Weekend Box Office 7/17 - SPACE JAM 2 Tops, BLACK WIDOW Crashes With 70-80% Drop

[AndyDursin]

Another awful looking Warner Bros. release hits a high point for pandemic-era Kids openings, while BLACK WIDOW sports one of the worst free-falls in memory -- proving, really, the box office ISN'T "back" (and that its main appeal was to Marvel fanboys who apparently didn't think enough of it to see it more than once).

1. Space Jam: A New Legacy (WB) 3,965 theaters Fri $13.1M/3-day: $32M/Wk 1
2. Black Widow (Dis) 4,275 theaters (+115)/Fri $8M (-80%)/3-day $25.6M (-68%)/Total $131.3M/Wk 2
3. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (Sony) 2,815 theaters Fri $3.8M/3-day $8.66M/Wk 1
4. F9 (Uni) 3,368 theaters (-281), Fri $2.18M (-38% from prev Friday)/3-day $6.7M (-41%)/Total: $153.9M/ Wk 4
5. Boss Baby: Family Business (Uni) 3,449 theaters (-239), Fri $1.47M (-50%)/3-day $4.4M (-50%)/total $44.3M/Wk 3

Deadline's summary on BLACK WIDOW --

The results squash the second Friday and anticipated weekend of Disney/Marvel’s Black Widow, which did $8M yesterday, one of the worst Friday-to-Friday drops for a recent standalone origin MCU title at -80%, on its way to a $25.6M second weekend, a -68% drop, no thanks to the film’s availability in homes on Disney+ Premier for $29.99. If you think it’s unfair to comp Black Widow to pre-pandemic MCU origin films, well, then, know that her drop is even steeper than the second Fridays of F9 (-72%) and A Quiet Place Part II (-68%). By the end of the weekend, Black Widow will count $131.3M at the domestic B.O.

[Monterey Jack]

This is why the Disney+ model needs to be axed.

[AndyDursin]

Doubt it has that much impact. Drop on all of these films is substantial from Friday to Friday. Just not enough marketplace there.
Plus the product did not look compelling again!

[BobaMike]

One thing I haven't heard mentioned too much is an increase in piracy of the new releases. I was at my neighbors the other night, and he said he already had a perfect rip of Black Widow and was sharing the link to his google drive. With everything streaming right away, it must make it easier to get a copy of it to share.

[AndyDursin]

Yeah, that's entirely because the movies are available to stream. If its on Disney+ or debuts on Amazon Prime, HBO Max or Netflix, it's basically immediately decrypted and shows up online in all sorts of places.

However the drops are substantial whether or not the movies are available to stream. Everything is playing at 60 percent or less of what it was 2 years ago.

[AndyDursin]

Article detailing the harsh reality for Disney that it may not just be COVID -- perhaps the Marvel audience is drying up (FINALLY), given how poorly the movie has fared in other territories.

BLACK WIDOW received a swath of bad reviews -- and despite the opening being "pandemic related," may have suffered that kind of drop in ANY movie going climate.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/w ... ar-AAMmdap