Sony/Marvel Studios’ “Spider-Man: No Way Home” is keeping its tight grip on the No. 1 spot at the box office, taking in $8.3 million on its fourth Friday in theaters for an estimated $30 million weekend, enough to push its overall domestic total past the $650 million mark.
That would push the latest “Spider-Man” film past the domestic run of “Jurassic World” and put it on the doorstep of the top 5 highest grossing films in North American history, with the No. 5 spot currently belonging to “Avengers: Infinity War” with $672 million. Worldwide, the film will cross $1.4 billion and pass the global run of “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
Meanwhile, there’s good and bad news for Universal this weekend. The good news is that the studio now has the first animated film of the COVID era to gross $100 million domestic as Illumination’s “Sing 2” will cross that milestone in its third weekend in theaters. While the studio released the film as a digital rental on Friday as part of its new theatrical window deal with theaters, “Sing 2” is also adding an estimated $10.3 million in its third weekend to bring its total to $107 million.
The bad news is that Universal’s newest release, “The 355,” is opening poorly at the box office with just $1.7 million grossed on Friday and an estimated opening of $4.3 million, below projections of a $5-7 million start. The international spy film is directed by Simon Kinberg and stars Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Fan Bingbing, Diane Kruger, and Lupita Nyong’o, a cast that sparked a bidding war when the film was pitched to studios at Cannes in 2018 with Universal buying the distribution rights for $20 million.
Critics have panned “The 355” with a 27% Rotten Tomatoes score, though audiences have been more favorable with a B+ on CinemaScore and an 83% Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
Holdovers complete the top 5 with 20th Century’s “The King’s Man” in third with $3.1 million in its third weekend and a $25 million total. Lionsgate/Kingdom’s “American Underdog” completes the top 5 with $2.3 million in its third weekend and an $18.6 million total.
With Sony moving their next big blockbuster, “Morbius,” from a late January release slot to April 1, it’s likely that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” will hold on to No. 1 through the rest of the month as the box office falls into a dry spell due to the Omicron variant and a lack of major titles aside from Paramount’s revival of “Scream” next week. February may improve the market with films like “Jackass Forever” and “Uncharted” set for release next month.