October Rings Up Best Month At Domestic Box Office During Pandemic With $638M

Rebecca Davis editorJust after China’s long National Day holiday on Oct. 10, Chinese social media was plastered in red-and-gold memes and posts celebrating the annual box office to date hitting the $6.26 billion (RMB40 billion) mark.

Refresh for latest…: After seven weekends of offshore release, MGM/Eon/Universal’s No Time To Die continues to bond with audiences and has crossed $700M global. Importantly, that includes over $558M at the international box office, making Bond 25 the biggest Hollywood movie overseas in 2021 and throughout the pandemic era.

Angelina Jolie, Kumail Nanjiani and Gemma Chan, fell 61% from its debut. Though not uncommon for a big superhero tentpole, it was significantly steeper than the 52% drop seen by the last Disney and Marvel offering, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.”Both played exclusively in theaters, but the main difference is that “Shang-Chi” simply got better ratings from audiences and critics.

Sony, which doesn’t mess around with theatrical day-and-date releases like some other motion picture studios, can celebrate their Marvel sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage crossing the $200 million mark in U.S. and Canada, the second movie to do so during Covid after Disney/Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. That latter Marvel title looks to stand at $224.4M by the end of this weekend as the theatrical release, which launched over Labor Day, finally hits homes on Disney+.

J. Kim Murphy administrator“Eternals” will keep its crown at the domestic box office, as the Marvel entry is projected to repeat as No.

Industry estimates have the sequel starring Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson making $3.8 million this weekend, bringing its domestic total to $202 million and putting it just shy of the $213 million that the first “Venom” grossed in 2018. Overseas, the film has grossed $227 million heading into this weekend for a total of $426 million worldwide.

Paramount will continue to experiment with a theatrical day-and-date release model during the pandemic with eOne’s Clifford the Big Red Dog, a live-action CGI hybrid take of the 1963 Scholastic children’s book classic which hit theaters today at 1:30PM, goes wide tomorrow at 3,695 theaters and also drops on Paramount+. The movie is expected to do between $15M-$17M over its five days, which includes Veterans Day when close to half K-12 schools are off for the holiday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMarvel movie “Eternals” enjoyed the biggest opening weekend of any film this year in South Korea.

Among film distribution executives in town, there’s a saying about Disney’s theatrical releases, in particular their Marvel titles: That they’re “five quad” movies.

Naman Ramachandran The stellar box office performance of “No Time to Die,” “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and “Dune” have boosted the U.K. and Ireland box office to £158.7 million ($214.1 million) in October, 2021, 30% more than October last year.Figures released on Friday by Comscore also revealed that October is the highest grossing month of 2021 so far, with the 2021 year-to-date gross currently sitting at £413.3 million ($557.7 million).

Disney’s Marvels Eternals based on the 1976 Jack Kirby characters struck up $9.5M on Thursday from previews that began at 6PM, the third best preview night of the pandemic behind Disney’s Black Widow in early July ($13.2M from showtimes that began at 5pm) and Sony’s Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($11.6M from 4pm).

Disney/Marvel’s Eternals which is set to keep the fall box office rally going is looking at a global opening of $150M, a number that’s poised to best the $128M WW start of Shang-Chi and the Legend of Ten Rings back in early September, and emulate the $150M filed by Black Widow which had a Disney+ Premiere day-and-date component in select markets, including U.S.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterDisney’s “Eternals,” the latest installment in the sprawling Marvel Cinematic Universe, will tower over the domestic box office when it debuts on Friday in more than 4,000 theaters.The comic book adaptation — starring Gemma Chan, Richard Madden, Kumail Nanjiani, Salma Hayek and Angelina Jolie — is estimated to collect $75 million to $80 million in its first three days of release.

Paul Pogba did something that might frustrate Manchester United fans during the Reds' game versus Atalanta on Tuesday.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterFor the first time in modern history, October is the highest-grossing month of the year at the domestic box office.Thanks to Sony’s comic book adventure “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” MGM’s James Bond sequel “No Time to Die,” Universal’s “Halloween Kills” and the Warner Bros. and Legendary tentpole “Dune,” the season that celebrates all things spooky and pumpkin spice has been livelier than most at local multiplexes.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterThe domestic box office was lighter on the treats and heavier on the tricks during Halloween weekend, capping an otherwise busy October at the movies on a muted note.Horror movies “Antlers” and “Last Night in Soho” opened nationwide and struggled to scare up strong ticket sales, leaving last weekend’s champion “Dune” to rule over box office charts again.