In a weekend without major studio wide releases, Crunchyroll’s anime prequel Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is providing cash to exhibition. On Friday, including previews, the pic did $8.7M I’m informed, another $5.4M on Saturday for a solid $17.7M weekend in 2nd; which is 17% under the $21.2M opening of Funimation’s Demon Slayer last April. Box office analytics firm EntTelligence reports that 1.3M bought tickets to Jujutsu Kaisen 0 vs. Demon Slayer‘s first weekend which drew 1.6M. Not bad.
Of course, Warner Bros.’ The Batman is No. 1 with a third weekend of $36.8M, down a very good 45%, and sending its running total to $300.1M by EOD. Among third weekends at the box office for Warner Bros, The Batman‘s is the third-best, after Dark Knight ($42.6M) and Wonder Woman ($41.2M). People love this movie. Just another $31M and The Batman will have surpassed 2015’s Batman v. Superman‘s domestic B.O. ($330.3M); another $35M until it clocks past Aquaman ($335.1M). Friday for The Batman came in at 10.6M, -43% from a week ago.
Worldwide, The Batman is $1.9M shy of $600M. Of that global haul, $47.6M was generated at Imax hubs. Breaking that further down, $28.5M is the running total for The Batman in U.S./Canada Imax auditoriums. Imax is celebrating that its lifetime global box office has just clicked $10 billion.
EntTelligence reports that The Batman has the second best number of admissions during the pandemic to date with 23M through 17 days, just behind the 50M racked up by Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home over the same frame. Shang-Chi during its first 17 days pulled in 14.2M while Venom: Let There Be Carnage clocked 13.7M admissions.
A24’s horror movie X did $1.77M on Friday and takes fourth place with $4.4M at 2,865 theaters, fueled by venues in the Southwest, where nine of the top ten theaters came from. In standard fashion, it’s the type of A24 release that divides critics and audiences, with a 95% certified fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 68% on Comscore’s PostTrak audience exits, along with a low 45% recommend. The Ti West-directed and written movie skewed 55% male, 73% between 18-34, with diversity demos of 50% Caucasian, 22% Latino and Hispanic, 12% Black, and 16% Asian/other. Among A24’s wide releases during the pandemic, X is lower than The Green Knight‘s $6.7M start (which got to a final domestic of $17.1M, a 2.6x multiple) and ahead of Zola‘s $1.2M. But that was only on roughly half the number of theaters that X is playing at.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 wins on both fronts with critics (100%) and audiences (93% positive, 81% recommend on updated PostTrak through last night). Kids under 12 were also excellent in exits, at 95% and a 88% recommend. Men showed up at 61% and 75% between 18-34. Diversity demos were a heavy 32% Latino and Hispanic, 25% Caucasian, 20% Asian, and 17% Black. Jujutsu played to great numbers everywhere, with close to 170 runs over $10K and just over 500 theaters doing $5k on Friday alone.
Very strong numbers on the coasts in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. The pic is boosted by plays in 4DX, Dbox, and PLFs. Prints are subtitled in Japanese and English-dubbed. Jujutsu Kaisen 0 is the first movie to be released under the newly-unified Crunchyroll. Earlier this month, it was announced that all Funimation global group brands were brought under the Crunchyroll banner by Sony Pictures Entertainment.
All of this amounts to a total estimated weekend for all movies of $86M per industry calculations, which is 38% off the same weekend 11 in 2019 ($139.8M). Realize that Disney had the second weekend of Captain Marvel during that frame three years ago ($67.9M), and there were three new wide releases. Arguably, it’s not demand that the box office is lacking now, but product. According to Comscore, rolling spring breaks began this weekend with 22% K-12 schools out on Friday and 8% colleges. This seems like a missed opportunity for the majors by sitting out. However, everyone was so concerned about Omicron that they delayed their releases and marketing spends. Next weekend, Paramount finally delivers the Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum movie The Lost City, which I hear is eyeing a $20M-$30M opening.
