Sony Execs Take CinemaCon Victory Lap Over ‘Spider-Man’ Box Office Domination

Refresh for latest…: Disney/Marvel’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness is approaching $700M globally after two weekends. The worldwide cume through Sunday is now an estimated $688.1M, including $291.9M domestic and $396.2M from the international box office. The latter number will shortly pass The Batman to become the biggest overseas release of 2022.

online through May 18 at 6 p.m. ET.

Sony Pictures saw its fourth quarter profits reach $84 million (11 billion yen), up significantly from when the film division posted a loss of $2.7 million the same quarter a year prior. And the Japanese conglomerate’s film division completed its fiscal 2021 with $1.67 billion overall (217.4 billion yen) operating income, up 55% from the previous year.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness” opened atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with a mighty £19.5 million ($24.3 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the newest timeline-altering tentpole in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, captured a huge $265 million in its international box office debut.Those mighty ticket sales represent the second-biggest opening weekend overseas in pandemic times. Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” still stands as the highest-grossing COVID-era debut with $340 million internationally.The second “Doctor Strange” film, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the goatee-rocking sorcerer, generated $185 million in North America over the weekend, bringing its global tally to a massive $450 million.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterDoctor Strange and his questionably effective book of spells has summoned a blockbuster $185 million at North American movie theaters over the weekend, reaffirming the box office dominance of Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe after a shakier, pandemic-battered year for the franchise.The timeline-bending “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” represents a return to form for Disney’s MCU after COVID-era releases “Black Widow” ($80 million debut, plus $60 million on Disney Plus), “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” ($75 million debut), and “Eternals” ($71 million debut). Due to the pandemic and other extenuating circumstances, those installments failed to live up to their franchise predecessors in terms of ticket sales.

despite poor reviews.The star-studded flick, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, is now projected to top $200 million in US sales through Sunday, well ahead of the $160 million to $180 million previously expected, according to Variety.“Dr.

Naman Ramachandran The total U.K. and Ireland box office in April this year was £96.9 million ($119.2 million), according to numbers for the month released by Comscore.At this time in 2021, indoor cinemas remained closed due to the second nationwide lockdown, except for Guernsey and the Isle of Man, re-opening on May 17 in England and Scotland. Compared to the first four months of pre-pandemic 2019, 2022 is running 27% behind.“Sonic The Hedgehog 2” is the No.1 film of April, grossing £22.8 million, and is the fourth-highest grossing film of the year so far.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” the latest timeline-bending entry in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, has kicked off at the international box office, collecting $27.2 million on opening day.The film is currently playing in 20 overseas markets, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Korea. “Doctor Strange 2” opens in North America and several other territories on Friday.

China and Hollywood used to seemingly have a healthy, symbiotic relationship. Hollywood released massive blockbusters in the Asian nation, they made massive bank, audiences were happy, and presumably Chinese theater owners were doing quite well for themselves, along with Hollywood often got massive box office boosts from the country.

SUNDAY AM Writethru after Saturday AM Update, refresh for chart and more analysis After all the hallelujahs about the return of theatrical at CinemaCon this past week, the major studios skipped out on programming any new wide releases this weekend. All of this is resulting in a marketplace which is seeing an estimated $68M in total ticket sales, down 28% from last weekend. Ugh. In regards to when the majors will sit on the sidelines again this year, there’s June 3, and possibly Aug. 12 (Searchlight is holding the date for an untitled wide entry).

Spider-Man trilogy has spoken about the possibility of a fourth film starring Tobey Maguire as the titular webslinger.Following Maguire’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his appearance in Spider-Man: No Way Home, there’s been a renewed interest from fans in continuing the story of Maguire’s version of Spider-Man.Speaking about his interest in revisiting the character, Sam Raimi (who directed 2002’s Spider-Man and the following two sequels) told Rolling Stone he’d be up for it “if there was a great story there.”“My love for the characters hasn’t diminished one iota,” he continued. “It would be the same things that would stop me now that stopped me then: ‘Does Tobey want to do it? Is there an emotional arc for him? Is there a great conflict for this character? And is there a worthy villain that fits into the theme of the piece?’ There’s a lot of questions that would have to be answered.

Refresh for chart and more analysis After all the hallelujahs about the return of theatrical at CinemaCon this past week, the major studios skipped out on programming any new wide releases this weekend. All of this is resulting in a marketplace which is seeing an estimated $64M in total ticket sales, down 33% from last weekend. Ugh. In regards to when the majors will sit on the sidelines again this year, it’s set to happen on June 3 and possibly Aug. 12 (Searchlight is holding the date for an untitled wide entry).

The journey from Sam Raimi‘s never-made “Spider-Man 4” to Marvel‘s “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” has been an interesting one, as the genre director seemed keen to keep making “Spider-Man” movies despite the poor reception of 2008’s “Spider-Man 3.” Raimi is now giving a little more insight into how things ultimately unraveled and why the headaches of “Spider-Man 3” was a contributing factor.

Sam Raimi stepped into the offices of Sony Pictures in an impeccable black suit to pitch himself to direct “Spider-Man.” He had no reason to expect he would get the job.“My agent, Josh Donen, said, ‘They want to be honest with you. There’s about 18 directors they’d rather have than you on a list,'” Raimi recalls. “And I said, ‘OK, well, tell them I’m number 19.'”When Raimi finally did get a meeting, he found himself in a room that included Sony Pictures CEO John Calley, Columbia Pictures chair Amy Pascal, Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad, Sony film executive Matt Tolmach and the film’s producer, Laura Ziskin.

It was just announced that Sony is moving forward with Tom Hardy‘s “Venom 3” as the studio continues to flesh out their spinoff universe featuring “Spider-Man” villains and cohorts. The Sony-Verse is now looking to add even more obscure comic book characters than they have previously, which is quite the feat.

WARNING: Spoilers ahead for “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” the sequel to 2018’s Oscar-winning “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” just got bumped from its original release date of this fall to next summer (June 2, 2023). But the hype train stops for no (spider) man, and at CinemaCon tonight, Sony revealed a work-in-progress preview of the upcoming film.Producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller introduced the first 15 minutes, much of which was presented in storyboard and in-progress animation footage. The film starts in Gwen Stacy’s universe, Earth-65, having an awkward conversation with her police officer father who is hunting down Spider-Woman, unaware that his target is his own daughter.

$502 million in theaters worldwide without the help of a release in China, while Tom Hardy also had a mid-credits cameo in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” teasing the future of Marvel’s symbiote antihero. “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” had a more modest box office run but still did well domestically with $129.3 million grossed in North America and $197.3 million worldwide.

It what is not shocking, Sony teased a third Venom movie today, however, just the pic’s logo in a closing sizzle reel. The first two films, which starred Tom Hardy as the Marvel spider-antihero have collectively grossed $1.4 billion at the global box office to date.

Sony dropped the first 15 minutes from its upcoming Marvel animated sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Part I today.