Sandra Bullock's 'The Lost City' Unseats 'The Batman' From Box Office's Top Spot

Movie

The action-adventure comedy film sets pandemic record for a female-driven feature as it debuts at No. 1 on the domestic chart, while Indian movie 'RRR' has a massive opening for an Indian movie.

Mar 28, 2022

AceShowbiz - "The Batman" is subdued by the charm of Sandra Bullock. The superhero film has relinquished the throne at the North American box office to the actress' new movie "The Lost City", which also stars Channing Tatum and Daniel Radcliffe.

Raking in an estimated $31 million on its first weekend, the action-adventure comedy film debuts atop the chart after opening in 4,253 theaters across the state. It set a record opening during the pandemic for a female-driven feature.

While the older female demographic has been known to be cautious about heading to theaters since the pandemic, they made up 61% of the movie's overall audience, with those over 35 repping close to half the crowd.

"This is an excellent opening," says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "Romantic comedies have been in decline for a dozen years, well before the pandemic. The combination of big cast plus crowd-pleasing romance plus comedy plus adventure has worked before, and it's working again."

Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution, celebrates the performance as saying, "This has exceeded any of my expectations. It's great to see us and [Bullock and Tatum] rewarded for taking a risk." He adds, "I think this movie has become the catalyst to move that demographic off the couch and into the theater."

Editors' Pick

Aronson continues to point out the strength of the movie, "This is very much a crowd-pleasing movie, and it points toward people want to laugh and they want to be entertained after the last two years we’ve been through, he added about feature comedy's triumphant debut at the box office."

Comscore box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian also weighs in on "The Lost City" triumphant debut. "This performance now gives hope that young males are not the only audience interested in hitting the multiplex," he opines.

"The Batman", meanwhile, is pushed to No. 2 on its fourth week after adding an estimated $20.5 million, declining 44.2% from last week. It brings its total domestic gross to $331.9 million for a worldwide total of $672.8 million.

At no. 3, Indian movie "RRR" makes a roaring debut. The three-hour-plus film, whose title stands for "Roudram Ranam Rudhiram", took in a strong $9.5 million in its opening session from 1,200 theaters, earning a robust $7,916 per-screen average.

"Uncharted" follows behind at No. 4 with additional $5 million, while "Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie" falls free from No. 2 to No. 5 with approximately $4.6 million after declining significantly (69.1%) from last week.

Top 10 of North America Box Office (Mar. 25-27, 2022):