Global Box Office Set for Strong Recovery in 2022, Analyst Forecasts

Before the pandemic, if there was something studio executives rubbed their hands about, it was the near total eclipse of the theatrical window.

Refresh for latest…: Happy New Year!, Peter Parker. Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has lifted its global cume to $1.37B, becoming the 12th highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. Slinging up another $78.3M in 61 international box office markets in its third weekend, No Way Home now has an offshore cume of $759M. The current overseas frame reps a drop of just 35% from last session.

Refresh for latest…: Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home is having a very happy holiday as it is now officially the first movie of the pandemic-era to pass the $1B mark at the global box office. The worldwide gross through Sunday is $1.05B which makes this installment Sony’s No. 2 film of all time, behind only Spider-Man: Far From Home ($1.13B). No Way Home is the No. 1 film of the year worldwide — and one of the only movies of the modern era to ever reach $1B without China. Simply amazing.

Refresh for latest…: Spidey has done it again, logging yet another milestone as he swings past $800M global. Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home now has a worldwide total of $813.9M through Wednesday. This pushes it past No Time To Die and makes it the No. 3 movie of the year, and the top Hollywood release.

China will be the world’s largest box office market for the second year running, overturning the decade-long rankings and staying ahead of the North American market as it did in for the first time in 2020.And, even if “Spider-Man: No Way Home” avoids becoming caught in a web of omicron-related shutdowns to become the highest grossing film of 2021, Chinese movies “The Battle at Lake Changjin” and “Hi, Mom” are certain to account for at least two of the year’s top five.Such a new world order has

Refresh for latest…: Sony/Marvel’s friendly neighborhood webslinger now leads the No. 4 movie of 2021 worldwide, as Spider-Man: No Way Home overtakes F9 with $751.3M through Tuesday. At the international box office, Peter Parker also leapt to a new milestone, topping the $400M mark with yesterday’s grosses for $422.6M in 68 offshore markets. It’s currently the No. 6 film of the year overseas (No. 3 among Hollywood titles). Domestically, the film also hit a new benchmark.

It’s going to be a really rich Christmas for exhibition, Sony and Marvel as Spider-Man: No Way Home barrels toward potentially the third best 2nd weekend ever with around $143M over the long Christmas period of Dec. 24-27.

Coming into the weekend, everyone knew “Spider-Man: No Way Home” would break pandemic-era box office records. Previously, the biggest debut was with “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which earned $90 million over its first three days back in October.

Refresh for latest…: Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has become the third biggest global opener of all-time with $587.2M. Crossing the $500M mark makes it only the sixth film ever to the milestone in a launch frame.

Naman Ramachandran Steven Spielberg’s acclaimed musical “West Side Story” and beloved canine mascot-hero property “Clifford the Big Red Dog,” were neck and neck for pole position at the U.K. and Ireland weekend box office.Disney release “West Side Story” topped the charts with £1.297 million ($1.72 million), while eOne release “Clifford the Big Red Dog” was just behind with £1.293 million ($1.71 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

Taking an early look at 2022, Gower Street Analytics is projecting global box office to reach $33.2B next year. That would rep a 58% increase on 2021 if the current year stays on track for the London-based firm’s projected approximate $21B (this is a slightly revised number from its October prediction for the year, in part owing to some Hollywood films not securing China dates through December).

For all the mishegaas exhibition has endured during the pandemic including streaming threats, day-and-date window crunching, older demos not showing up, local ordinances and countless release date changes and eliminations, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home arrives this weekend to save the day.

Refresh for latest…: With stellar critical and audience scores, there is certainly a place for Disney/20th Century Studios’ take on West Side Story — and the hope is that it will grow through the coming weeks. In its debut session at the international box office, however, the Steven Spielberg-directed version of the classic musical landed well below expectations.

After a year’s delay due to the pandemic, Steven Spielberg’s remake of the Broadway classic and 10x Oscar-winning 1961 movie, West Side Story, finally tunes up this weekend as the sole wide major studio theatrical release in 2,800 U.S./Canada theaters and offshore debuts in France, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Russia and UK. All in, the global outlook is $22M-$31M, with $12M-$17M coming from domestic and $10M-$14M from abroad. The 20th Century Studios-Amblin production is being released by Disney.

Endeavor Group Holdings CEO Ari Emanuel dismissed the recently announced acquisition of ICM Partners by CAA as “the type of merger we did 10 years ago.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAction-adventure film, “Schemes in Antiques” grabbed the top spot at the mainland China box office with a solid $25.6 million debut.It deposed crime comedy “Be Somebody” which had topped the chart for the past three weekends and earned $13.3 million in its fourth weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” crept into the background at the South Korean box office over the weekend, as the top three films remained unchanged.Nationwide aggregate revenue was a lowly $5.06 million as audiences avoided cinemas ahead of new health restrictions.Cinemas, along with bars, restaurants, gyms and museums, are among the high-risk places affected by a new tightening of health measures in Korea, intended to slow the spread of the Omicron variant of the

Neon and Participant opened animated documentary Flee to a $25,033 debut in four locations. That makes for a strong per-theater average of $6,258 ahead of a rollout early next year for the much-decorated Danish film ahead of Academy Award nominations Feb. 8.

Refresh for latest..: We’re in a sort of holding pattern at the international box office, as big year-end titles are still in the wings. This weekend was all about holdover business — and some further market launches on major pics already in release elsewhere. Last frame’s debut, Disney’s Encanto, leads the session again for the studios with a solid 30% drop, adding $20.7M from 49 material markets for an overseas cume of $58.1M and a global total of $116.1M.