The Batman rules again, crosses US$300m in North America

Los Angeles

ROBERT Pattinson's gritty superhero adventure The Batman was the No 1 movie at the North American box office for the third weekend in a row.

That feat is not surprising because March has been relatively light in terms of new releases. But even though there has not been much competition, The Batman still managed impressive week-to-week holds.

The movie collected US$36.8 million from 4,302 theaters between last Friday and Sunday, a 45 per cent decline from the previous weekend.

Those ticket sales push The Batman past US$300 million in North America, making the comic book adaptation only the second pandemic-era movie to cross that benchmark.

Two new movies opened nationwide, but Funimation's manga adaptation Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie and A24's slasher thriller X did not pose a threat to The Batman.

In second place on the box office charts, the PG-13 Jujutsu Kaisen 0 scored an impressive US$17.6 million from 2,340 locations in its debut.

Anime films have been increasingly popular in North America, and Funimation, which recently rebranded as Crunchyroll and is mostly owned by Sony Pictures, has been at the forefront.

Last spring, the film company opened Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen Train to US$21.2 million, a huge result at a time when cinemas were operating at reduced capacity.

"This is a terrific opening," said David Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "Reviews are exceptional for this and for all of Funimation/Crunchyroll movies. They have not missed."

X landed in fourth place with US$4.2 million from 2,865 venues, a quieter start given the loud praise after its South by Southwest premiere.

However, as Gross pointed out, "horror is not expensive to make - clever cinematography, editing and sound design go a very long way. X should recover its costs and make a few dollars after all ancillary money is counted."

Ti West wrote and directed X, which follows actors making an adult film in rural Texas. But once their reclusive hosts, an elderly couple, catch the guests in the act, things get messy.

Variety's chief film critic Owen Gleiberman promised that X will "earn your fear".

He called the movie "a deliberate, loving, and meticulous homage that is not simply trying to cash in on the legacy of the greatest horror film of the last half century".

Tom Holland's video game adaptation Uncharted, now in its fifth weekend of release, pulled ahead of X on box office charts to secure third place.

The Sony Pictures action-adventure scored US$8 million from 3,700 theatres, taking Uncharted to US$125.8 million at the North American box office.

Channing Tatum's canine adventure Dog took the No 5 spot, pushing Spider-Man: No Way Home out of the top 5 for the first time in 14 weeks.

Dog lapped up US$4 million from 3,307 locations, bringing the film's North American total to US$54 million.

It's a great result for MGM's road-trip buddy comedy, which cost only US$15 million to make, and it's encouraging evidence that studios can still make non-superhero movies that turn a profit - as long as budgets don't get out of hand.

Spider-Man: No Way Home - even after 15 weeks on the big screen - was no slouch, pulling in US$3.2 million from 2,585 locations. After the past weekend, the comic book epic has generated US$797.6 million at the domestic box office.

It is only a stone's throw from becoming the third movie in history to cross US$800 million in North America following Avengers: Endgame (US$858 million) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (US$936 million). REUTERS