Box Office Report: ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’ Swings Back To #1 As ‘The Flash’ Nosedives
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Weekend Estimates Update:
As had been expected heading into the frame, it was a close race for first place at the domestic box office this weekend between Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Disney's Elemental. Based on studio estimates; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse took first place with an estimated $19.30 million. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse held up very well this weekend by declining just 28.5 percent from last weekend's three-day frame. In addition to continuing to benefit from strong critical reviews and strong word of mouth, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also benefited this weekend from the lack of new direct competition in the marketplace (and modest amount of new overall competition). This weekend saw Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse surpass the $300 million domestic mark. The 24-day domestic total for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse stands at $317.05 million. That is 5.6 percent ahead of the $300.29 million recently grossed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 through its first 24 days of release.
Internationally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $22.0 million this weekend from 63 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $243.2 million and current global haul to $560.3 million. This weekend saw Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse debut with $3.0 million in South Korea and $1.5 million in Taiwan. Additional estimated totals for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse by international market through Sunday include $46.2 million in China, $29.5 million in the United Kingdom, $25.7 million in Mexico, $16.5 million in Australia, $11.2 million in Brazil, $10.8 million in France, $7.0 million in Germany, $6.9 million in Spain, $6.3 million in Italy and $6.2 million in India.
Disney and Pixar's Elemental placed in a very close second with an estimated $18.46 million. With regard to this weekend's race for first place, through Friday and Saturday, Elemental trailed Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse $12.832 million to $13.175 million. The gap of $0.343 million through Saturday will be difficult for Elemental to make up on Sunday, but not entirely impossible if Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse were to have a softer than expected Sunday hold. As of now, the estimated gap for the two films for the entire weekend is $0.837 million. Regardless, Elemental had a very good second weekend hold, as the well-received computer animated film declined 37.6 percent from last weekend's three-day start. Strong word of mouth, the lack of new direct competition for family audiences, the film being a non-sequel and the film holding onto a high percentage of its showtimes per location from last weekend all contributed to this weekend's strong hold for Elemental. The ten-day domestic total for Elemental stands at $65.51 million. As encouraging as this weekend's hold was for Elemental, it should still be reminded that the film carried a very expensive price-tag, so it will be important for Elemental to continue to hold up well for as long as it can.
Upon opening in 23 additional international markets this weekend (for a total of 40 markets), Elemental also had a promising international performance with an estimated $31.3 million for the weekend. Respective totals for Elemental stand at $55.6 million internationally and at $121.1 million globally. International debuts for Elemental this weekend included $4.6 million in Mexico, $2.7 million in France, $1.9 million in Italy, $1.8 million in Germany, $1.5 million in Brazil and $1.1 million in Indonesia. Additional estimated totals for Elemental by international market through Sunday include $11.1 million in China, $9.6 million in South Korea, $3.1 million in Argentina and $2.2 million in Australia. Elemental also still has a few major markets left to open in: the United Kingdom on July 7, Spain on July 14 and Japan on August 4.
Warner Bros.'s The Flash placed in third with an estimated $15.27 million. That was down a troubling 72.3 percent from last weekend's already softer than expected start. This weekend's poor hold for The Flash didn't really come as a surprise given the film's poor initial daily percentage holds last week, relatively mixed word of mouth among those who have seen the film, a high level of online backlash against the film (a good portion of that coming from moviegoers with no desire to see the film) and that in recent years fellow DCEU films Wonder Woman 1984, The Suicide Squad and Shazam! Fury of the Gods all experienced very sharp second weekend percentage declines in the range of 67.5 percent to 71.5 percent (for various reasons). The Flash did receive a bit of a boost this weekend from continuing to play on IMAX screens, as the film took in an estimated $1.6 million from domestic IMAX screens this weekend (bringing the domestic IMAX total for The Flash to $10.5 million). Through ten days, The Flash has grossed a lackluster $87.64 million domestically. That is in the same neighborhood as past DC Comics based disappointments such as 2011's Green Lantern ($88.99 million through ten days) and 1997's Batman & Robin ($75.21 million through ten days).
Internationally, The Flash grossed an estimated $26.6 million this weekend from 78 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $123.3 million and current global haul to $210.9 million. Estimated totals for The Flash by international market through Sunday include $23.6 million in China, $14.4 million in Mexico, $8.5 million in the United Kingdom, $5.4 million in Brazil, $4.7 million in South Korea, $4.6 million in Australia, $4.4 million in France, $3.9 million in India, $3.8 million in Indonesia, $3.4 million in Taiwan, $3.1 million in Hong Kong and $2.9 million in Japan. The Flash grossed an estimated $2.4 million from international IMAX screens this weekend, which brings the film's international IMAX total to $11.8 million and global IMAX total to $22.3 million.
