Sony’s Uncharted is easily finding treasure at the domestic box office, where it’s on course to earn a projected $51 million over the long Presidents Day weekend, including an estimated $44.2 million for the three days.
The video game adaptation stars Tom Holland — who is still in theaters in the mega-blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home — and Mark Wahlberg. Uncharted did far more business than expected thanks to younger males, the demo that has been the most likely to go to the movies despite the pandemic. More than 60 percent of ticket buyers were male, while 71 percent of the audience was 35 and under.
Imax and premium large format screens, the favorite haunt of younger consumers, accounted for a huge 36 percent of all ticket revenue in North America.
Overseas, the buddy action-adventure grossed $55.4 million from 62 markets for a worldwide weekend haul of $106.4 million. Including foreign revenue from last weekend, Uncharted is expected to finish Monday with $139 million in the bank. And that’s without China, where it doesn’t hit cinemas until March 14.
“Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg are brilliant together. Thank you to our sister company, PlayStation, for their incredible partnership, and all the many people who worked so hard to bring this film to life in a big, theatrical way,” Sony Motion Picture Group president Josh Greenstein said in a statement.
Uncharted is based on the popular PlayStation game series from publisher Naughty Dog. The film wasn’t well-received by critics but fared far better with audiences, who gave it a B+ CinemaScore.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer (Venom), the movie was conceived as an origin story for the game series’ globe-trotting adventurer Nathan Drake, played by Holland.
Nathan begins the story as a bartender before he is recruited by seasoned treasure hunter Victor “Sully” Sullivan (Wahlberg) to recover a fortune amassed by Ferdinand Magellan and lost 500 years ago. What starts as a heist job for the duo becomes a globe-trotting, white-knuckle race to reach the prize before the ruthless Santiago Moncada (Antonio Banderas), who believes he and his family are the rightful heirs.
The Channing Tatum starrer Dog also opened ahead of expectations, grossing a projected $18.1 million for the four-day holiday weekend, including $15.1 million for the three days.
Tatum co-directed the passion project alongside his Magic Mike collaborator Reid Carolin. The movie, which skewed female and older, secured strong exits and an A- CinemaScore. It played best in the West, South and Midwest.
Inspired by 2017’s HBO documentary War Dog: A Soldier’s Best Friend, the film follows Jackson Briggs, an Army Ranger desperate to see action again after getting sidelined by a brain injury that induces seizures. To get back into his commanding officer’s good graces, he accepts an assignment to drive Lulu, an Army dog who served in Afghanistan, some 1,500 miles in his lovingly restored ’84 Bronco so the canine, herself traumatized by her wartime experiences, can attend the funeral of her late handler.
Uncharted will easily top the holiday frame, followed by Dog and No Way Home.
In its 10th weekend, Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man continued to impress, grossing a projected $8.8 million for the four days for a domestic total of $771 million and a massive $1.83 billion worldwide.
Disney’s Death on the Nile and Jackass Forever rounded out the top five domestically.
The weekend’s third new offering, Cursed, is looking at a 10th place finish with less than $2 million for the four days.
Source: HollyWood
