'Spider-Man: No Way Home' Keeps Control Of US Box Office

“Spider-Man: No Way Out” took the top ranking in the U.S. box office chart for the sixth time in seven weeks, with $10.4 million in ticket sales from 3,675 screens.

What Happened: While “Spider-Man: No Way Out” did not have any new major films to swat away at the box office, it had to deal with Saturday’s snowstorm that closed many theaters in the Northeast. Despite Mother Nature’s regional inconvenience, the Sony Pictures SONY release has accumulated $735.2 million from the U.S. box office, putting it within range of surpassing the all-time champion “Avatar” with $760.5 million.

“Scream” from ViacomCBS’ VIAC Paramount Pictures was the second top grossing film with $6.65 million from 3,518 screens. Rounding out the top five releases were the animated “Sing 2” from Comcast Corporation’s CMCSA Universal Pictures with $4.78 million from 3,434 theaters, Universal’s faith-based romantic drama “Redeeming Love” with $1.85 million from 1,963 venues, and the Walt Disney Co.’s DIS “The King’s Man” with $1.6 million from 2,440 screens.

What Happens Next: This coming weekend will see the nationwide release of two new films with the potential of dethroning "Spider-Man" from its box office peak. Epic-focused filmmaker Roland Emmerich returns to the big screen to direct the Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF-A) sci-fi epic “Moonfall,” about an unlikely aerospace team tasked with stopping the moon from colliding with Earth. Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley and Donald Sutherland are among the film’s stars.

Paramount Pictures is bringing back Johnny Knoxville and his knockabout henchman for “Jackass Forever,” the first new film in the zany stunt-comedy franchise since 2010’s “Jackass 3D.” Steve-O, Wee Man and Bam Magera (who was fired during the production) will be joined by guests including Shaquille O’Neal, Machine Gun Kelly and Tony Hawk.

Among the new films playing in limited release is RLJE Films’ crime drama “Last Looks” starring Charlie Hunnam and Mel Gibson, along with Vertical Entertainment’s apocalyptic sci-fi thriller “Last Survivors” with Alicia Silverstone.

Foreign film fans will also get the chance to enjoy two productions that were submitted for this year’s Academy Award for Best International Feature Film: “The Worst Person in the World” from Norway and “Lingui, The Sacred Bonds” from Chad. Also arriving from overseas is “Air Doll” from award-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda, which first played in Japan in 2009 but is only now getting a U.S. theatrical release.

Also Happening: On Thursday, the Producers Guild of America announced the nominations for its 33rd annual awards. Ten films were chosen for the Best Picture honor, and many Hollywood observers are paying close attention because the PGA Best Picture honoree also won the Best Picture Oscar in 22 of the previous 32 years.

The 10 nominees were “Being the Ricardos,” “Belfast,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up,” “Dune,” “King Richard,” “Licorice Pizza,” “The Power of the Dog,” “Tick, Tick…BOOM!” and “West Side Story.”

Conspicuously absent from the list were the box office champ “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the star-studded “House of Gucci” and the Japanese import “Drive My Car,” which won Best Picture awards from several major critics’ organizations. Animated and documentary features have separate categories in the PGA competition, hence the absence of those genres from the mix.

Outside of “Dune” from AT&T’s T Warner Bros., none of the nominees could be considered box office hits – and “King Richard” and “West Side Story” were major commercial disappointments despite extensive marketing for both titles.

Indeed, five of the nominees – “Being the Ricardos,” “CODA,” “Don’t Look Up,” “The Power of the Dog” and “Tick, Tick…BOOM!” – only had very limited theatrical engagements before gaining wider audiences via streaming services; “Dune” and “King Richard” were simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max.

The PGA Awards are scheduled for March 19, and the Academy Award nominations will be announced on Feb. 8.

Photo: Tom Holland in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," courtesy of Sony Pictures.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs
Comments
Loading...
Posted In: NewsAcademy Awardsbox officemoviesProducers Guild of AmericaSpider-Man: No Way Home
Benzinga simplifies the market for smarter investing

Trade confidently with insights and alerts from analyst ratings, free reports and breaking news that affects the stocks you care about.

Join Now: Free!