‘Spider-Man’ Bumps Off ‘Scream’, Retakes Top Spot At Box Office With $14.1 Million Haul
He’s back…and it didn’t take very long for his return either. A week after getting bumped from the top spot at the domestic box office by the latest Scream installment, Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home retook first place in its sixth weekend in theaters, racking up $14.1 million in receipts. Not bad for a movie that’s already been around for a month and a half. Meanwhile, there were two new wide releases over the weekend…not that anyone would notice. Universal’s faith-based romance, Redeeming Love, snuck into fourth place with a $3.7 million debut while the mothball-scented historical fantasy, The King’s Daughter, was finally unspooled after sitting on the shelf for seven years and proceeded to belly-flop into eighth place.

After letting another movie see what a first-place opening feels like, Spider-Man: No Way Home resumed its reign as the number one film in North America after retaking its crown from Paramount’s Scream. In its sixth week of release, the PG-13-rated blockbuster slipped -29.7% from the previous session and earned a $3,812 per-screen average at 3,705 locations. Spidey’s domestic box-office total now stands at $721 million, which puts it in fourth place on the list of the highest-grossing domestic releases of all time. The three films still ahead of it are 2009’s Avatar ($760.5 million), 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($858.4 million), and 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII --The Force Awakens ($936.7 million). Also, with its $1.69 billion in worldwide ticket sales, the Tom Holland-led superhero epic has become the sixth-highest grosser of all time globally.

In the runner-up spot was last week’s top dog, Scream, which scared up $12.4 million in its sophomore frame—a -58.7% drop-off from its opening weekend. The R-rated sequel (or “requel” as the filmmakers want you to call it) starring franchise OGs Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette, scored a $3,382 per-screen average in 3,666 theaters. Its total domestic haul after two weeks is $51.3 million, which already far outstrips the $38.2 million that the previous installment, Scream 4, made during its entire domestic run back in 2011. The latest chapter has also racked up an additional $33.6 overseas, which places its current worldwide total at $84.9. Pretty decent numbers for a franchise that many thought was dead and buried for good.

In third place was Universal’s Sing 2 with $5.7 million. The PG-rated sequel fell -28.5% from the prior weekend. Scoring a $1,662 per-screen average in 3,434 theaters, the animated musical featuring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Matthew McConaughey, and Bono has collected $128.4 million to date domestically. Sing 2 has tacked on $112.8 million internationally so far, bringing its five-week global total to $241.2 million, which now makes it the highest-grossing animated movie of the pandemic era after surpassing The Croods: A New Age’s $215.9 million.

Finishing in fourth was the weekend’s top newcomer: Universal’s under-the-radar romantic drama, Redeeming Love, with $3.7 million. Adapted from Francine Rivers’ 1991 bestselling book, the film stars Abigail Cowen as a prostitute who falls in love with Tom Lewis’ man of faith during the time of the California gold rush. While critics gave the film a chorus of raspberries and an 11% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie’s audience was far kinder, awarding it a ‘B+’ grade from CinemaScore. The PG-13-rated rookie earned a $1,949 per-screen average at 1,903 locations. It has not opened yet internationally.

Rounding out the top five was 20th Century Studios’ The King’s Man, which is miraculously still hanging around after five weeks, pulling in $1.8 million over the weekend. The R-rated action franchise’s origin story starring Ralph Fiennes slipped -19.7% from the previous frame and earned a $753 per-screen average in 2,360 theaters. The King’s Man’s domestic box-office total now sits at $31.5 million, but its biggest audience has been overseas, where it has scored $73.8 million, putting its cumulative global tally at $105.3 million.

Of note outside of the top five was the dismal (and belated) arrival of Gravitas Ventures’ fantasy-adventure The King’s Daughter, which scraped up just $750,000 over its opening weekend. The PG-rated film, which stars Pierce Brosnan as Louis XIV, struggled out of the box with a grim $345 per-screen average in 2,170 theaters. The movie, which original studio Paramount had scheduled for release way back in 2015 only to let it gather dust on its shelves, was picked up by Gravitas last year. It has not yet opened internationally.