases coming next month, there is a good chance that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will pass “Avatar” for the No. 3 spot on the all-time domestic charts, as it is sporting both the audience acclaim and the lack of serious competition that allowed James Cameron’s film to leg out for weeks beyond its December release.
Behind “No Way Home” this weekend is the Paramount/Spyglass release “Scream” with $7.5 million in its third weekend. That brings its total to $62 million, a drop of just 38% from the previous weekend with a total well above the $38 million domestic run of “Scream 4” back in 2011. The film has also passed $100 million worldwide with a global total of $106.4 million against a reported production budget of $24 million.
Universal/Illumination’s “Sing 2” is third with $4.5 million in its sixth weekend as it has legged out to a $134 million domestic run, beating fellow Universal title “Redeeming Love” which grossed $1.85 million in its second weekend for a 10-day total of just $6.5 million. 20th Century’s “The King’s Man” completes the top 5 with $1.7 million and a total of just $34 million domestic after six weekends.
Business will pick up somewhat next weekend with the release of Paramount’s “Jackass Forever” and Lionsgate’s “Moonfall,” with Sony bringing “Spider-Man” star Tom Holland back to big screens with “Uncharted” on February 18. But it likely won’t be until the release of “The Batman” on March 4 before overall weekend grosses come anywhere close to pre-pandemic levels.