Box-Office Weekend: Spider-Man Claims Crown

The latest addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: No Way Home debuted on top of the box-office weekend, obliterating the second-place film by an astounding $246.5 million, and making it the highest grossing film (domestically) of the year, just ahead of another Marvel film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ($224.5 million).

Star Tom Holland and Spider-Man: No Way Home enjoyed a $253 million opening weekend, eclipsing second-place Encanto, which amassed only $6.5 million over the weekend. Despite falling to Spidey, Encanto still sports a four-week total of $81.5 million. Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg’s vision of West Side Story not only gave up the top spot to Spider-Man: No Way Home, but also tumbled to third, with $3.41 million. The film now claims a two-week total of $18 million and is looking as though it may have a harder time recouping its costs than most had predicted. Also falling a spot this weekend was Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which finished in fourth place, just behind West Side Story, with $3.40 million. The reboot/sequel now sports a five-week total of $117.2 million. The weekend’s second debut – Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley – finished in fifth place with $3 million to show for its opening weekend.

Dropping two spots to finish in sixth place with $1.9 million was House of Gucci, which now lays claim to a four-week total of $44.9 million. Surprisingly debuting in the seventh spot of this weekend’s top ten was the Indian film Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1, which now has $1.3 million to show for its first weekend of release. Meanwhile, Marvel’s Eternals dropped three spots to finish in eighth place with $1.2 million. In its seventh week, the film has now taken in a total of $163.6 million at the box office. Falling two spots, to land in the ninth spot of this week’s top ten, was Clifford the Big Red Dog, which added $400,000 over the weekend to give the family-friendly film a six-week total of $48.6 million. Finally, the latest film in the long-running “Resident Evil” series, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, dropped from sixth to tenth this weekend bringing in only $280,000. Despite the fall, the film still claims a six-week total of $16.7 million.

A total of three films were run out of the top ten this weekend. After amassing $13.7 million over three weeks in release, the holiday-themed Christmas with the Chosen: The Messengers chose to take leave of the weekend box-office. The science-fiction epic Dune: Part One, added a mere $235,000 to lift its nine-week total to $106.9 million as it also took its leave of the top ten over the weekend. Finally, the top-ten mainstay Venom: Let There Be Carnage finished just behind Dune making a mere $220,000 over the weekend. This gives the film a twelve-week tally of $212.4 million, making it the third most profitable film of 2021, domestically speaking at least. The upcoming elongated holiday weekend will see another influx of new films as several sequels (among other films) arrive in theaters: including Sing 2, The King’s Man, and The Matrix Resurrections. So, until after the holiday weekend, merry Christmas to everyone and enjoy whatever movies you may take in over the next seven days.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com

An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

@miketyrkus

Mike Tyrkus

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