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Los Angeles, March 14 (IANS): Hollywood star Robert Pattinson's latest release 'The Batman' has earned $66 million from 4,417 North American theatres in its second weekend of release, propelling its domestic tally to a whopping $238.5 million.
After only 10 days on the big screen, 'The Batman' now ranks as the highest-grossing movie of 2022, as well as the second-highest grossing since the onset of the Covid-19 in early 2020, reports variety.com.
Only 'Spider-Man: No Way Home', which has generated a stellar $792 million in North America, has earned more money at the domestic box office in the past two years.
Ticket sales for 'The Batman' declined 51 per cent from its $134 million debut, a better hold than most comic book tentpoles -- pandemic or not. Recent Covid-era releases, such as 'The Suicide Squad', 'Eternals', 'Black Widow' and 'Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings', plummeted anywhere from 53 per cent to 71 per cent in their sophomore outings.
And other DC adaptations, including 'Justice League', 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' and 'Wonder Woman', dipped between 43 per cent to 69 per cent after its inaugural weekend.
At the international box office, 'The Batman' earned $66.6 million from 75 overseas market, taking its global total to a huge $463.2 million, reports variety.com.
Positive reviews and strong word-of-mouth have kept audiences coming back to 'The Batman', which co-stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Paul Dano as the Riddler.
Directed by Matt Reeves, the PG-13 'The Batman', which runs at a butt-numbing three hours, takes a gritty look at Bruce Wayne's earlier days as "the world's greatest detective".
The $200 million-budgeted film has been a needed commercial smash for Warner Bros. After releasing its entire 2021 film slate simultaneously on HBO Max, 'The Batman' is the studio's first exclusive theatrical release in more than 12 months.
Going forward, Warner Bros. has announced plans to keep its movies in cinemas for 45 days before putting its new titles on HBO Max.
Without any new nationwide releases, 'The Batman' had no trouble towering over domestic charts. In a distant second place, Tom Holland's video game adaptation 'Uncharted' nabbed $9.2 million from 3,725 North American venues.
After four weeks of release, the PG-13 action-adventure has earned $113 million.
'Uncharted' has also been popular internationally, adding $11.2 million over the weekend and taking its overseas total to $187.9 million. With $301 million globally, it continues Sony's streak of box office smashes following 'Ghostbusters: Afterlife' and 'Spider-Man: No Way Home'.
A live-stream of 'BTS Permission to Dance on Stage: Seoul' concert landed in third place, bringing in $7 million from 803 theatres.
At No. 4, Channing Tatum's PG-13 canine adventure 'Dog' made $5.3 million from 3,407 venues. Those receipts bring the film's domestic tally to $47.8 million.
Until Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum's romantic comedy 'The Lost City' hits the big screen on March 25, 'The Batman' will have free rein over movie theatre marquees.
"If moviegoing reaches a level that's down -20 per cent from 2019 levels before the end of the year, that would be a very good result," says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research.