411 Box Office Report: Uncharted Powers Way to $51 Million Four-Day Take

Uncharted did very big business at the box office this weekend, storming its way to #1 with a $50 million-plus four-day start. Sony’s adaptation of the video game franchise brought in $44.2 million over three days and a projected $51 million through the President’s Day weekend. That’s a big overperformance for a film that was estimated to do $35 million or so through Sunday, and bests Scream’s $30 million take for the best opening of the year so far.

The film marks quite a success for Sony as well as Tom Holland, who has his first non-Marvel starring hit. Sony marketed the movie largely around Holland, who has been the man of the hour thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home. The strategy worked, as Uncharted survived negative reviews (the Rotten Tomatoes aggregate score stands at 39%) to bring in the audiences. Even better, the film is delivering in a big way internationally as it has added $88 million total since opening last weekend for a $132.2 million worldwide total to date.

Sony had a lot invested in this film, which it saw as a potential franchise had a $120 million production budget plus marketing. A big box office opening was needed to put this film in a position for making profit, and it delivered. The film is a crowd pleaser; despite the low critic score, audiences are clearly enjoying it with a B+ CinemaScore and a 90% audience score on RT. That’s paid off with some strength throughout the weekend, and should help the film as it moves forward.

The box office legs for this one should be pretty standard for blockbuster action films. Uncharted seems destined for around $120 million in the US, though that will depend on a lot. And with the overseas numbers delivering pretty strongly, there’s every likelihood that we’ll see Uncharted 2 moving ahead fairly soon.

Uncharted wasn’t the only film to overperform this weekend either, as Dog took #2 with $15.1 million through Sunday and a projected $18.1 million over four days. Those are big numbers for a film that was looking at around $10 million coming into the weekend. This is also a film that can be attributed to star power (in this case Channing Tatum), but also on a relative lack of family films in multiplexes.

Dog is a road comedy that is performing strongly as counterprogramming to its video game-based competition. The film scored strong numbers with women, who accounted for 55% of the audience, and is older-skewing at 69% over 25 and 47% over 35. Older audiences have been less likely to come out to theaters, but they came out to a certain degree on this one. The positive critical buzz was a nice benefit; Dog’s RT score is a very fresh 80%, and audiences also recommend it with an A- CinemaScore.

Dog is already well on its way to profit, having a production budget of just $15 million. A relative lack of direct competition should allow it to continue to deliver, with a final domestic gross of $50 million to $60 million entirely possible.

Spider-Man: No Way Home refuses to say die even as new films open against it, and it was down a mere 4% in its tenth weekend to $7.2 million over three days (and a projected $8.8 million through Sunday). The MCU film is now the #3 domestic grosser of all-time, with $770.1 million domestically and $1.83 billion worldwide. The domestic run is now likely to end at around $790 million or so.

Death On the Nile slipped an expected 51% in its second weekend, following up its mild start with a $6.3 take through Sunday and $7.2 million through Monday. The Agatha Christie adaptation now has $25 million domestically and $74.9 million worldwide, which are not great numbers for a film that cost $90 million to produce. It should close out stateside at around $40 million, and will not be a money-maker for 20th Century Studios when it’s all said and done.

Jackass Forever brought in $5.2 million through Sunday ($6.2 million through Monday) in its third week, down 35% from the previous frame. The comedy is now at $46.8 million domestically and $56 million worldwide, already a hit against a budget of just $10 million. The film should finish off with about $60 million by the end of its domestic box office run and will be a sizable hit for Paramount Pictures.

Universal Pictures’s romantic comedy Marry Me took a pretty expected hit with a 54% drop in its second weekend with $3.7 million ($4.3 million including Monday). That would be considered a high drop for the Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson film if not for the fact that it’s also available on Peacock, and day-and-date releases typically have bigger second-weekend drops. The film has grossed $16.8 million in the US and $35.9 million worldwide, and despite the drop should be able to make Universal a bit of money considering the budget was only $24 million. This one should finish out at around $25 million domestically.

Sing 2 continues to be the little animated engine that could, easing just 8% in its ninth weekend to $2.8 million ($3.8 million through Monday). The sequel has had great legs throughout its run and stands at $147.4 million domestically and $332.1 million worldwide. The film a sizable hit for Universal Pictures considering the budget of $85 million. Its final domestic take should be around $155 million.

Scream was down 34% in its fifth weekend with $2 million ($2.2 million through Monday). The slasher sequel quite the hit for Paramount and Spyglass with $77 million domestically and $132.2 million globally, with the budget just $24 million. The movie should close at around $83 million domestically.

Liam Neeson’s Blacklight followed up its low start with a standard action film drop, down 49% in its second weekend to $1.8 million ($2.1 million through Monday). The action-thriller, which was already DOA from last week’s opening, remains such with just $7.1 million domestically and $7.3 million worldwide. Considering the $43 million budget this is a pretty huge bomb, and will be unlikely to get much past $12 million in the US.

Coming in at #10 was LD Entertainment’s horror film The Cursed. The werewolf film brought in $1.7 million over three days and $1.9 million over four days, not bad considering the lower-scale release. The Cursed had some challenges to overcome, not the least of which was the generic title and a lower marketing budget. It’s not high-profile enough to capture much attention despite the decent opening, and LD and NEON aren’t likely to increase the film’s theatrical count as it doesn’t have quite enough buzz for something like that. It will likely fade quickly, with a $5 million take its probable endgame.

Uncharted should have zero issue ruling the box office for a second frame next weekend, as the only new releases are in no way competition. United Artists’ buzzy musical drama take on Cyrano is expanding in theaters and shouldn’t do a ton of business, while the Foo Fighters’ horror comedy Studio 666 will also probably open pretty low.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Uncharted – $44.2 million ($44.2 million total, $132.2 million WW)
2. Dog – $15.1 million ($15.1 million total, $15.1 million WW)
3. Spider-Man: No Way Home – $7.2 million ($770.1 million total, $1.83 billion WW)
4. Death On the Nile – $6.3 million ($25 million total, $74.9 million total)
5. Jackass Forever – $5.2 million ($46.8 million total, $56 million WW)
6. Marry Me – $3.7 million ($16.8 million total, $35.9 million WW)
6. Sing 2 – $2.8 million ($147.4 million total, $332.1 million WW)
8. Scream – $2 million ($77 million total, $132.2 million WW)
9. Blacklight – $1.8 million ($7.1 million total, $7.3 million WW)
10. The Cursed – $1.7 million ($1.7 million, $1.7 million WW)