New Releases Won’t Match Up To ‘Spider-Man’ & ‘Scream’ As They Battle For The Top Spot In Rematch
Two new wide releases open this weekend, but we are looking at another weekend dominated byScream and Spider-Man: No Way Home. The face-off between the two franchise films has animated an otherwise quiet January, and while Scream swiftly displaced Spidey from the top spot last weekend with a steady lead at $30 million compared to $20 million, this weekend’s rematch could be a close one. Spider-Man, going into its sixth weekend, has seen drops in recent weeks of around 40%, and another similar drop this weekend would put it around $12 million. That’s right where Scream would be at with a 60% drop, so this weekend’s number one could go in either direction. With no new wide releases slated for next weekend, expect another rematch for the top spot.
Spider-Man’s rapid ascent up the all-time box office chart is slowing down, and having just passed Black Panther’s $700 million domestic cume to become the fourth top grosser ever, it will not be passing any major milestones for at least the next few weeks. While catching up to the two highest domestic grossers Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million) and Avengers: Endgame ($858 million) is a long shot, No Way Home will soon be coming within range of Avatar’s $760 million gross, though time will tell whether it will surpass that or fall short. Worldwide it is number eight with $1.628 billion, and it will soon knock out The Lion King ($1.662 billion) and Jurassic World ($1.670 billion) to become number six. The number five spot, held by Avengers: Infinity War with $2.048 billion, appears out of reach unless it receives a surprise China release, but otherwise No Way Home will hold the title, as it currently does, of the highest grossing film to not release in China.
The new Scream, which is the fifth in the series, is already inching up on Scream 4’s $38 million final gross, and internationally its opening was 23% ahead of the previous installment in like-for-like markets. While this “requel” may not reach the slasher series’ highs (the first two films cracked $100 million domestic and $170 million worldwide), it is a solid rebound for the franchise after it appeared to bleed out with the fourth film 11 years ago.
We can expect the weekend’s most notable wide newcomer Redeeming Love to fall short of those holdovers. The film, directed by D.J. Caruso, adapts the 1991 bestselling book by Francine Rivers who co-wrote the script with the director. The faith-based romantic drama, which is a reinterpretation of the Book of Hosea from the Bible, takes place during the California Gold Rush and tells the story of the relationship between a prostitute (Abigail Cowen) and a religious man (Tom Lewis). Logan Marshall-Green, Famke Janssen, Nina Dobrev, and Eric Dane co-star. The film is new territory for Caruso, best known for action movies and thrillers such as his previous film XXX: Return of Xander Cage. Critics say he hasn’t pulled off the romance, and the film is currently at a dismal 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. Universal is releasing Redeeming Love on 1,800 screens in the U.S. and Canada, and the film was backed by faith based companies Pinnacle Peak Pictures and Mission Pictures International.
Also going wide is Gravitas’ fantasy-adventure film The King's Daughter, based on the acclaimed novel "The Moon and the Sun" by Vonda N. McIntyre. The fairy tale story centers on the search for immortality by French king Louis XIV (played by Pierce Brosnan) who seeks to capture the life force from a mermaid (Fan Bingbing), a plan that is opposed by his illegitimate daughter (Kaya Scodelario). Benjamin Walker, Rachel Griffiths, Pablo Schreiber, and William Hurt co-star, and Julie Andrew narrates. The film is directed by Sean McNamara and has been long in the making. Production wrapped up in 2014 and it was slated for an April 2015 release by Paramount with the title The Moon And The Sun only to be pulled from the calendar just three weeks before it was scheduled to come out.
Strand is putting out French-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid’s Simple Passion in limited release. The film was an official selection at Cannes in 2020.
Spider-Man’s rapid ascent up the all-time box office chart is slowing down, and having just passed Black Panther’s $700 million domestic cume to become the fourth top grosser ever, it will not be passing any major milestones for at least the next few weeks. While catching up to the two highest domestic grossers Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936 million) and Avengers: Endgame ($858 million) is a long shot, No Way Home will soon be coming within range of Avatar’s $760 million gross, though time will tell whether it will surpass that or fall short. Worldwide it is number eight with $1.628 billion, and it will soon knock out The Lion King ($1.662 billion) and Jurassic World ($1.670 billion) to become number six. The number five spot, held by Avengers: Infinity War with $2.048 billion, appears out of reach unless it receives a surprise China release, but otherwise No Way Home will hold the title, as it currently does, of the highest grossing film to not release in China.
The new Scream, which is the fifth in the series, is already inching up on Scream 4’s $38 million final gross, and internationally its opening was 23% ahead of the previous installment in like-for-like markets. While this “requel” may not reach the slasher series’ highs (the first two films cracked $100 million domestic and $170 million worldwide), it is a solid rebound for the franchise after it appeared to bleed out with the fourth film 11 years ago.
We can expect the weekend’s most notable wide newcomer Redeeming Love to fall short of those holdovers. The film, directed by D.J. Caruso, adapts the 1991 bestselling book by Francine Rivers who co-wrote the script with the director. The faith-based romantic drama, which is a reinterpretation of the Book of Hosea from the Bible, takes place during the California Gold Rush and tells the story of the relationship between a prostitute (Abigail Cowen) and a religious man (Tom Lewis). Logan Marshall-Green, Famke Janssen, Nina Dobrev, and Eric Dane co-star. The film is new territory for Caruso, best known for action movies and thrillers such as his previous film XXX: Return of Xander Cage. Critics say he hasn’t pulled off the romance, and the film is currently at a dismal 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. Universal is releasing Redeeming Love on 1,800 screens in the U.S. and Canada, and the film was backed by faith based companies Pinnacle Peak Pictures and Mission Pictures International.
Also going wide is Gravitas’ fantasy-adventure film The King's Daughter, based on the acclaimed novel "The Moon and the Sun" by Vonda N. McIntyre. The fairy tale story centers on the search for immortality by French king Louis XIV (played by Pierce Brosnan) who seeks to capture the life force from a mermaid (Fan Bingbing), a plan that is opposed by his illegitimate daughter (Kaya Scodelario). Benjamin Walker, Rachel Griffiths, Pablo Schreiber, and William Hurt co-star, and Julie Andrew narrates. The film is directed by Sean McNamara and has been long in the making. Production wrapped up in 2014 and it was slated for an April 2015 release by Paramount with the title The Moon And The Sun only to be pulled from the calendar just three weeks before it was scheduled to come out.
Strand is putting out French-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid’s Simple Passion in limited release. The film was an official selection at Cannes in 2020.
