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By Lindsey Bahr | Associated press
âBlack Widowâ gave way to its No.1 spot to an unlikely foe during its second week in theaters: The Tune Squad.
LeBron James, Bugs Bunny and the rest of the stars of Warner Bros. ‘ âSpace Jam: A New Legacyâ defied expectations and won the box office this weekend. According to studio estimates Sunday, âSpace Jam: A New Legacyâ grossed $ 31.7 million in North America, while âBlack Widowâ grossed $ 26.3 million.
Few people expected “Space Jam: A New Legacy” to win this victory. The poorly rated film was slated for an opening in the order of $ 20 million. But a significant number of families and millennials who grew up with the original âSpace Jamâ left home and went to the movies to see it, even though it is currently being streamed free on HBO Max to subscribers. Not only that, audiences also gave the film a promising A-CinemaScore, suggesting word of mouth could be strong.
âSpace Jam: A New Legacyâ is the biggest pandemic opening for Warner Bros., which is significant since the studio in 2021 is releasing all of its films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.
It is also the largest national opening for a family film since the start of the pandemic. Warner Bros. said 32% of the audience was under 18, which is larger than usual. Most of the big family movies released during the pandemic – from “The Boss Baby: Family Business” to “Raya and the Last Dragon” – opened well under $ 20 million. But audiences of all ages turned out for the new “Space Jam”.
“It shows that families have been waiting for a movie that everyone can go to and that’s that movie,” Warner Bros. Jeff Goldstein said. responsible for domestic distribution. “It’s just a fun family movie.”
âBlack Widow,â meanwhile, fell 67% on its second weekend, which, while steep, is also pretty normal for superhero movies, which tend to have an early audience. . Internationally, the Scarlett Johansson-directed film raked in an additional $ 29.9 million, bringing its worldwide gross to $ 264 million.
Last weekend, âBlack Widowâ became the highest-grossing film of the pandemic. Disney also surprised many in the industry by revealing its profits from the film’s first weekend of streaming rentals. Big rents weren’t provided this week, however.
This weekend also saw the launch of âEscape Room: Tournament of Champions,â a sequel to the 2019 high-profile film. Sony predicts the film will gross $ 8.8 million over the weekend, which is actually better than the debut of the first film and in line with the studio’s expectations.
âF9â took fourth place with $ 7.6 million. The movie “Fast & Furious” has grossed $ 591.2 million worldwide to date. Fifth and sixth places also went to the Universal films: “The Boss Baby: Family Business” with $ 4.7 million and “The Forever Purge” with $ 4.1 million.
âA Quiet Place Part II,â which recently became available on Paramount +, is still making good numbers in its eighth week in theaters. It added an additional $ 2.3 million, bringing its national total to $ 155 million.
Anthony Bourdain’s documentary âRoadrunnerâ also performed well this weekend, grossing around $ 1.9 million in 925 theaters, making it the highest-grossing first specialty film of the year.
Estimated Friday-Sunday ticket sales at US and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final national figures will be released on Monday.
- “Space Jam: A New Legacy”, $ 31.7 million.
- “Black Widow”, $ 26.3 million.
- “Escape Room: Tournaments of Champions”, $ 8.8 million.
- “F9”, $ 7.6 million.
- “The Boss Baby: The Family Business”, $ 4.7 million.
- “The Forever Purge”, $ 4.2 million.
- “A Quiet Place, Part II”, $ 2.3 million.
- âRoadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdainâ, $ 1.9 million.
- “Cruella”, $ 1.1 million.
- “Pig”, $ 945,000.
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