By Chris Kavan - 03/16/22 at 12:09 PM CT
It was another big win for The Batman - which came as little surprise because there were not other wide releases over the weekend but there was a new entry in the top five in the form of the world's most popular pop group in BTS, whose live concert film Permission to Dance on Stage - Seoul: Live Viewing cracked the top three as screaming tweens (and probably more than a few adults too) watched Korean heartthrobs perform. The MPAA threw out a single bone this week, which is better than none, I guess.
The Batman, facing now new wide releases, easily retained the top spot at the box office with a $66.5 million weekend - off 50.4% compared to its opening and giving the darkest of Dark Knights a new $239 million domestic total. While that drop may seem a bit steep it's actually in line - if not better than - most superhero films of late. Even with a three-hour run time the film continues to do amazing business - though theatrical exclusivity has to help - and looks to continue its run until it goes up against the one-two punch of Lost City and Morbius at the end of the month. It continues to also play well overseas, amassing a $224.7 million total for an impressive $463.2 million worldwide with the all-important China opening still scheduled for the 18th.
Landing in second place, Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg's adventurous Uncharted dipped just 16.7% and wound up with $9.25 million for the weekend, adding up to a $113.35 million total. Uncharted continued to do even better on the international market where it already has a $187.9 million total for a worldwide total just over $301 million. Like The Batman, Uncharted is also scheduled to open in China this week - it will be interesting to see which one audiences will embrace.
In third place is where BTS made their mark as BTS Permission to Dance on Stage - Seoul: Live Viewing opened to a staggering $6.84 million. That is the highest-grossing live event of all time as it opened in 803 theaters for a likewise impressive $8,518 per-theater average - all on a single night's viewing. Of note is that live-event tickets can be much higher than an average movie ticket - with $35 not unheard of for the BTS event. Even so, K-Pop is obviously alive and more than well and fans were more than happy to show up and voice (nay - scream) their approval. The live-event scored $32.6 million worldwide and I have a feeling BTS' popularity is only going grow from here.
In fourth place Channing Tatum’s Dog held on strong with a mere 14.8% drop to bring in $5.2 million and giving the film a new $47.66 million total. $50 million seems a giving at this point and is a great result for the film. It has taken in an additional $6.4 million overseas as well.
Rounding out the top five we find our favorite web-slinger with a $4 million weekend (down just 10.4%) and a new total of $792.2 million as it creeps ever-so-close to that $800 million total. It is also closing in on $1.9 billion worldwide with a current $1.88 billion total. Both milestones are within reach - we'll see if Spider-Man can close the gap by the end of the month.
Next week brings us a pair of horror offerings in X - where it turns out shooting an adult film in rural Texas is not the best idea - and Umma - where Sandra Oh faces her past and finds out the true horror of turning into your parents. A nice change of pace, but I don't think either will challenge The Batman for dominance.
On the ratings front, we've got a single wide release but it's going fast! Let's see how Sonic fares with a new enemy - and a new friend, shall we?
I was surprised by how much I actually liked Sonic the Hedgehog. It was funny, it looked great and it was a blast seeing Jim Carrey go nuts (but in a family-friendly way). The film also did pretty good in theaters with $148.9 million domestic and $170.7 million overseas and that $319.7 million global total was enough to greenlight a sequel. Thus we're getting Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and it's doubling down on the CG creatures as it introduces both Sonic's rival in Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and a friend in Tails (voiced by prolific voice actress Colleen O'Shaughnessey). It also introduces one of the major plot points from the video game series in Chaos Emeralds - or at least one of them - as Dr. Robotnik (Carrey) is after the world-creating - or destroying - gem for nefarious purposes. James Marsden and Tika Sumpter also return, though based on the plot they may be MIA for most of the film with Shemar Moore, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally and Lee Majdoub helping round out the cast. Sequels tend to fall off from the original, but in this market who knows where it's going to go. Rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor, and mild language.
That's the only big film for this week, but you can check out the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:
BATTLE OF THE SUPER SONS
Rated PG-13 for violence and language.
DEEP IN THE FOREST
Rated R for language and a violent image.
ESCAPE THE FIELD
Rated R for violence and language.
JANE
Rated R for language and some teen drug/alcohol use.
JURASSIC TALE
Rated PG for mild rude material.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2
Rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor, and mild language.
THE VALET
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, some strong language and brief drug material.
WHERE THE SCARY THINGS ARE
Rated R for violence, language and a sexual reference.
