We all look forward to the weekend, and movie companies are no exception. This is the best opportunity to launch a film and maximize its audience – even if the opportunities were scarce in 2020, as the pandemic shut down the industry, halted production and shuttered cinemas. But things started looking up in 2021, as moviegoers slowly returned to the ritual of going to the movies on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The opening weekend is crucial for the success of a film. Film companies are releasing far more films now than before, and a film has a limited time to find an audience and build buzz. According to Stephen’s research Suit On the Film Data and Education website, only 27% of movies made more money in their second week of release than in their first. Potential international ticket revenue as well as television and cable sales, which can be influenced by opening week receipts, are also at stake.
To identify the box office winner from each studio or U.S. film production company, 24/7 Tempo reviewed “Domestic Biggest Weekend by Theatrical Distributors Box Office Records,” compiled by Numbers, an online movie database owned by Nash Information Services. (The cast and director information comes from IMDb, an online movie database owned by Amazon.)
Click here to see each US movie company’s weekend box office winner
Superhero and horror films did the best for film companies over the weekend.
“Spider-Man: No Way Home” has exceeded expectations for its weekend debut from Dec. 17 for Sony Pictures, and this latest entry in the Marvel Comics Universe franchise has become the first post-pandemic film to exceed more of $1 billion At the box office. (Compare these other examples of highest-grossing movies in the marvel universe.)
Horror films such as “Hannibal,” “Scream 3” and “The Amityville Horror” were the weekend’s top earners for MGM, Miramax and Filmways Pictures, respectively. “Scary Movie 3” and “Scary Movie 4,” send-offs of the horror movie genre, were the biggest movies of the weekend for Miramax/Dimension and Weinstein/Dimension, respectively. And films from the fantasy genre such as “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” have been box office gold for Summit Entertainment and Warner Bros, respectively. (These are tBiggest box office hits since 2000.)
