In a neck-and-neck race poised to conclude with a photo-finish, Spider-Man: No Way Home is expected to reclaim the top spot at the weekend box office after being temporarily dethroned by last week’s Scream sequel. Sony is estimating a $13.5 million weekend haul; a soft 30% drop from the previous weekend. The superhero film, which unites three generations of Spider-Man stars, is proving to be unstoppable at the box office, having performed about as well as it would have in non-pandemic times.
With approximately $720 million in the bank domestically, No Way Home is currently the fourth-highest grossing film of all time. With little competition for the rest of this month (and maybe a re-release or two in the future), it could snail its way past the number three film on the all-time list, fellow MCU title The Avengers ($760 million). Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million) and Avengers: Endgame ($858 million) lead the pack, at the number one and two spots, respectively.
After claiming the top spot in its debut weekend, Paramount’s Scream sequel registered a standard horror film drop in its second weekend. The film, which made an impressive $34 million across the four-day MLK weekend, is expected to make $11.7 million in its sophomore weekend. That’s a 60% drop, which is in the same range as the 59% drop that fellow Paramount title A Quiet Place Part II registered last year, and slightly better than Universal’s Halloween Kills, which fell by 71%. But that film, unlike Scream, was also made available day-and-date on digital.
In a major display of confidence in directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Paramount held off on a hybrid release for Scream, which, when all is said and done, will count as a rare win for the struggling studio. Especially when you factor in its light $25 million budget.
Quietly holding fort at the number three spot is Universal’s Sing 2. The animated sequel, which has been available on digital for several days now, is expected to make $5.56 million over the weekend, taking its running domestic total to $128.2 million. It’s the first animated feature since 2019’s Frozen II to have crossed the $100 million mark domestically. Worldwide, the film has made $228 million, which might seem paltry when compared to the original’s $630 million haul in 2016, but is better than what Encanto ($223 million) and The Croods: A New Age ($215 million) tapped out with.
Universal also claimed the number four spot with the faith-based drama Redeeming Love, which is estimated to make $4 million in its debut weekend. Just a few weeks ago, Lionsgate also satiated the seemingly starved demographic with American Underdog, which is still in the top 10, and has made over $20 million domestically.
Rounding out the top five, 20th Century Studios’ high-profile flop The King’s Man added another $1.73 million for a disappointingly low running domestic total of $31.4 million. The massively delayed film could be a victim of poor platforming, but it’s likely just a case of the audience having lost interest in the property. The Kingsman franchise was always more popular overseas, and it’ll be interesting to see how the studio reshapes the series’ future after this film’s underwhelming performance.
It’s going to be relatively quiet next weekend as well, with Joe Wright’s Cyrano as the only major release. But there'll be more to dissect in February, when Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall and Jeff Tremaine’s Jackass Forever clash, and probably make millennials feel like they’re in high school again.