As expected, Sony’s newly-minted franchise-starterUnchartedis poised to repeat at the top of the box office. The film is expected to make $23 million in its second weekend, afterexceeding expectationswith $44 million in its first. It made $52 million in the extended Presidents' Day weekend. This takes the action-adventure video game adaptation’s running domestic total to over $80 million—a fine result for a project that was long believed to be cursed.
Uncharted’s success also marks a back-to-back win for starTom Holland, who is coming offSpider-Man: No Way Home, and directorRuben Fleischer, who was enlisted to direct by Sony after a revolving door of filmmakers came and went. Over the years—Uncharted has been in various stages of development for over a decade—filmmakers such asDavid O. Russell,Seth Gordon,Neil Burger,Shawn Levy,Dan Trachtenberg, andTravis Knighthad all been attached, but left for different reasons. A sub-50% drop forUncharted—blockbusters tend to be front-loaded—can be seen as a major win.
All major studios sat this weekend out, anticipating the storm that’s probably coming in seven days, when Warner Bros’The Batmanarrives in theaters. This resulted in a total business of less than $60 million this weekend, despite strongholds fromUnchartedand the number two film on our list.
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Dog,Channing Tatum’s directorial debut (and first live-action starring role in around five years) held remarkably well after over-performing in its debut weekend. Co-directed by Tatum and his longtime creative partnerReid Carolin, the feel-good drama is expected to make $8.5 million in its second weekend, for a running domestic total of around $30 million. All eyes will now be onThe Lost City, which arrives in theaters next month, and also starsSandra Bullock.
Unchartedisn’t the only Holland-starrer in the top five;No Way Home, now in its 11th weekend, is expected to finish with $5.1 million, taking its running domestic total to nearly $780 million. The Sony film has been somewhat of an eye-opener, having dominated the box office for around two months, and has now settled into its position as the third-highest grossing movie of all time domestically, unadjusted for inflation.
Recent Oscar-nomineeKenneth Branagh’s secondAgatha Christieadaptation,Death on the Nile, is expected to finish at the number four spot with $4.1 million, for a running domestic total of over $32 million. That’s not great, considering the heftier price-tag this film comes with, as compared to its predecessor, 2017’sMurder on the Orient Express. That film legged it to over $100 million domestically, and over $350 million worldwide.Death on the Nile’s performance also continues a streak of commercially disappointing Fox titles that were released by Disney.
Paramount’sJackass Forever, now in its fourth weekend, is expected to finish with $3.9 million, taking its domestic total to nearly $52 million. That’s a solid result for a movie that cost $10 million to make, and arrives over a decade after the last main entry in a dormant franchise.
The weekend’s sole wide debut, the horror-comedyStudio 666, starring the Foo Fighters, is pretty much a non-starter with $2 million. Meanwhile, directorJoe Wright’s semi-wide releaseCyranois poised to make $1.25 million this weekend, for a 10th place finish. Elsewhere at the box office, directorFrancis Ford Coppola’s 50th-anniversary re-release ofThe Godfatheris heading towards an $815,000 weekend, with an outside chance of crossing $1 million.
Expect fireworks next weekend, when directorMatt Reeves’The Batmanintroduces the world toRobert Pattinson’s take on the Caped Crusader. Early forecasts are predicting nothing less than $100 million.
