Weekend Box Office: Kraven craters with an $11 million opening

It’s official: Sony’s Spider-Verse, at least as far as its live-action films go – is DOA. Granted, this won’t come as a surprise to anyone, with Morbius and Madame Web being roundly mocked. However, as far as losses go, Morbius actually eked out a profit, while the Venom trilogy, despite playing to diminishing returns, still made money. Only Madame Web was a flop in the true sense of the word, but now, Kraven the Hunter, which sports a budget in the $110 million range, is a legitimate box office fiasco, only grossing $11 million this weekend for a third-place finish. 

What’s even worse is that the movie scored a deadly C CinemaScore, which suggests toxic word of mouth (even Madame Web scored better with a C +) that’s going to put an end to its box office run, meaning it’s unlikely the holiday bonanza of filmgoers will save this one. If it crosses $40 million domestically, Sony will be lucky (but I wouldn’t bet on it), with the opening far worse than the $15 million we predicted earlier this week.

Otherwise, it was status quo at the box office, with Moana 2 hanging on to the top spot with a $26.6 million gross and a $337 million total – with a $400 million finish well within reach. Interestingly, Wicked wasn’t all that far behind it, with a $22.5 million gross, as the gap begins to narrow between these two films. Repeat business has been good for Wicked, especially with a sing-along version now in theaters, meaning it will likely have a very healthy run at the box office over the holidays. Expect it to hang around the top five long after Moana 2 has dropped out. 

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II has continued to post decent grosses, with a $7.8 million weekend and a $145.9 million gross. The overseas total is about to pass $400 million, with a $500 million well within finish, meaning we might get a Gladiator III after all. 

One big surprise on the charts this weekend was Red One, which came in fifth place with a solid $4.4 million despite now streaming on Prime Video. The $92.6 million total isn’t that far from the century mark, which it should have no trouble passing. Less fortunate was WB, which had a flop with the animated Lord of the Rings: The War of Rohirrim, which crashed and burned with a $5 million opening. Clearly, there was very little appetite to see this animated prequel on the big screen.

Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar re-release continued to excel despite losing many IMAX screens (it only had a one-week run on many), still grossing $3.3 million for the highest per-screen total in the top 10, over $10k.  The Indian-made sequel, Pushpa 2: The Rule, made $1.6 million for a solid $13 million total, while Lionsgate has had a rare hit with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, which added $1.35 million to its $36.6 million total. Finally, the top 10 was rounded out by A24’s Queer, starring Daniel Craig, which expanded beyond arthouses to a semi-wide release. The gross was a relatively weak $791K, for a $1.9 million total, making me think the movie will be lucky to end its run north of $5 million (at best).

Next week, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Mufasa should finally dethrone Moana 2 and Wicked from the top two spots. In the battle between Sonic and Mufasa who do you think willl win? Let us know in the comments!