Spidey Star Tom Holland Does Double Duty As ‘Uncharted’ Takes The Top Spot With $51 Million Over President’s Day Weekend
It’s official: the winter belongs to Tom Holland, the rest of us are just living in it. A mere ten weeks after the blockbuster launch of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the 25-year-old British actor (or should we now say “star”?) returned to the top of the box-office chart with his second out-of-the-gate smash of the season—the Indiana Jones-esque videogame adaptation Uncharted, which debuted over President’s Day weekend to a projected $51 million after Monday is factored in. Meanwhile, just a notch below in second place, Channing Tatum’s feel-good man-and-his-best-friend road movie, Dog, sunk its canines into an $18 million opening holiday frame while the less-cuddly four-legged flick, The Cursed, barely managed to nose its way into the top ten with a $1.9 million bow.

A prequel of sorts to Sony’s hit treasure-hunting videogame series, Uncharted was always expected to open in first place. Still, few expected the margin of victory to be quite as large as it was. The fact that it will surpass $50 million by the time the four-day holiday weekend is over seems to be a testament to both the loyalty of the game’s young male fanbase as well as Holland’s newly-minted drawing power in the wake of No Way Home. Pulling in a hair less than $44.2 million between Friday and Sunday, the PG-13-rated action-adventure now has the biggest domestic debut of 2022, blowing past Scream’s $30 million freshman frame a month a half ago. While critics were less than wowed by Uncharted (which also stars Mark Wahlberg), dismissing it as a National Treasure knock-off and giving it an anemic 39% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences were clearly more smitten, handing the film a ‘B+’ CinemaScore grade. Unspooling in 4,275 theaters, Uncharted had an $11,929 per-screen average and stands to collect $88 million overseas by the time the weekend is through (it debuted a week earlier in several foreign markets), putting its worldwide box-office total at $139 million. Unlike Holland’s latest Spider-Man entry, Uncharted is scheduled to be released in China (on March 14), which should goose its global numbers nicely.

In second place, Channing Tatum’s Dog was anything but a dog. The heartwarming dramatic comedy about an army ranger who travels cross-country with a military canine to attend the funeral of its former handler marked the actor’s first starring role since 2017. Tatum also directed the film along with Reid Carolin. Distributed by United Artists, the PG-13-rated film grossed $15.1 million between Friday and Sunday and is expected to take in a little less than $18.1 once the Monday holiday is accounted for. Both critics and audiences agreed that the movie hit the sweet spot (76% on Rotten Tomatoes; ‘A-‘ CinemaScore) as it scored a $4,908 per-screen average in 3,677 theaters. Dog has not been unleashed yet overseas.

Landing in third was Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home with just under $7.7 million between Friday and Monday and an estimated $8.8 million by the end of Monday—a bounce of +1.7% from the previous frame. In its tenth week in multiplexes, the PG-13-rated sensation lassoed a $2,977 per-screen average at 2,956 locations. The film’s domestic total is now $771.7 million. Last Monday, it passed 2009’s Avatar in the Hollywood record books, becoming the third-highest grossing film of all time at the domestic box office. Internationally, No Way Home has piled up an eye-popping $1.06 billion so far, putting its worldwide cumulative haul at $1.83 billion.

Finishing in fourth place was last week’s champ, 20th Century Studios’ Death on the Nile with $6.3 million between Friday and Monday and a projected $7.2 million once Monday is factored in. Kenneth Branagh’s follow-up to 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express fell -51.5% from its opening weekend and had a $2,191 per-screen average in 3,280 theaters in its sophomore session. The PG-13-rated whodunit, which also stars Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer and Annette Bening has racked up $25.9 million in North America to date and an additional $49.9 million internationally, putting its two-week worldwide cume at $75.8 million.

Rounding out the top five was Paramount’s Jackass Forever with $5.2 million between Friday and Sunday and a projected $6.2 million for the long holiday weekend. The latest R-rated collection of masochism and male camaraderie led by Johnny Knoxville slipped -35.3% from the previous weekend, scoring a $2,018 per-screen average in 3,071 theaters. The film, which cost a bargain-basement $10 million to produce, has now taken in $47.7 million domestically and another $13.3 million from overseas, putting its current worldwide haul at $61 million.

The only other major new release of the weekend was LD Entertainment’s werewolf movie The Cursed, which debuted in tenth place with $1.7 million between Friday and Sunday and a projected $1.9 million by the close of Monday. The indie chiller about a village in 19th century France that is terrorized by a werewolf unspooled in 1,687 theaters and nabbed a $1,155 per-screen average. Perhaps even scarier, however, was the fact that both Jennifer Lopez and Liam Neeson’s new films dropped out of the top five in just their second weeks of release, with J.Lo’s Marry Me slipping to sixth and Neeson’s Blacklight nosediving to ninth.