March 23, 2022 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 7
Arts & Entertainment
‘The Batman,’ Still
No. 1, Crosses $300
Million
By LINDSEY BAHR AP
Film Writer
“The Batman” is still
going strong three weeks
into its theatrical run,
with a tight grip on the
top spot at the box office.
Robert Pattinson’s de-
but as the Dark Knight
earned an additional
$36.8 million over the
weekend, according to
studio estimates Sunday.
It also slid past the $300
million mark ahead of
projections.
The Warner Bros. film
is the highest grossing
movie of 2022 and the
second highest since the
beginning of the pan-
demic (first place goes
to “Spider-Man: No Way
Home”).
“The Batman,” direct-
ed by Matt Reeves, also
picked up $49.1 million
internationally
this
weekend, bringing its
global total to $598.1
million. The only place
“The Batman” seems to
be stumbling is in China
where it earned $12.1 mil-
lion in its first weekend.
But about 43% of cinemas
in China are closed due
to the pandemic and “The
Batman” still did slightly
better than “Unchar-
tered” which also opened
there this weekend to
$10.3 million.
“
The War-
ner Bros.
film is the
highest
grossing
movie of
2022
“The Batman” cost an
estimated $200 million
to make, not counting
the many millions spent
on marketing. But it is al-
ready a win for Warner
Bros., which took at hit at
the box office in 2021 be-
cause all of its films were
released simultaneously
in theaters and on HBO
Max.
It also helps that mar-
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Zoe Kravitz, left, and Robert Pattinson in a scene from “The Batman.” “The Batman” is still
going strong three weeks into its theatrical run, with a tight grip on the top spot at the box office. Robert Pattinson’s debut as the Dark Knight
earned an additional $36.8 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, March 20, 2022. It also slid past the $300 million
mark ahead of projections. (Jonathan Olley/Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
ketplace competition has
been slim. The biggest
competitor this weekend
was the anime “Jujutsu
Kaisen 0,” which was re-
leased by Crunchyroll
and Funimation, and
took in an estimated $17.7
million in its first week-
end in North America,
where it was playing on
2,748 screens. The Jap-
anese film is based on
a best-selling manga
and available to watch
dubbed or with subtitles.
“Fans made this movie
a big hit this weekend,”
said Paul Dergarabedian,
the senior media analyst
for Comscore. “It shows
how passionate fans of
anime are and how beau-
tiful these films are when
presented on the big
screen.”
The horror film “X” also
debuted this weekend on
2,865 screens and is pro-
jected to gross around
$4.4 million. Directed by
Ti West and distributed
by A24, “X” is about a
group of people who are
terrorized while shoot-
ing a pornographic film.
Focus
Features
launched the crime dra-
ma “The Outfit,” starring
Mark Rylance in 1,324
locations. It made an es-
timated $1.5 million. And
outside of the top 10, Ver-
tical Entertainment and
Roadside
Attractions
had “Alice,” the Sun-
dance breakout about
an enslaved woman who
gets transported to 1973,
which made $176,120
from 170 locations.