The first juggernaut appeared at the 2022 box office. After years of promotion and several delays due to COVID-19, The Batman finally hits theaters this weekend. Released by Warner Bros. grossed a whopping $57 million from 4,417 locations on its opening day, although that includes $21.6 million from Thursday previews.
The DC adaptation is expected to open somewhere between $120 million and $130 million over the weekend. With over $50 million already in the bank, Batman is already the biggest weekend opening of 2022, with Sony’s Uncharted in second place with a three-day debut of $44 million. This is yet another demonstration that watching superhero encounters is in a league of its own for cinephiles.
Compared to the franchise’s recent history, that figure is less than the sum of the opening weekends for Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight ($158 million) and The Dark Knight Rises ($160 million), as well as the Zack Snyder crossover. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million) However, Batman is not a sequel to similar films; instead, it’s a complete reboot of the property, with a new cast, a new mood, and a new story. Nolan’s reboot, Batman Begins, opened for $48 million in 2005, a figure Batman Begins more than doubled.
Big-budget plays (and especially comic book adaptations) can tend to be box office trailblazers, and The Batman should be no exception. More than a third of the opening day gross came from Thursday night previews. However, Warner Bros. hopes DC’s adaptation lasts longer due to positive reception.
The dark take on the superhero received very positive reviews, with Peter Debruge of Variety calling it a Critics’ Choice and writing that “the grounded, often violent, and nearly three-hour film noir ranks as one of the best in the genre, even if—or more.” aptly, because what makes the film so great is its willingness to dissect and question the very concept of superheroes.” Audiences are also extremely receptive, with the film scoring an “A-” CinemaScore, indicating strong approval from ticket buyers.
In The Batman, Robert Pattinson became the seventh actor to wear the Caped Crusader Hood in a live-action film. The film also stars Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as the Riddler, Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth and Colin Farrell as the Penguin. Production under Matt Reeves was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the production budget exceeded $200 million. The Batman will need to attract large numbers of viewers both domestically and internationally to be the start of another franchise for Warner Bros.
Other studios have left Warner Bros. By the way, this weekend, as well as other novelties of wide release, there was no box office. The rest of the top five at the box office in the country were leftovers.
Sony’s video game adaptation of “Uncharted” looks set to take second place with a gross of $12.4 million in its third weekend. Tom Holland’s car is set to earn $100 million domestically after Sunday, an achievement only shared by Batman from the 2022 releases.
The MGM road movie “Dog” continues to bring in a solid income. On Friday, Channing Tatum’s car added $1.6 million, down 35% from a week ago. The film should increase its domestic gross to $40 million over the weekend – it looks like a finish above $50 million is a possibility. It’s a notable win for a $15 million stellar drama.
Despite superhero competition, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Home is still in the top five at the box office almost three months after its debut. The MCU monster looks set to make $4.7 million in its twelfth weekend, down just 18% from the previous time. No Way Home will make a whopping $786 million in domestic gross after Sunday as the film nears a potential finale of over $800 million.
Disney and 20th Century Studios’ Death on the Nile should complete the top five with a projected three-day haul of $2.85 million. After a disappointing $12.8 million domestic discovery, Detective Kenneth Branagh received several mercy deductions. The release should now end above $40 million. That’s a long way off the announced $90 million production budget, though international box office will support Death on the Nile even more.
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