Box Office Round-Up -- 3/7/22

Fun fact: Until this past Friday, only one movie had a box office weekend over $100 million since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. But with the release of The Batman, it’s now two movies. Robert Pattinson’s debut as the Caped Crusader was massive success for Warner Bros. and DC, grossing $128.5 million. This would be a good haul on most weekends, but it’s incredibly promising as we enter a potential post-pandemic spring and summer, as audiences return to movie theatres en masse.

The rest of the top five grossers were the old familiar faces. In second place, Uncharted grossed $11 million over the weekend, and cleared $100 million overall so far. Meanwhile, Dog continues to be the reigning feel-good hit of early 2022, with a third place weekend total of $6 million.

Incidentally, the other pandemic-era release with a $100 million weekend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, as Spider-Man: No Way Home hung on in fourth place with $4.4 million. It may see a bit of a drop-off in numbers once it hits home video release on March 22, but until then Spidey isn’t about to let Batman be the only superhero on the block. Rounding out the top five was murder mystery sequel Death on the Nile, snagging another $2.7 million.

With its positive critical reception and limited competition (new competition, that is) in the coming weeks, expect The Batman to dominate the box office through most of March. Distributors are obviously hopeful that this is a sign of a return to the pre-pandemic numbers of 2019, but that may not truly be put to the test until the blockbusters start hitting weekly in April and May.

1. The Batman ($128.5 MM)
Director: Matt Reeves (CAA)
Writers: Matt Reeves (CAA), Peter Craig (CAA)
Cast: Robert Pattinson (WME)
Zoe Kravitz (CAA)
Paul Dano (WME)

2. Uncharted ($11 MM)
Director: Ruben Fleischer (CAA)
Writers: Rafe Judkins (CAA), Art Marcum (CAA), Matt Holloway (CAA), Jon Hanley Rosenberg, Mark D. Walker
Cast: Tom Holland (WME)
Mark Wahlberg (WME)
Antonio Banderas (NuCo)

3. Dog ($6 MM)
Director: Reid Carolin (CAA), Channing Tatum (CAA)
Writers: Reid Carolin (CAA), Brett Rodriguez
Cast: Channing Tatum (CAA)
Q'orianka Kilcher (Buchwald)
Kevin Nash (Media Artists Group)

4. Spider-Man: No Way Home ($4.4 MM)
Director: Jon Watts (CAA)
Writers: Chris McKenna (UTA), Erik Sommers (UTA)
Cast: Tom Holland (WME)
Zendaya (CAA)
Benedict Cumberbatch (UTA)

5. Death on the Nile ($2.7 MM)
Director: Kenneth Branagh (WME)
Writers: Michael Green (WME)
Cast: Gal Gadot (WME)
Kenneth Branagh (WME)
Annette Bening (CAA)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers