- December 20, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
“Nightmare Alley” also opened wide and grossed 1 percent of “No Way Home.” Can big-budget adult movies still survive in theaters?
There are a few weekends that changed the course of the movie business. One was June 20-22, 1975, when Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” invented the wide-release blockbuster. Another is December 12-17, 2021, when “Spider-Man: No Way Home” opened to $253 million domestic — and Spielberg’s “West Side Story” dropped 68 percent in its second weekend, to gross $3.4 million.
Sony’s Marvel movie is the savior film to answer theaters’ prayers. For now, its outstanding performance saved the exhibition business. With the biggest opening weekend since “Avengers: Endgame” set the opening record in April 2019, “No Way Home” proves beyond doubt that an audience will race to theaters for for certain films.
Here’s the rub. With $357 million, “Endgame” represented 88 percent of the total box office, with…
