Box Office: ‘No Time To Die’ Tops $770M While ‘Eternals’ And ‘Dune’ Approach $400M

In holdover news for the weekend box office, No Time to Die notched yet more arbitrary milestones. The 25th James Bond film earned another $570,000 (-37%) in North America for a $160.5 million domestic cume. That puts it just under the $160.9 million domestic finish of Die Another Day in 2002, after which it will sit behind only the previous four Daniel Craig 007 movies ($167 million, $168 million, $304 million and $200 million) in unadjusted domestic box office. the film has earned $100 million overseas specifically in MGM territories, which is a record/first-time milestone for the James Bond franchise. Meanwhile, the Cary Fukunaga-directed flick earned another $2.813 million overseas courtesy of Universal.

That brings its Universal-only overseas gross to $510.538 million, its overseas cume to $610.5 million (bigger than the total worldwide gross, sans reissues, of every 007 film save for the last two) and its global cume to $771 million. That’s $50 million more than the next closest 2020/2021 Hollywood competitor, F9 (also Universal, with $721 million) and over/under double the likes of Black Widow ($380 million), Eternals ($395 million) and Dune ($389 million). These grosses imply that, sans Covid, the film would have earned grosses on par with at least Spectre ($881 million in 2015).There is no guarantee that even Spider-Man: No Way Home will make as much overseas as the Bond flick.

Sure, it’ll surely be huge and make more in North America and worldwide. However, among previous Spider-Man movies, sans inflation, only Far from Home ($745 million overseas, including $199 million in China) has earned more than $611 million overseas. The question is whether the multiverse-hopping MCU title can pull a similar trick to Captain America: Civil War, namely in a threequel playing like a glorified Avengers-level event rather than just the third installment in a respective franchise. Do those not perpetually online care about previous characters from previous Spider-Man franchises making a return trip? This is not a prediction, and really it’s just whether No Way Home makes “most of the money” or “all the money.”

Encanto earned another Walt Disney’s Encanto earned another $9.425 million (-28%) this weekend for a $71.345 million 19-day gross. The good news is that it had a better third-weekend hold than the even Frozen (-28%). Unlike years past, Disney doesn’t have a super-big (or super important) year-end flick like The Force Awakens, Mary Poppins Returns or Into the Woods providing self-inflicted competition. However, the animated gem is arriving on Disney+ on Christmas Eve, a much-publicized fact that is surely cutting into the theatrical revenue. It’ll still need strong holiday legs to get past (random comparison for perspective) the $99 million domestic/$193 million global cume of Gnomeo and Juliet in early 2011. 

Encanto is still the biggest-grossing domestic-grossing toon since Frozen II, even if I expect Illumination’s Sing 2 to have a much easier time of crossing $100 million domestic. And its $151 million global cume is above any other toon save for The Croods: A New Age ($203 million in 2020/2021). At least Disney’s Thanksgiving date for Strange World means the Mouse House isn’t giving up on original animated features. Although if Turning Red underwhelms in March, Strange World stumbles next Thanksgiving and Lightyear scores next June, well, presumed quality notwithstanding, that will be a very grim message about what’s worth making and releasing in theaters. Once again, we vote with our wallet.

Sony’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife earned $7.1 million (-31%) fourth-weekend gross for a $112 million 24-day cume. That’ll put it past the $109 million domestic cume of Ghostbusters II ($258 million adjusted-for-inflation). Once it gets past $123 million over the holiday, it’ll be past Dune ($106 million), Jungle Cruise ($118 million) and Free Guy ($122 million) in terms of halfway decent domestic runs. It should pass the $128 million domestic cume of Ghostbusters: Answer the Call ($128 million in 2016) but not the $135 million inflation-adjusted total. Still, again, when you only spend $75 million (and not $144 million), you can thrive from a “same as the last time” result and a $165 million-and-counting global cume is a moderate win.

Meanwhile, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City will pass $15.5 million domestic and $31 million worldwide on a $25 million budget as Venom: Let There Be Carnage ends the weekend with $212 million domestic and $493 million worldwide on a $110 million budget. The latter will end up within 15% of Venom’s sans-China cume ($585 million) by the time it wraps up. MGM’s House of Gucci earned a $4.1 million (-42%) third-weekend gross. That gives Ridley Scott’s $75 million crime/business melodrama a $41 million 17-day cume as it nears $100 million worldwide. That’s unexceptional, but it’s easily the biggest-grossing straight-up adult-skewing, non-action drama since Uncut Gems ($49 million) in late 2019. 

House of Gucci is now likely to be the only awards season contender (give or take Dune) likely to be seen as at least a modest theatrical success. That may not turn it into a frontrunner (although it won’t hurt Lady Gaga’s Best Actress chances), but it’ll keep it in the conversation. Meanwhile, Disney’s Eternals will earn $3.1 million (-24%) in weekend six for a $161 million domestic cume. The film is coming to Disney+ on January 12, and it’ll need a Christmas miracle to get past $171 million to avoid being the lowest-grossing MCU movie ever in inflation-adjusted domestic earnings. Yes, The Incredible Hulk earned $132 million in 2008, but that would be $171 million in 2021 ticket prices.

Fathom Events’ Christmas With The Chosen: The Messengers grossed $1.29 million (-70%) in 1,450 theaters. The feature-length installment of the popular streaming series (concerning the birth of Jesus from the point-of-view of Mary and Joseph) was obviously a one-week wonder, but one week was enough. With $13.44 million in 12 days, the faith-based drama/music concert is going toe to toe with the likes of King Richard ($14.4 million), The Last Duel ($10.8 million), The French Dispatch ($15.5 million) and Last Night in Soho ($10.1 million). It’s great that audiences are showing up for a rare circumstance where “this thing you love is now a movie” still qualifies as an event. But, my god, what has the streaming era wrought?

Paramount’s Clifford: The Big Red Dog will have $47.4 million domestic tomorrow, while Focus Features’ Belfast will have $6.5 million domestic after 31 days in theaters. Dune earned $3 million in Australia this weekend to bump its worldwide cume to $389 million. Hey, at least the $165 million sci-fi flick has earned about as much as Snow White and the Huntsman ($395 million on a $170 million budget), and that one got a sequel as well. I’d expect Dune part Two to do better than The Huntsman: Winter’s War. Meanwhile, MGM’s and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza grossed  $176,350 (-27%) for a still-huge $44,088 per-theater average for a $1.1 million 17-day cume.