In its second weekend of release, Warner Bros.’ ‘The Batman’ easily remained the No. 1 movie in North American theatres with $66 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, while a live BTS concert broadcast was one-day-only blockbuster.
Matt Reeves’ Caped Crusader reboot starring Robert Pattinson and Zoe Kravitz held well in its second week, dropping a modest 51 per cent — a good rate for a comic book movie — from its $134 million debut and bringing its domestic total to $238.5 million. It’s done nearly identical business overseas, leading to $463.2 million globally thus far.
‘The Batman,’ Warner Bros.’ first exclusively theatrical release in more than a year after experimenting with simultaneous streaming releases through 2021, is expected to have much of March to itself at theatres. No new wide releases opened over the weekend and ‘The Batman’ should remain atop the box office for at least another week. Partly because theaters were so dependent on ‘The Batman’ this month, AMC Entertainment and some other chains introduced ticket prices that were $1 to $1.50 higher for the film’s first eight days of release.
Also packing theaters, albeit for a shorter window, was ‘BTS Permission to Dance on Stage: Seoul.’ The live broadcast Saturday of the band’s first stage concert in South Korea sine 2019 grossed $6.8 million in 797 North American theatres. Globally, it made $32.6 million — a testament to the immense popularity of the South Korean boy band. Tickets to the event screenings went for as much as $35.
One promising sign for Hollywood and exhibitors: Movies are holding well. During much of 2021 amid in the ups and down of the pandemic, most films struggled to remain sizable draws after their first or second week in theaters. This weekend, not only did ‘The Batman’ hold well, so did the weekend’s other top films.
‘Uncharted,’ the action-adventure starring Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, declined only 17 per cent in its fourth week of release. The videogame adaptation, from Sony Pictures, came in second with $9.3 million. It grossed $113.4 million domestically.
MGM’s ‘Dog,’ starring Channing Tatum, has also had staying power. In its fourth week of release, it dipped only 13 per cent with $5.3 million in ticket sales. The modestly budgeted film has made $47.8 million.
The paucity of competition for ‘The Batman’ was partly due to other studios staying away from one of the year’s more anticipated films. But it was also reflective of an early 2022 trend and changes accelerated by the pandemic. With more major movies going straight to streaming, theatrical offerings are slimmer.
