Warner Bros.' release is the largest domestic opening for a family film since the start of the pandemic
By Lindsey Bahr, AP Film Writer
"Black Widow" ceded its No. 1 spot to an unlikely foe in its second week in theaters: The Tune Squad.
LeBron James, Bugs Bunny and the rest of the stars of Warner Bros.' "Space Jam: A New Legacy" defied expectations and won the box office this weekend. According to studio estimates Sunday, "Space Jam: A New Legacy" grossed $31.7 million in North America, while "Black Widow" took in $26.3 million.
Not many expected "Space Jam: A New Legacy" to pull off this win. The poorly reviewed film was pegged for an opening in the $20 million range. But a sizable number of families and millennials who grew up with the original "Space Jam" left the house and went to a theater to see it, even though it's currently streaming on HBO Max free for subscribers. Not only that, audiences also gave the film a promising A- CinemaScore, suggesting word of mouth could be strong.
"Space Jam: A New Legacy" is the largest pandemic opening for Warner Bros., which is significant since the studio in 2021 is releasing all its films simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max.
It's also the largest domestic opening for a family film since the beginning of the pandemic. Warner Bros. said 32% of the audience was under 18, which is larger than usual. Most of the major family films that have come out during the pandemic — from "The Boss Baby: Family Business" to "Raya and the Last Dragon" — have opened well under $20 million. But audiences of all ages turned out for the new "Space Jam."
"It shows that families have waited for a movie that everyone can go to and that's this movie," said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros.' head of domestic distribution. "It's just a fun movie for the family."
"Black Widow," meanwhile fell 67% in its second weekend, which, although steep, is also fairly normal for superhero films, which tend to have frontloaded audiences. Internationally, the Scarlett Johansson-led film picked up another $29.9 million, bringing its global grosses to $264 million.
Last weekend, "Black Widow" became the highest grossing film of the pandemic. Disney also surprised many in the industry by revealing its first weekend profits from the movie's streaming rentals. Rental grosses were not provided this week, however.
This weekend also saw the launch of "Escape Room: Tournament of Champions," a sequel to the high-concept 2019 film. Sony is projecting that the film will gross $8.8 million over the weekend, which is actually better than the first film's debut and in line with studio expectations.
"F9" took fourth place with $7.6 million. The "Fast & Furious" film has made $591.2 million globally to date. The fifth and sixth place spots also went to Universal films: "The Boss Baby: Family Business" with $4.7 million and "The Forever Purge," with $4.1 million.
"A Quiet Place Part II," which recently became available on Paramount+, is still doing good numbers into its eighth week in theaters. It added another $2.3 million, bringing its domestic total to $155 million.
The Anthony Bourdain documentary "Roadrunner" also did well this weekend, grossing around $1.9 million from 925 theaters, making it the top grossing specialty debut of the year.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. "Space Jam: A New Legacy," $31.7 million.
2. "Black Widow," $26.3 million.
3. "Escape Room: Tournaments of Champions," $8.8 million.
4. "F9," $7.6 million.
5. "The Boss Baby: The Family Business," $4.7 million.
6. "The Forever Purge," $4.2 million.
7. "A Quiet Place Part II," $2.3 million.
8. "Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain," $1.9 million.
9. "Cruella," $1.1 million.
10. "Pig," $945,000.
Full Lineup Set For AFI Fest; Official Selections Span 44 Countries, Include 9 Best International Feature Oscar Submissions
The American Film Institute (AFI) has unveiled the full lineup for this yearโs AFI Fest, taking place in Los Angeles from October 23-27. Rounding out the slate of already announced titles are such highlights as September 5 directed by Tim Fehlbaum, All We Imagine As Light directed by Payal Kapadia, The Luckiest Man in America directed by Samir Oliveros (AFI Class of 2019), Zurawski v. Texas from executive producers Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence and directors Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, and Oh, Canada directed by Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969). A total of 158 films are set to screen at the 38th edition of AFI Fest.
Of the official selections, 48% are directed by women and non-binary filmmakers and 26% are directed by BIPOC filmmakers.
Additional festival highlights include documentaries Architecton directed by Victor Kossakovsky; Cheech & Chongโs Last Movie directed by David Bushell; Devo directed by Chris Smith about the legendary new wave provocateurs; Gaucho Gaucho directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw; Group Therapy directed by Neil Berkeley with Emmyยฎ winner Neil Patrick Harris and Tig Notaro; No Other Land directed by a Palestinian-Israeli team comprised of Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor and Hamdan Ballal; Pavements directed by Alex Ross Perry; and Separated directed by Errol Morris. Notable narrative titles include Black Dog (Gou Zen) directed by Guan Hu; Bonjour Tristesse directed by Durga Chew-Bose with Academy Awardยฎ nominee Chloรซ Sevigny; Caught By The Tides directed by Jia Zhangke; Hard Truths directed by Mike Leigh with... Read More