FRIDAY MIDDAY: Prior to Memorial Day weekend, studios used to steer clear of the time period since moviegoing was at its most relaxed. no more.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, a Sony Animation production, is expected to perform as well at the box office as a live-action Marvel superhero film. The film from filmmakers Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson is anticipating a $40M+ day today (including those previews) and a 3-day that very well may surpass $100M at 4,313 theatres after recording the second-best previews ever for an animated film.
Rivals expect an opening well into the $110M+ range, but Spider-Verse's fanboy-loaded potential with PLF and Imax ticket sales makes that prediction risky. Even if the animated movie ends up grossing in the high-$90M level, it will still be a huge success when compared to Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which debuted in 2018 with $35.3M.
Regarding the online talk, RelishMix exclaims: "Spider-Verse favourable chatter is spilling over into Super Mario Bros mass-audience — with enthusiasm for Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy aka Spider-Woman, cross-references to live-action Spidey, additional ardent appreciation for the look of the movie. With no apparent inquiries as to when this will broadcast, MCU divers are diving into the franchise expansion possibilities and stories for the upcoming animation and live-action features.
The social media statistics for Across the Spider-Verse have surpassed those of the 2018 edition by 15%, standing at 665.1M across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok combined. With 1.85 million admirers, this animated franchise airs on several channels from the live-action. In contrast, the last two live-action Spider-Man flicks received 1B SMU social media impressions, with No Way Home ($260.1M/1.2B SMU) having the biggest weekend. According to RelishMix, the tremendous viral rate of 47:1 at which fans and superfans are repeating content online is mind-blowing.
The film's campaign for Gwen Stacy, alias Steinfeld, has garnered 32.7M fans out of the 68.3M total fans of the ensemble, which also includes Shameik Moore (367K) and Jake Johnson (1.6M).
Disney owns spots 2, 3 and 4 on the chart. Weekend 2 of The Little Mermaid is seeing around $12M today, for a $42M-$44M second weekend at 4,320 theaters, -54% at the high-end, for a 10-day total of $189.7M. Aladdin eased 53% with a $42.8M second weekend in 2019, which got it to $185.5M over the same point in time.
Disney/Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 at 3,580 theaters is seeing a fifth Friday of $3M, 3-day of $10.5M, -49%, for a running total of $322.9M. Great holds here by Little Mermaid and GOTG3.
Disney and 20th Century Studios’ The Boogeyman is eyeing $4.5M today for a $10M+ weekend at 3,205 theaters.
Universal’s Fast X is booked at 3,467 and looking at a third Friday of $2.4M, 3-day of $8.3M, -64%, and running total by Sunday of $127.5M.
UPDATED FRIDAY AM after THURSDAY EXCLUSIVE: Sony is reporting that Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse previews came in at $17.35M, still the second highest for an animated film after The Incredibles 2‘s $18.5M. Exits from Comscore/Screen Engine’s PostTrak from last night’s heavy fan turnout is 5 stars.
General audience turnout last night on PostTrak for Spider-Verse was 39% guys under 25, 28% guys over 25, 21% women under 25 and 11% women over 25. A 79% definite recommend with a very diverse turnout with Hispanic and Latino audiences repping 33% of the crowd, Caucasians 30%, Black 20% and Asian 11%. Parents and kids combined represented 16% of the preview night audience. Boys under 12 outweighed girls, 63% to 37% with 64% being between 7-12.
PREVIOUS EXCLUSIVE: Sony Animation’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is doing some serious business tonight according to box office sources, accumulating $16M off previews that began at 3PM at 3,562 theaters. That’s the second best preview night ever for an animated movie after Disney/Pixar’s Incredibles 2 ($18.5M) from June 2018. Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 4, with $12M, is now the third best animated movie in previews at the domestic box office.
The preview cash for Across the Spider-Verse alone is 4.5x more than what the first 2018 animated movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, did on its Thursday night, which was $3.5M before a $12.6M Friday and $35.3M 3-day opening.
Now, the question remains how front-loaded Across the Spider-Verse is; hence it’s too early to comp it to Incredibles 2. That Pixar sequel wound up posting a $71.2M first day, 26% of that number from Thursday previews. Incredibles 2 owns the opening weekend record for an animated movie at $182.6M. Opening stateside projections are wild for Across the Spider-Verse ranging from $75M-$90M. Even on the low-end, Across the Spider-Verse‘s 3-day will be more than double the first pic’s opening weekend, still commendable.
What makes the sequel’s box office hard to peg: It’s a Marvel animated movie, which is a rare breed, not to mention it’s one of the longest running animated films of all-time with a runtime of 140 minutes. Among those animated movies with long runtimes, Across the Spider-Verse ties with Funimation/Kyoto Animation’s Violent Evergarden in seventh place. The animated pic with the longest runtime is Sunao Katabuchi’s In This Corner (And Other Corners) of the World at 168 minutes.
Great diagnostics as the weekend heats up for Across the Spider-Verse at 95% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and RT audiences already giving it 97%. We’ll have more in the AM.
The Phil Lord-Christopher Miller-Amy Pascal-Avi Arad-Christina Steinberg animated sequel also has bragging rights when compared to other live-action Spidey-verse properties, beating the preview night cash of Spider-Man: Homecoming ($15.4M), Venom: Let There Be Carnage ($11.6M), Venom ($10M), and Spider-Man 3 ($10M).
