‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Passes Domestic Box Office Of First Film, More Proof There’s Moviegoing During Pandemic

Though the two films came out 12 years apart and under dramatically different circumstances for movie theaters, both were able to take advantage of a lack of competition and overwhelmingly strong word-of-mouth to bring moviegoers back again and again for repeat viewings. While “Avatar” started with a modest opening and then continued to reign as No.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has officially unseated director James Cameron’s 2009 science-fiction epic “Avatar” to become the third-highest grossing domestic release in history.After weeks of speculation over whether or not Peter Parker had the legs to bump the people of Pandora from bronze, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” collected the remaining $1 million on Monday to push “Avatar” — and its mighty $760.5 million at the North American box office — to fourth place in the record books.Sony’s latest Spidey adventure, a culmination to Tom Holland’s web-slinging trilogy, has grossed a stunning $760.9 million at the domestic box office since launching exclusively in theaters in December. Those ticket sales are three times as much as the next highest-grossing movie of the pandemic era, which is Disney and Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” with $224 million.

According to early industry estimates this morning, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home has beat the $760.5M take of James Cameron’s 2009 sci-fi spectacle Avatar to become the third highest grossing movie at the domestic box office with an estimated running total of $760.9M. This feat comes after a solid $1.6M Valentine’s Day haul for the Jon Watts-directed, Tom Holland-Zendaya-Benedict Cumberbatch starring movie at 3,300 theaters. Sony has yet to make the record official this morning.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” passed $500 million in total sales and remained unchallenged atop the mainland Chinese box office over the latest weekend.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed no positional change among the top five films on a weekend that came a week after the Chinese New Year holiday wound down. Bona’s “Lake Changjin II” earned $43.5 million over the Friday to Sunday weekend, ahead of comedy “Too Cool to Kill” with $37.3 million over the same three days. In third place over the weekend was drama “Nice View” with $21.6 million and animation “Boonie Bears: Back to Earth” with $14.0 million.

Agatha Christie screen adaptation, starring Gal Gadot, grossed $5.1 million on its opening night, according to IMDB’s Box Office Mojo database.Another Friday-night premier, JLo romantic comedy “Marry Me,” took second with $3 million in ticket sales.In third was ball-busting reboot “Jackass Forever,” which grossed $2.9 million on Friday night and $32.2 million cumulatively.

Films from Belfast to Drive My Car, from The Worst Person In The World to Nightmare Alley saw ticket sales pop after Academy Award nominations and as distributors kick into high gear for this weekend and beyond, juggling theater counts and ramped up media campaigns that now have a shiny new imprimatur.

Just as President Biden’s top medical adviser Anthony Fauci is declaring that the U.S. is exiting “the full-blown pandemic phase” of Covid, three studios are hoping to lure out adult audiences, largely women who’ve been slow to return to cinemas.

Those theatrical motion picture studios earning Oscar Best Picture nominations today will put their best foot forward at the box office, and increase the cinema footprint of their contenders in an effort to capitalize on their success and raise the pics’ profiles.

Neon’s racked up a few bests this weekend with a cume of $135,042 at four NY/LA theaters for a popping per screen average of $33,768.

The UK’s high-end TV (HETV) and film industries have defied the Covid odds and are back, pulling off a record year in 2021 as they delivered a massive £5.6B ($7.6BN) of production spend.

The deep, familial drama of the Gorgas and Giudices continues to rage on! This season, on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, things are heating up between Gia Giudice, 21, and her uncle, Joe Gorga, 42, In a preview for next week’s episode, Gia takes Joe to task during her mom Teresa Giudice‘s summer kick-off party, slamming him for calling out her father, Joe Giudice, 49, over the years (and definitely last season).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” passed the $200 million landmark at the China box office at midday local time on Thursday, the film’s third day of release. Data from Alibaba’s Beacon data tracking service showed the film lying comfortably on top of the mainland Chinese box office chart with RMB166 million (26.1 million) earned on the third morning of the Lunar New Year holidays.

“Rifkin’s Festival” is bombing at the box office.The comedy flick starring Gina Gershon and Wallace Shawn has the lowest opening of the 86-year-old filmmaker’s long career, which tanked after he was accused of molesting his his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.“Rifkin’s Festival” is Allen’s 49th film to date and only made $24,000 on Friday and Saturday from 26 theaters, according to the Wrap. Landmark Theaters owns many of the cinemas that the movie is being screened at.

After two weekends without any major studio wide releases amid fears of Omicron, Paramount and Lionsgate will try to lure moviegoers back with respectively Jackass Forever and AGC Studio’s Moonfall. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“The Battle at Lake Changjin II” lived up to its blockbuster billing with a more than $75 million box office haul by lunchtime on Tuesday, its opening day in mainland Chinese theaters.The film, aka “Watergate Bridge” had grossed RMB487 million ($76.5 million) by 1.30 pm, according to online ticketing agency Maoyan and Alibaba’s Beacon data service. At this pace a $100 million opening day is possible.State media has forecast that the film may propel the Chinese New Year (aka Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival) week to over $1 billion and that the 149-minute film could eventually become the highest-grossing film of all time in China.To do that, it would have to surpass “The Battle at Lake Changjin” which was released on Oct.

After being forced to sit out the annually lucrative Chinese New Year period as the Covid crisis was just beginning in 2020, Chinese box office blasted to an all-time high during the comparable 2021 session. This week, the Year of the Tiger will be ushered in beginning February 1 with eight movies poised to potentially set new records. Projections are in the RMB 7B-8B+ range ($1.1B-$1.26B). Last year in the world’s biggest box office market, the week-long holiday reached RMB 7.8B ($1.2B at historical rates).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is the box office juggernaut that can’t be caught.The comic book adventure, starring Tom Holland as Marvel’s favorite teen web-slinger, opened in theaters in December and spent every weekend except one as the top movie at the domestic box office. This weekend proved to be no exception. Now in its seventh weekend of release, “No Way Home” has again secured the No.