Spider-Man: Brand New Day fought off a slew of newcomers, including a comedy, a horror franchise, a Jason Statham action movie and a family pic, to maintain its first-place spot at the box office in its fourth weekend in theatres.
The Odyssey also became Christopher Nolan’s highest grossing movie ever, both domestically and internationally.
For the year, The Odyssey is second only to Spider-Man, which added US$39 million (S$50 million) from 4,006 theatres in the US and Canada, according to studio estimates Sunday (Aug 23).
Spider-Man, which has now made over US$854.9 million in North America, will soon surpass Avengers: Endgame to become the second highest-grossing domestic release of all time.
The record holder is currently Star Wars: The Force Awakens (US$936.7 million).
Sony also had the second biggest movie of the weekend with Insidious: Out of the Further.
The sixth movie in the franchise, produced by Blumhouse Atomic Monster, made US$25.3 million from 3,303 theatres. Internationally, it made US$35 million. Its US$18 million production budget makes it the most expensive movie of the series.
Third place went to The Odyssey, which earlier this week became the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time, surpassing Deadpool & Wolverine.
It added US$19.5 million in its sixth weekend in North American theatres, where it continues to play in over 3,000 locations, bringing its domestic total to just under US$539.1 million.
That pushes it past the US$534.9 million from The Dark Knight — a previous high-water mark for Nolan — not accounting for inflation. Internationally, it added US$68 million, driven largely by China and Korea, which brings its worldwide total to US$1.4 billion.
The other big newcomers landed further down the charts.
Mutiny, starring Statham as a man wrongly accused of murdering his billionaire boss, opened in sixth place with US$7.5 million from 2,703 locations.
The Lionsgate release (an acquisition) was intended to be a theatrical only release, but a few days before it opened it was accidentally available for free on Prime Video for a few hours before the mistake was remedied.
The glitch might have impacted its opening weekend earnings, but the film also had some fairly bad reviews working against it.
Even more poorly reviewed was Spa Weekend, a girl’s trip comedy from the men behind The Hangover and Bad Moms, starring Isla Fisher, Leslie Mann, Anna Faris and Michelle Buteau.
It made an estimated US$3.1 million in 2,009 locations. Women accounted for some 84 per cent of opening weekend ticket buyers, according to PostTrak.
The 25th anniversary re-release of The Fast and the Furious made slightly more.
The Magic Faraway Tree, starring Andrew Garfield, opened outside of the top 10 with US$1.4 million from 1,611 screens.
The young Anthony Bourdain movie “Tony” continues to do quite well, however, earning $5 million from 1,652 screens.
The summer season, which runs through Labor Day, has now generated an estimated $4.4 billion in ticket sales in North America, putting it among the top four highest grossing summers ever.
“We’re in the home stretch of what I think will go down in box office history as maybe one of the most key and pivotal summer movie seasons ever,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the head of marketplace trends for Rentrak.
“I don’t know how you can replicate this summer. Studios will try.”
Michael O’Leary, the president and CEO of the movie theatre trade organisation Cinema United, noted the wide variety of movies in the marketplace that have helped contribute to a big summer.
Part of that, he told The Associated Press, was that the industry pipeline is finally bouncing back from the effects of the Hollywood strikes in 2023.
“The thing that I’m most excited about, frankly, is just the enthusiasm of moviegoers,” O’Leary said. “You feel it when you go to the theatre. There’s an energy about being in the theatre that hasn’t been there in the recent past.”
The year overall has also surpassed US$7 billion, which is up about 20.4 per cent from 2025, but about 7.1 per cent behind 2019.
Top 10 movies by domestic box office
With final domestic figures being released Monday, this list factors in the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak:
1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day, US$39 million.
2. Insidious: Out of the Further, US$25.3 million.
3. The Odyssey, US$19.5 million.
4. Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, US$9.1 million.
5. The End of Oak Street, US$9 million.
6. Mutiny, US$7.5 million.
7. Tony, US$5 million.
8. The Fast and the Furious (25th anniversary re-release), US$3.1 million.
9. Spa Weekend, US$3.1 million.
10. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, US$1.9 million.
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