“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” has become by far Sony Pictures Animation’s biggest box office hit ever, earning $51.7 million on its opening day from 4,313 theaters and is now tracking for an estimated $113 million-plus opening weekend, more than triple the $35 million launch of its 2018 predecessor, “Into the Spider-Verse”
Before release, “Across the Spider-Verse” had been projected for an $80 million-plus opening, but that got thrown out of the window and into an interdimensional portal when the film earned $17.3 million from Thursday previews, the second highest ever total for an animated film.
Not only is “Across the Spider-Verse” lapping the opening weekend of its predecessor, it is earning more than double Sony Animation’s opening weekend record, which was a mere $48.4 million earned by “Hotel Transylvania” in 2015. Given the film’s extremely strong word of mouth, with an A on CinemaScore and Rotten Tomatoes scores of 95% critics and 97% audience, it would not be surprising to see opening estimates climb even higher to $125 million-plus thanks to a surge in Saturday and Sunday matinee walk-up ticket sales.
In second is Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which is earning a respectable hold with its female-skewing core audience and is pacing for an industry estimated $41 million second weekend.
That result equates to a decent 57% drop from the film’s $118 million 3-day opening weekend and would give it a $186 million domestic 10-day total, roughly on pace with the domestic run of Disney’s 2019 “Aladdin” remake. But that might not be enough to make a substantial theatrical profit as “Little Mermaid” struggled in its opening weekend overseas with a mere $68 million launch. International numbers will be released Sunday morning.
Disney also released the Stephen King horror adaptation “The Boogeyman” through 20th Century Studios this weekend, and it earned $4.8 million from 3,205 theaters. Industry estimates have the film earning an $11 million opening weekend, below projections for a $15 million launch against its reported $35 million budget.
Directed by Rob Savage, “The Boogeyman” was initially set for release on Hulu but was moved by Disney/20th Century to a theatrical release. Reception for the film has been mildly positive with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 60% critics and 65% audience to go with a B- on CinemaScore.
Finally, Universal’s “Fast X” continues to plummet in its third weekend, taking another 60%+ drop to $9 million and a domestic estimated total of $126 million, 11% behind the pace of “F9.” The film has even fallen below the fifth weekend of Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” which has earned $10 million to bring its domestic total to $322 million.
