‘The Batman’ Crosses $750 Million at Global Box Office

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” is now within reach of a benchmark that box office analysts were only whispering about before its release: a $200 million-plus opening. After earning a jaw-dropping $90 million on opening day, including $36 million from Thursday previews, the 28th Marvel Cinematic Universe film is now projected by industry estimates to earn a $202 million weekend launch.

kick off the summer blockbuster season in style and give audiences another reminder of what a pandemic box office could look like if back to full strength. Independent trackers suggest that “Doctor Strange 2” could bring in $160 million in its opening weekend, with some going even higher to a $200 million start, if below what “No Way Home” managed.

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.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaThis sorcerer still reigns supreme.Disney and Marvel’s “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” earned a formidable $36 million in Thursday previews, setting the stage for what could be a massive $175 million-plus debut this weekend. This ranks as the eighth largest preview performance ever, behind “Avengers: Infinity War’s” $39 million in 2018.

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.

Happy times are here again for movie theaters this weekend with Disney/Marvel’s long-awaited Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness set to fire up the summer box office season we didn’t have a year ago.

Refresh for latest…: On a weekend we could term “the calm before the Strange,” there was nevertheless sustained holdover business at the international box office, and a new entry in the form of Universal/Focus’ Downton Abbey: A New Era.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterAnother weekend, another new Liam Neeson action-thriller in theaters.“Memory,” the actor’s nth COVID-era caper to play on the big screen, debuted over the weekend to $3.1 million from 2,555 North American cinemas. Its eighth-place finish is a weak result, but one that’s close to Neeson’s recent theatrical releases like “Blacklight” ($3.6 million debut), “Honest Thief” ($3.6 million debut) and “The Marksman” ($3.1 million debut).Since Open Road Films and Briarcliff Entertainment’s “Memory” is the only new nationwide release, last weekend’s champion “The Bad Guys” topped the box office again.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“The Batman,” the moody re-imagining of the Bruce Wayne saga that became a box office success this spring, helped lift the earnings of Imax during the exhibition company’s first quarter. Revenues at Imax climbed 55% to $60 million for the three-month period ending in April, which the company attributed to the popularity of the comic book reboot, as well as to the appeal of some special events like the re-release of “Get Back,” a documentary about The Beatles that initially debuted on Disney +. “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the superhero sequel that dominated the holiday box office, continued to put up impressive numbers into 2022.

Imax reported a global quarterly box office total of $173.2 million, up 57% over Q1 2021 thanks in large part to the March release of “The Batman” and post-holiday holdover screenings of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Imax also had screenings of seven local language films in countries like China, India and France. Adjusted EBITDA stood at $14.8 million, up from $2.8 million in Q1 2021 during which theaters worldwide closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

$1.9 billion box office hit in the midst of record COVID-19 infection rates, it was fitting that Sony Pictures was the first studio to make its presentation at CinemaCon 2022 as Chairman/CEO Tom Rothman and his team took a victory lap after a successful winter led by “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”“What are you guys doing here? Don’t you know you’re dead? Not only merely dead but most sincerely dead?” joked Rothman to the CinemaCon attendees as he touted the $3.3 billion that Sony films have grossed at the worldwide box office.Along with the runaway success of “No Way Home,” Sony also released another Marvel hit with “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which reached $500 million worldwide without the aid of China, while “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “Uncharted” also found solid success with domestic audiences. The numbers vindicate Rothman and Sony motion picture group president Josh Greenstein’s pledge at last year’s CinemaCon to commit to theatrical releasing and to be a key part of the pandemic box office rebuilding process.

Refresh for latest…: Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore crossed the $200M mark at the international box office this weekend, holding the top overseas position for the third frame in a row. The offshore session added $38.3M in 67 markets for a running total of $213.2M with worldwide at $280.3M.

While that launch is nowhere near the opening for past DreamWorks films like “The Boss Baby” ($50 million) or “Trolls” ($46.5 million), “The Bad Guys” has a lower reported budget than those films at around $70 million. The closest comparison from the DWA filmography would be the 2019 film “Abominable,” which opened to $20.6 million and grossed a modest profit $188.6 million worldwide against a $75 million budget.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“The Northman,” a blood-drenched viking epic from director Robert Eggers, pillaged $1.35 million in Thursday previews, while “The Bad Guys,” a kid-friendly spin on the heist genre, earned $1.15.Those aren’t the only new wide releases in town; they will also have to fend off “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent,” a very meta exercise in which Nicolas Cage stars as himself. It picked up $835,000 in Thursday previews.Universal’s indie label Focus released “The Northman,” which is projected to earn $10 million to $15 million in its first three days of release.

Refresh for latest…: It’s no secret that Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets Of Dumbledore had a less than magical opening domestically this weekend, coming after early overseas rollout began last frame. Still, offshore this weekend, the threequel was again the top movie and ranked No. 1 in 52 markets, including 41 of the 44 new openers. The overseas sophomore frame added $71.7M for a cume of $150.4M, bringing global just shy of $200M at $193.4M. In like-for-likes Dumbledore is running 38% behind the previous installment and 42% off the original.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” welcomed a boost in ticket sales at the international box office, though the third installment in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series already seems to be running out of steam.Over the weekend, “Fantastic Beasts 3” added $71.7 million from 66 foreign markets, taking the film’s international tally to $150.4 million. After debuting to a less-than-enchanting $43 million in North America, “The Secrets of Dumbledore” has collected $193.4 million to date.Along with United States and Canada, the Warner Bros.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the third chapter in the “Harry Potter” spinoff series, collected a muted $43 million in its domestic box office debut.In pandemic times, those ticket sales were enough to lead this weekend’s box office charts and land one of the biggest North American openings in 2022. But it’s also a sign that magic is in short supply for J.K. Rowling’s lucrative and ever-expanding Wizarding World.

Warner Bros/DC’s The Batman has winged its way past three-quarters of a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, maintaining its spot as the highest-grossing film of the year, globally and domestically. The worldwide cume through Sunday is $751.1M with the Matt Reeves-directed spin on the Caped Crusader counting $386.1M at the international box office and $365M in North America.

Though that result is on par with the $41 million opening of fellow Warner release “Dune” last October and the $44 million opening of Sony’s “Uncharted” in February, it is down 31% from the $62 million opening of the last “Fantastic Beasts” film, the ill-received “Crimes of Grindelwald” in 2018. Audience metrics for “Secrets of Dumbledore” have been somewhat better than for “Grindelwald” with a B+ on CinemaScore to go with a 4/5 from general audiences on Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak and an 85% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.