The Amazing Spider-Man 2 earned $369 million worldwide over the weekend, including $94 million domestic. It didn’t break any records, but it did open better than the first Spider-Man 2‘s $88 million in 2004. As a commenter pointed out, we’re now living in a world where “the first Spider-Man 2” is a thing that makes sense to say.
Most call this a modest “win” for Sony, even on a $255 million budget (!!!) and with the second-worst opening for a Spider-Man movie. And despite ‘maze Spi 2 being the worst reviewed of the Spider-Man movies (54 percent). Sidenote, how is Spider-Man 3 at 63%? I don’t know anyone who likes that movie. In any case, 2 Spider-Man 2 earned a B+ Cinemascore…
…which suggests word-of-mouth will be only a bit better than the reviews. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will likely fall off quickly in the coming weeks, and is essentially guaranteed to be the lowest-grossing entry yet in the franchise. Based on the pattern of other May openers, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 should finish with around $230 million [domestic]. [BoxOfficeMojo]
Which sounds bad, but you have to remember that the goal with films this big isn’t really huge ticket sales (though huge ticket sales are nice) it’s to drive the ancillary revenue streams, where studios make most of their money. Amazing Spider-Man 2‘s job was to create huge worldwide exposure for the Spider-Man brand, and it did that. So, uh… hooray for Sony, I guess. Maybe next time they can just tour the country charging admission to look at their stack of money like John Mulaney’s bit. It’d probably be more fun than their last few Spider-Man movies.
Spider-Man was the only movie opening wide this weekend, with Belle making $26,250 per screen in limited release and Elizabeth Banks’s Walk of Shame earning just $745 per screen on a same-day-as-VOD release. I’m torn between cheering the rightful demise of a movie called “Walk of Shame,” and bemoaning the fact that this will just lead execs to assume Elizabeth Banks can’t open a movie and the only female comedic stars who they’ll bankroll will continue to be Jennifer Aniston and, ugh, Cameron Diaz.
Meanwhile, Heaven is for Real eased 39 percent to $8.7 million while adding 225 new locations, for a $65.6 million total so far. I eagerly await Heaven Is For Real 2: Burpo’s Revenge, Heaven Is For Real 3: Back To Heaven, and Heaven Is For Real 4: Electric Burpaloo.