The Robert Pattinson-starrer “The Batman” finally hit theaters this weekend and grossed $57 million from 4,417 locations on its opening day, though that’s an amount that includes $21.6 million from Thursday’s preview screening. Huh. The DC adaptation is on track to open somewhere between $120 million and $130 million for the weekend. With more than $50 million in the bank already, “The Batman” already has the biggest opening weekend of 2022, with a three-day debut of $44 million taking an undisclosed second place. It’s another demonstration that watching superhero appointments is in a league of its own for moviegoers, reports Variety.com.
Compared to the franchise’s recent history, this figure is less than the sum of the opening weekends of Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” ($158 million) and “The Dark Knight Rises” ($160 million), as well as Zack Snyder’s crossover Showdown. Will happen. “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” ($166 million).
However, ‘The Batman’ is not a sequel like those films; Instead, it’s a full cloth reboot of the property, with a new cast, a new mood, and a new story. Nolan’s reboot, “Batman Begins”, opened in 2005 to $48 million – a number that more than doubled “The Batman”.
Big-budget specs (and comic book adaptations, in particular) may be preloaded at their box office and “The Batman” should be no exception. More than a third of its opening day earnings were earned through Thursday night previews.
However, Warner Bros. expects the DC adaptation to have longer staying power due to its positive reception.
“The Batman” stars Robert Pattinson as the seventh actor to play the Caped Crusader in a live-action film. The film also stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth, and Colin Farrell as Penguin.
Directed by Matt Reeves, the production proved to be prolonged due to the Covid pandemic, with a production budget exceeding $200 million.
The video game adaptation “Uncharted” is trying to take the runner-up slot in its third weekend, earning $12.4 million. The Tom Holland vehicle should clear $100 million in domestic GDP after Sunday, a feat that will only be shared by “The Batman” when drawing from its 2022 release.
Canine Road movie ‘Dog’ continues to do good business. A Channing Tatum vehicle added $1.6 million to its run on Friday, down 35 percent from a week ago. The film should boost its domestic earnings to $40 million over the weekend, with a $50 million-plus finale in the cards. It’s a remarkable win for a star-driven drama with a budget of $15 million.
Despite competition in the superhero department, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” remains in the top five at the box office nearly three months after its debut. MCU Monster is looking to take in $4.7 million in its twelfth weekend, a modest 18 percent drop from the previous outing.
“No Way Home” will have a domestic gross of $786 million after Sunday, as the film reaches a potential finish of over $800 million.
“Death on the Nile” should finish in the top five with an estimated three-day run of $2.85 million. After a staggering $12.8 million domestic debut, Kenneth Branagh’s whodunit has enjoyed some kindly catching up.
The release now tops out at upwards of $40 million. That’s just short of a reported $90 million production budget, though international earnings will push “Death on the Nile” even further.