Box Office Report: ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse Impresses With Dominant Debut

Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.

Weekend Box Office Report: June 2nd - June 4th, 2023

Sony's Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse had an impressive first place debut at the domestic box office this weekend with an estimated $120.50 million. That was 3.41 times larger than the $35.36 million opening weekend of 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and already represents 63.3 percent of the $190.24 million total domestic gross of Into the Spider-Verse. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse registered the second largest opening weekend of 2023 to date (behind only The Super Mario Bros. Movie), the third largest opening weekend ever for Sony (behind only 2021's Spider-Man: No Way Home and 2007's Spider-Man 3) and the seventh largest opening weekend ever for an animated film. Also of note is that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is estimated to open just ahead of the $118.41 million debut of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 last month. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson and features the vocal talent of Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Vélez, Jake Johnson and Jason Schwartzman.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse started out with $51.85 million on Friday (including an estimated $17.35 million from Thursday preview shows that began early at 2PM), declined 27.9 percent on Saturday to gross $37.40 million and is estimated to decrease just 16.8 percent on Sunday for $31.13 million. As the first sequel to the well-received Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was clearly one of this summer's more anticipated films. In going from a pre-Christmas opening for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, to a prime summer release date for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, there was no doubt that Across the Spider-Verse would open far larger than Into the Spider-Verse did. And like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is also going over especially well with critics and audiences alike. On Rotten Tomatoes, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse currently has a 95 percent Tomatometer score and a 96 percent Verified Audience Score. Given the size of the film's debut and the initial reception to the film; Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse has an excellent chance of eventually becoming this summer's highest grossing film domestically.

Internationally, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse started out with an estimated $88.1 million from 59 international markets. That places the film's global launch at a spectacular $208.6 million, which already represents 54.3 percent of the $384.3 million total global take of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Estimated international debuts for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse by international market this weekend included $17.3 million in China, $11.6 million in Mexico, $11.5 million in the United Kingdom, $5.3 million in Australia, $3.7 million in Brazil, $3.7 million in France, $2.8 million in India, $2.7 million Italy, $2.5 million in Spain, $2.1 million in Germany and $1.7 million in Indonesia. Later this month Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will open in Japan on Friday, June 16 and in South Korea on Wednesday, June 21.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse grossed an estimated $20.0 million from global IMAX screens this weekend. The film grossed an estimated $13.5 million from domestic IMAX screens and an estimated $6.5 million from international IMAX screens (including $2.7 million from China). Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse registered the second largest global IMAX debut ever for animated film (behind only The Super Mario Bros. Movie).

Disney's The Little Mermaid placed in second this weekend with an estimated $40.60 million. That was down a sharp, but understandable 57.5 percent from last weekend's three-day start. Back in 2019, Disney's reimagining of Aladdin declined 53.2 percent in its second weekend to gross $42.84 million (and that was while dealing with new competition which overall wasn't as strong as the new competition The Little Mermaid dealt with this weekend). With a ten-day domestic start of $186.21 million, The Little Mermaid is quickly approaching the $200 million domestic mark. The ten-day start for The Little Mermaid is just ahead of the $185.54 million ten-day gross for Aladdin. With the film's second weekend decline now out of the way (which included The Little Mermaid losing its IMAX showtimes to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse), The Little Mermaid will have a good chance of starting to stabilize next weekend.

Internationally, The Little Mermaid grossed an estimated $42.3 million this weekend from 52 international markets. The Little Mermaid held up much better internationally this weekend than it did domestically, as the film's international grosses over the weekend were down just 34 percent from last weekend's three-day grosses. It is especially important for vThe Little Mermaid to continue to hold up well internationally, given the expensive price-tag of the film. Respective totals for The Little Mermaid stand at $140.5 million internationally and at $326.7 million globally. Estimated totals for The Little Mermaid by international market through Sunday include $20.0 million in the United Kingdom, $14.5 million in Mexico, $9.2 million in Italy, $8.5 million in Brazil, $7.4 million in Australia, $7.4 million in France, $6.8 million in Spain, $6.0 million in Germany, $4.4 million in the Philippines, $4.4 million in South Korea, $4.1 million in Indonesia and $3.9 million in Argentina.

Disney / 20th Century's The Boogeyman debuted in third place this weekend with an estimated $12.30 million. The PG-13 rated horror film performed in line with consensus expectations heading into the weekend. While PG-13 rated horror films are often good candidates for break-out performances, at the end of the day The Boogeyman had too much competition to deal with from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and The Little Mermaid (especially among the under 25 crowd). Furthermore, The Boogeyman was also a bit more expensive than usual for a non-franchise horror film. On a positive note, The Boogeyman held up fairly well for a horror film as the weekend went on, as the film had an opening weekend to Friday ratio of 2.56 to 1 after starting out with $4.80 million on Friday (which included an estimated $1.1 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 7PM and select Wednesday early access shows). On the average, critical reviews for The Boogeyman have been mixed, though they have been a bit more positive than negative. The Boogeyman looks to be going over fairly similarly with audiences given the film's modest B- rating on CinemaScore. With only one new wide release next weekend in the form of Paramount's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, The Boogeyman should have a decent chance of having a nice second weekend hold. The Boogeyman, which is based on a short story by Stephen King, was directed by Rob Savage and stars Sophie Thatcher, Chris Messina, Vivien Lyra Blair, and David Dastmalchian.

Internationally, The Boogeyman started out with an estimated $7.7 million this weekend from 47 international markets. That places the film's global launch at $20.0 million. Debuts for The Boogeyman by international market this weekend included $0.8 million in Mexico, $0.6 million in France, $0.6 million in the United Kingdom, $0.4 million in Australia, $0.4 million in Germany, $0.4 million in Italy and $0.4 million in Spain.

Disney and Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 took fourth with an estimated $10.20 million. While Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has been holding up quite well for a comic book based sequel, the film did decline a sizable 51.0 percent this weekend in the face of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. In the bigger picture, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 has grossed an estimated $322.71 million through 31 days, which gives the film a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 2.73 to 1. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is running 9.2 percent behind the $355.58 million 31-day gross of 2017's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (which declined 52.9 percent in its fifth weekend to gross $9.84 million). Internationally, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 grossed an estimated $12.4 million this weekend from 52 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $457.4 million and current global haul to $780.1 million.

Universal's Fast X rounded out the weekend's top five with an estimated $9.24 million. Fast X declined a sharp 59.9 percent from last weekend, as the latest installment of the Fast & Furious franchise has yet to stabilize domestically. With a 17-day take of $128.47 million, Fast X is running 9.5 percent behind the $141.88 million 17-day gross of 2021's F9 (which decreased 50.3 percent in its third weekend to gross $11.44 million). Fast X continues to perform far stronger internationally, as the film grossed an estimated $41.4 million from 84 international markets this weekend. This weekend saw Fast X pass the $600 million global mark. Respective totals for Fast X stand at $474.8 million internationally and at $603.3 million globally.

On the platform front, A24's Past Lives was off to an impressive start this weekend with an estimated $232,236 from 4 locations in New York and Los Angeles. That gave the film a strong per-location average of $58,067 for the frame. Critical reviews have been especially strong for the Celine Song directed film starring Greta Lee, Teo Yoo and John Magaro. Past Lives will be expanding to additional cities over the next few weeks, before receiving a nationwide expansion on Friday, June 23.

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