Separately, after Paramount debuted The Lost City to a fun-filled, rowdy premiere at SXSW a week ago, the studio with Fandango held early access paid previews last night. We hear that two thirds of the screenings were sold out and near 83% capacity across all showtimes. Top grossing theaters came from Boise, Salt Lake City, Nashville, Los Angeles, Columbus OH, Paramus NJ, Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC, Seattle, Dayton, Minneapolis, Boston, Denver, and San Diego.
Focus Features has the Mark Rylance movie The Outfit cracking the top 10, with $530K on Friday at 1,324 theaters, for what is a $1.5M opening, with most of that money from the coasts. The Graham Moore-directed and cowritten title follows an expert tailor who must outwit a dangerous group of mobsters in order to survive a fateful night. Critics liked the movie more than audiences, 90% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes to 74% positive on PostTrak and 55% recommend. Guy leaning here at 56% with close to 60% over 35 and 40% over 45. Diversity demos were 60% Caucasian, 15% Latino and Hispanic, 10% Black and 15% Asian/other.
The Vivek Agnihotri-directed title The Kashmir Files from Zee Studios did $413K on Friday at 230 theaters, on its way to a $1.485M opening for a near $7K theater average. If you want to know where the specialty box office is alive during the pandemic, it’s here, with this Hindi-language movie. The pic is based on video interviews of the first generation victims of the Genocide of Kashmiri Pandit Community in 1990. Booked in 81 markets, The Kashmir Files is seeing strong numbers in New York, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, and Toronto.
Sony/Stage 6’s Sandra Oh horror movie Umma at 805 theaters is seeing a $915K opening off of bad reviews at 21% Rotten and awful audience scores of 52% on PostTrak. Women bought tickets at 57%, with 61% between 18-34. Diversity demos were 42% Caucasian, 19% Latino and Hispanic, 18% Black, 17% Asian and 4% other.
Weekend Top 10 chart updated as of Sunday AM:
1.) The Batman (WB) 4,302 (-115) theaters Fri $10.6M (-43%)/Sat $15.9M/Sun $10.3M/3-day: $36.8M (-45%) Total $300.1M/Wk 3
2.) Jujutsu Kaisen 0 (Crunchy) 2,297 theaters, Fri $8.7M/Sat $5.47M/Sunday $3.5M/3-day $17.7M/Wk 1
3.) Uncharted (Sony) 3,700 (-25) theaters, Fri $2.25M (-6%)/Sat $3.47M/Sun $2.26M/3-day $8M (-13%)/Total $125.8M/Wk 5
4.) X (A24) 2,865 theaters, Fri $1.77M, Sat $1.5M, Sun $1.11M, 3-day $4.4M/Wk 1
5.) Dog (UAR) 3,307 (-100) theaters, Fri $1.1M (-15%), Sat $1.8M, Sun $1.1M, 3-day $4.09M (-21%)/Total $54.2M/Wk 5
6.) Spider-Man: No Way Home (Sony) 2,585 (-117) theaters, Fri $875K (-10%) /Sat $1.42M/Sun $900K/ 3-day $3.2M (-21%)/Total $797.5M/Wk 14
7.) Death on the Nile (Dis) 2,050 (-380) theaters, Fri $498K (-25%)/Sat $761K/Sun $441k/3-day $1.7M (-29%)/Total $43.5M/Wk 6
8.) The Outfit (Foc) 1,325 theaters Fri $530K, Sat $590K, Sun $390K, 3-day $1.5M/Wk 1
9.) The Kashmir Files (Zee) 230 theaters, Fri $413K, Sat $613K, Sun $459K, 3-day $1.485M/Wk 1
10.) Sing 2 (Uni/Ill) 1,838 (-150) theaters, Fri $390K (+15%)/Sat $630K /Sun $450K/3-day $1.48M (-8%)/Total: $158.4M/Wk 13
11.) Umma (Sony/Stage 6) 805 locations Fri $338K/Sat $352K/Sun $225K/ 3-day $915K/Wk 1