411 Box Office Report: The Batman Blasts Off to Hefty $128 Million Debut

To no one’s surprise, The Batman dominated the box office in its opening weekend with a $128.5 million tally. The Matt Reeves-directed take on the iconic superhero outperformed most expectations to tally the best opening of 2022, and Warner Bros.’ best domestic opening since Suicide Squad started with $133.7 million all the way back in August of 2016.

The film exceeded most predictions heading into the weekend. There were some places pegging this film at an opening of $150 million, but let’s be realistic: that was never going to happen. The Batman is an incredibly dark film that didn’t have any sense of family appeal to its marketing, and just as importantly it’s a three-hour film which means far less potential screenings throughout the weekend than a two-hour or even 2.5-hour film would have. Warner Bros. is going to be very happy with this result, especially with a $120 international take that brings it to $248.5 million worldwide thus far.

This film had a lot of things going for it coming into the weekend. For one, it’s dominated the discussion of anticipated films for the first part of the year thanks to a canny marketing job by Warner Bros. that sold this as a darker and more brutal Batman movie than we’ve previously seen. When the critical buzz began rolling in (as evidenced by the 85% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes), analysts began raising their predictions from the initial $100 million to $110 million takes.

Then perhaps the bigger surprise came in when it became beloved by audiences. The A- CinemaScore matches up well with a 90% audience score on RT and PostTrak’s 87% positive. While audiences do love a quality picture, the surprise is in that audiences don’t always love dark, gritty tales or the mixing of superhero genre with elements like neo-noir. But in this case, it worked, and that helped the film perform throughout the weekend.

Where the movie goes from here is tough to say. Even with the positive audience scores, it’s a big ask to have people do return business for a three-hour movie that isn’t Avengers: Endgame. That said, it has a free schedule to devastate throughout the month of March, only finding direct competition when Morbius opens on April 1st. it’s hard to imagine that this film doesn’t gross at least $300 million domestically, and probably more than that overseas. This is a hit, and don’t be surprised when a franchise follows.

Uncharted made way for the Bat at the top spot, slipping an entirely expected 52% in its third weekend to $11 million. The Tom Holland-starring video game adaptation has raked in $100.3 million domestically and $271.6 million worldwide, both fantastic numbers thus far against its $120 million production budget plus marketing. $125 million still looks to be its domestic total once it winds down.

Channing Tatum’s animal road-trip drama had a decent hold in its third weekend, down 40% to $6 million. The drama is quite the hit for its nature, having grossed $40 million domestically and $44.9 million worldwide against a $15 million budget. It seems likely to get near or at $55 million by the end of its run.

Spider-Man: No Way Home, continues its massive run by dropping just a single place in its 12 weekends, taking in $4.4 million. The Sony/MCU film has now grossed $786.5 million domestically and $1.866 billion worldwide. It is looking likely to pass the $800 million domestic threshold before it exits theaters. The budget was $200 million.

Death On the Nile ticked down by 39% in its fourth weekend, scoring another $2.7 million to bring its totals to $37.1 million domestically and $105.5 million worldwide. The film is still looking like a money loser due to the $90 million budget and should end its run stateside at around $42 million.

Sing 2 was off 33% in its 11th weekend to $1.5 million. The animated sequel stands at $153.6 million domestically and $360.2 million worldwide and should be able to end its run at around $157 million in the US. The budget was $85 million.

Jackass Forever brought in $1.4 million, down 57% from the last weekend’s tally. The comedy is now at $54.5 million domestically and $71.7 million worldwide, making it a big hit against a budget of $10 million. The film should close out with about $57 million by the end of its domestic box office run.

Cyrano was up a spot to #8 in its second weekend, even as it slipped 51% to $683,000. The Peter Dinklage-starring musical drama is at $2.6 million domestically and $3.6 million worldwide, a money loser against its $30 million budget. It should close out in the US at around $5 million.

Hindi-language crime drama Gangubai Kathiawadi debuted in the top 10, nailing down $592,000. The Indian film has added $1 million overseas and will slip out of the top 10 quickly, but is just another example of Indian cinema scoring in the US in the last several years.

Scream spent another weekend at #10, scoring up $570,000 despite being now available on Digital. The slasher sequel has grossed $80.2 million domestically and $138.6 million globally against a budget of just $24 million. The movie should close at around $82 million domestically.

Next weekend will see The Batman continue to reign. The only major wide release is the horror film Umma starring Sandra Oh, which should get off to a pretty mild start.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. The Batman – $128.5 million ($128.5 million total, $248.5 million WW)
2. Uncharted – $11 million ($100.3 million total, $271.6 million WW)
3. Dog – $6 million ($40 million total, $44.9 million WW)
4. Spider-Man: No Way Home – $4.4 million ($786.5 million total, $1.866 billion WW)
5. Death On the Nile – $2.7 million ($37.1 million total, $105.5 million total)
6. Sing 2 – $1.5 million ($153.6 million total, $360.2 million WW)
7. Jackass Forever – $1.4 million ($54.5 million total, $71.7 million WW)
8. Cyrano – $683,000 ($2.6 million total, $3.6 million WW)
9. Gangubai Kathiawadi – $592,000 ($592,000 total, $1.6 million WW)
10. Scream – $570,000 ($80.2 million total, $138.6 million WW)