It might have been another Manic Monday as The Bangles would say but that didn’t stop people from going to see The Batman yesterday, even with the top three circuits jacking up their ticket prices by largely a buck.
Among first Mondays during the pandemic, the Matt Reeves directed movie grossed $11.1M which ranks behind Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s first Monday of $37.1M and Disney/Marvel’s Labor Day $19.2M take of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Among all Mondays during the pandemic (since mid-March 2020), The Batman ranks fourth as the second Monday of Spider-Man: No Way Home is technically second with $24.77M.
Despite all the fanfare about AMC Boss Adam Aron being transparent about his circuit’s $1 buck increase on The Batman, he wasn’t the first, nor was he alone in raising ticket prices on an event movie. Regal and Cinemark also increased prices for Batman this past weekend, and those two circuits did so on Spider-Man: No Way Home. Given the record box office grosses here, hard to argue that moviegoers actually stayed at home. AMC’s ticket price uptick is in effect reportedly through this Friday.
Through four days, The Batman has accumulated $145.1M. The Dark Knight’s Monday is off 67% from its $34.1M Sunday. This coming weekend industry projections expect a -50% ease for The Batman with $67M. There aren’t any major studio wide entries this weekend as Disney decided to take Pixar’s Turning Red off the calendar and send it to Disney+, available for subscribers to watch free.
The next major studio release isn’t until March 25 with Paramount’s Sandra Bullock-Channing Tatum-Brad Pitt-Daniel Radcliffe adventure romantic comedy The Lost City.
The Batman‘s $134M opening is the second best during the pandemic after Spider-Man: No Way Home‘s $260M back in December, the best domestic debut so far for 2022, and the best ever start for filmmaker Reeves. Worldwide Batman opened to $258M.
Next up in Reeves’ The Batman universe is an HBO Max spinoff series centering around Colin Farrell’s Penguin character. More on Hero Nation here.