Following very closely behind in fourth place was Sony's No Hard Feelings with an estimated debut of $15.10 million. The R-rated comedy opened towards the higher end of consensus expectations heading into the weekend. No Hard Feelings was directed by Gene Stupnitsky, and stars Jennifer Lawrence and Andrew Barth Feldman. Obviously, the star power of Lawrence was the film's big draw at the box office. While it had been over five years since the release of the last theatrical Lawrence vehicle; Red Sparrow back in March of 2018, No Hard Feelings was able to open within shouting distance of the $16.85 million start of Red Sparrow.
After starting out with an estimated $6.25 million on Friday (which included an estimated $2.15 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 4PM and earlier select sneak previews the previous Saturday), No Hard Feelings declined 22.0 percent on Saturday to take in $4.88 million and is estimated to decrease 18.5 percent on Sunday to gross $3.98 million. The film's estimated opening weekend to opening day ratio of 2.42 to 1 is respectable, especially given the relative size of the film's preview gross and that No Hard Feelings could prove to be weekday heavy in general going forward. On the average, critical reviews for No Hard Feelings have been mixed, but more so positive than negative. No Hard Feelings looks to be going over a bit better with audiences than it has with critics, as the film currently has an 88 percent Verified Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes. Whether or not No Hard Feelings is able to transfer its initial good word of mouth into strong summer holding power remains to be seen. Internationally, No Hard Feelings started out with an estimated $9.5 million from 48 international markets, including $1.5 million in the United Kingdom, $1.3 million in Australia and $1.1 million in Germany. The film's global launch was $24.6 million.
Paramount's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts began to stabilize this weekend by declining a respectable 43.9 percent to place in fifth with an estimated $11.60 million. With a 17-day domestic total of $122.95 million, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is quickly approaching the $127.20 million final domestic gross of 2018's Bumblebee and the $130.17 million final domestic gross of 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight. Internationally, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts grossed an estimated $25.6 million this weekend from 69 international markets. Respective totals for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts stand at $218.3 million internationally (including $78.1 million from China) and at $341.2 million globally. While Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is having a stronger domestic performance than those of Bumblebee and Transformers: The Last Knight, it should also be noted that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn't performing as strong as those films did internationally (due in part to Transformers: Rise of the Beasts performing significantly softer in China).
On the heels of last weekend's impressive platform launch, Focus's Asteroid City had a very nice expansion into wide release this weekend. The Wes Anderson directed film grossed an estimated $9.00 million from 1,675 locations to place in sixth among all films this weekend. Without taking into account ticket price inflation, Asteroid City delivered the largest single weekend gross ever for Anderson; the director's previous best was the $8.54 million grossed by The Grand Budapest in its fourth frame back in March of 2014 (upon expanding to 977 locations). In addition to benefiting from a larger and faster than usual expansion for a Wes Anderson directed film, Asteroid City likely also received a boost this weekend from its large ensemble cast, which includes Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson and Tom Hanks (among many others).
Asteroid City grossed an estimated $3.82 million on Friday (including an estimated $1.1 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 7PM), declined 22.5 percent on Saturday to gross $2.96 million and is estimated to decline 25.0 percent on Sunday to take in $2.22 million. On the average, critical reviews for Asteroid City have been good, but not great, especially by the usual high critical standards for Anderson. Asteroid City received a respectable B rating on CinemaScore, which suggests that the film is going over similarly with audiences as it has with critics, though on the other hand the film's current 62 percent Verified Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes paints a less promising picture of the film's word of mouth with audiences going forward. Internationally, Asteroid City grossed an estimated $3.9 million this weekend from 35 international markets, including debuts of $1.52 million in the United Kingdom and $0.67 million in France. To date, Asteroid City has grossed $6.5 million internationally, for a global total of $16.7 million.
Disney's The Little Mermaid placed in seventh this weekend with an estimated $8.67 million. The Little Mermaid held up extremely well this weekend by declining only 21.5 percent from last weekend. The 31-day domestic total for The Little Mermaid stands at $270.24 million, which is 6.3 percent behind the $288.55 million 31-day gross of 2019's Aladdin (that film declined 23.5 percent to gross $13.24 million in its fifth frame). Internationally, The Little Mermaid grossed an estimated $9.4 million this weekend from 52 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $229.1 million and the film's global performance to the brink of the $500 million global mark with $499.3 million globally through Sunday.
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