With movie theaters on the brink of recovery or re-closing from the pandemic, the studios are taking advantage of generating some revenues at the box office. In unexpected surprise, Warner Brothers’ Space Jam: A New Legacy took over first place over comic-book sensation movie of Black Widow from Marvel.
Space Jam: A New Legacy with LeBron James took in a surprising $31.7 million at the box office with 3,965 theaters and averaging $7,982 per screen average. Also, the film made itself available for HBO Max subscribers on the same day free of charge.
It is the sequel follow-up to the 1996’s live-action and animated film hybrid that starred Michael Jordan. Of course, that film unadjusted for inflation earned $27.5 million back in 1996 for its opening. In its theatrical run, it grossed $90.4 million domestically and $230.4 million worldwide.
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Industry analysts projected Black Widow to easily win the box office this weekend, but ended up in second place with less than $26.3 million. The film suffered a 67.3 percent drop from the previous weekend after Disney celebrated its $80 million opening and another $60 million paid viewings on Disney+. In its second weekend, Black Widow was at $6,140 per screen at 4,275 locations. To date, the film earned over $132 million in the United States to cumulate over $232.7 million worldwide.
Rounding out the top five, Sony’s Escape Room: Tournament of Champions earned $8.8 million domestically at 2,815 theaters for $3,126 per screen average. The sequel to 2019 cult horror hit Escape Room has its stars Taylor Russell and Logan Miller returning to mind-boggling puzzles for life and death.
F9: The Fast Saga still running strong at $7.6 million in its fourth weekend domestically. It only had a 33.4 percent drop from the previous weekend and now piled on to $591.3 million worldwide.
Animated film The Boss Baby: Family Business from Universal hung on at $4.7 million for its third weekend, dropping 46.8 percent from the previous weekend. The film is also available on its streaming service at Peacock.
As for other new films, Focus Features’ Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain, the documentary about the late travel and food personality Anthony Bourdain opened with $1.9 million domestically, which is the the best start for an independent film in 2021. Despite strong critical praise, Neon’s Pig with Nicolas Cage about an owner looking for his truffle hunting pig came in tenth place at the box. It only generated $945,000 in 552 theaters.
For next weekend, M. Night Shyamalan comes through with a thriller Old based on a graphic novel about a family aging rapidly on a beach without an escape. G.I. Joe spin-off Snake Eyes look to reboot the series with a prequel starring Henry Golding as one of the more popular G.I. Joe characters. And on the indie front, Mark Whalberg stars in Joe Bell that is based on a true story about a father embarking on a hike across America to raise awareness about bullying.
Source: Box Office Mojo