OPENINGS: The MCU-adjacent MORBIUS (Marvel/Columbia/Sony) was unable to pull off Venom‘s feat of opening big despite lousy reviews. Its $39.1M weekend was less than half of Venom‘s $80.3M, and negative word of mouth was evident in the 24% Friday-to-Saturday drop. It’s never a good sign when the best spin a studio can put on its opening is to point to the moderate production budget, and in the case of Morbius, the $75-80M budget was boosted by 2 full years of marketing costs. The calendar is about to start getting competitive, so Morbius may have trouble getting much past $100M in the US. Overseas, where it’s currently in 62 territories that include most of the majors (it’s unclear whether the film will have a China release), Morbius opened with an OK $44.9M.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (Paramount), which opens here next weekend and marks the first wide family release since Sing 2, launched in 31 international markets representing about half the world with a quiet $25.5M.
THE BAD GUYS (DreamWorks Animation/Universal, US opening April 22) also pursued the overseas animated family market with $29.8M after a $10.5M weekend in 41 territories.
HOLDOVERS: THE LOST CITY (Paramount) dropped 51% from last week’s opening to $14.8M, and will hope to reach $100M in the US before it’s done. It’s barely started international release with $7M so far.
THE BATMAN (DC/Warners) fell 47% to $10.8M in its 5th weekend, on its way to $385M in the US. Overseas, it’s reached $361.5M after a $13.4M weekend in worldwide release in 76 markets.
UNCHARTED (Columbia/Sony) lost 28% to $3.6M in its 7th weekend, stretching toward $150M in the US. Its more robust overseas total is $234.2M.
JUJUTSU KAISEN 0 (CrunchyRoll) tumbled 57% to $2M in its 3rd weekend, on target for $35M in the US. Its overseas $119.4M is largely driven by its home base of Japan ($107.8M).
The Indian-language market is strong but incredibly front-loaded, and RRR (Sarigama) crumbled by 83% from last week’s opening to $1.6M, and may not see $15M in the US.
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (Marvel/Columbia/Sony), which unlike Morbius was guided creatively by the Disney MCU team, dipped 30% to $1.6M in its 16th weekend, and might keep going to $810M in the US. Its overseas total is $1.09B.
2022’s most notable sleeper DOG (UA/MGM) was down 38% to $1.3M in Weekend 7, and should hit $65M in the US. It has $12.3M in limited overseas release.
X (A24) fell 53% to $1M in its 3rd weekend, and probably won’t make it to $15M in the US. It’s barely been released overseas to date.
LIMITED RELEASE: EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE (A24) continued to do sensational business, expanding to 38 theaters with a $27K weekend per-theater average. It goes wide next weekend. THE CONTRACTOR (STX, also on VOD) bombed with an $1100 weekend average at 489. YOU WON’T BE ALONE (Focus/Universal) found few takers with a $900 average at 147. The documentary WATERMAN (Purdle) averaged $4600 at 13. MOTHERING SUNDAY (Sony Classics) expanded to 19 with a weak $800 average. Despite rave reviews, AHED’S KNEE (Kino Lorber) averaged $700 at 18.
NEXT WEEKEND: As noted, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Everything Everywhere All the Time begin their wide US runs. The action opening of the week is Michael Bay’s AMBULANCE (Universal), which has $18.7M in early international release.
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