"Sonic the Hedgehog 2" Soars w/ $71M Debut

[JamesG]

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Soars with $71M Debut, Ambulance Gets a Flat
by Chris Nashawaty - Box Office News
April 10, 2022


Paramount’s kid-friendly follow-up, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, exceeded even the most bullish industry expectations in its debut weekend and blew past the box-office competition with a sonic boom thanks to a massive $71 million bow.

The SEGA videogame-inspired sequel marked the studio’s fourth 2022 film to open in the top spot, while easily trouncing the frame’s other high-profile rookie, director Michael Bay’s action-thriller Ambulance, which stalled coming out of the gate, selling a surprisingly soft $8.7 million in tickets despite the star power of Jake Gyllenhaal.







Sonic 2, which features Jim Carrey, James Marsden, and the voice of Ben Schwartz as its eponymous blue cartoon critter, had some big sneakers to fill. The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie opened to $58 million back in February of 2020 and went on to rack up $320 million worldwide before having its theatrical run cut short by the COVID pandemic (it still ended up becoming the third-biggest domestic grosser of that challenged year).

Paramount’s own estimates for the new sequel’s debut weekend were in the neighborhood of $50 million. But Sonic 2 zipped right past that number and just kept going. Unspooling in 4,234 theaters, the PG-rated sequel scored a $16,789 per-screen average and seemed to click with ticket-buyers of all ages (who rewarded it with a straight-A CinemaScore grade).




Critics were slightly less impressed, handing the film a 67% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While some may interpret Sonic 2’s success as an indication that family audiences are ready to return to the multiplex, the smash hit Sing 2 already seemed to prove that point.

Overseas, where Sonic 2 opened in some markets a week earlier, the film has pulled in $70 million so far, bringing its current worldwide cumulative box office to $141 million.







In the runner-up spot was last week’s champ, Morbius, with an anemic $10.2 million. Sony’s Spider-Man spin-off starring Jared Leto as a scientist who attempts to cure his own rare blood disease by injecting himself with vampire bat DNA only to become a living vampire himself, dropped a whopping -73.9% from the prior weekend — an ominous sign for its continued box-office legs.

In its second frame, the PG-13-rated comic-book movie earned a $2,389 per-screen average at 4,268 locations, bringing its two-week domestic total to $57.1 million. Internationally, Morbius has drawn $69.3 million, bringing its total global haul to $126.4 million.







In third place was Paramount’s The Lost City with $9.2 million. The rom-com jungle adventure starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum fell -37.7% from the previous week.

The PG-13-rated crowd-pleaser managed a $2,413 per-screen average in 3,797 theaters in its third frame, putting its total domestic box-office haul to date at $68.9 million. In foreign markets, where The Lost City will not get a full roll-out until April 15, it has taken in $9.7 million to date, bringing its three-week global tally to $78.6 million.







Landing in fourth place was the biggest disappointment of the weekend, Universal’s heist-gone-wrong thriller Ambulance with $8.7 million.

Directed by shock-and-awe blockbuster technician Michael Bay and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as brothers whose bank heist goes sideways and forces them to hijack an ambulance and its passengers, the R-rated rookie was modestly budgeted for a Bay film at $40 million.

But even so, its lackluster debut was unexpectedly flat despite the incongruous A- CinemaScore grade it received from audiences (it scored a 69% fresh rating with critics on Rotten Tomatoes).




Ambulance earned a $2,549 per-screen average at 3,412 locations in its first weekend and took in a slightly-better $22.5 million from abroad. Its combined first-week box-office gross is $31.2 million.

The film is merely the latest box-office dud to come from Universal, which has also seen such films as The 355 and Marry Me land without making much commercial noise.







Rounding out the top five was The Batman with slightly less than $6.6 million. In its sixth weekend in theaters, Warner Bros.’ latest Dark Knight chapter slipped -40.5% from the previous session, managing a $2,012 per-screen average in 3,254 theaters.

The PG-13-rated superhero epic featuring Robert Pattinson under the cape and cowl, has raked in $359.1 million in North America so far. The film has also kept cleaning up overseas, where it has pulled in $376.1 million to date.

The film’s global cume now sits at $735.2 million. That said, The Batman’s continued domestic might may take a hit next weekend when it finally becomes available on the HBO Max streaming platform.







Bubbling right beneath the top five was one of this weekend’s most noteworthy stories — the wildly successful expansion of A24’s decidedly strange indie, Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The R-rated film about a woman (Michelle Yeoh) who enters a visually daffy multiverse, added 1,212 theaters over the weekend, boosting its playdates from 38 to 1,250. When the critics’ darling debuted three weeks ago, it snagged the highest per-screen average of 2022.




And now that it has widened its net, it’s proven to have a bigger audience than many assumed. In its third weekend, Everything Everywhere All at Once took in a robust $6.1 million — a boost of 461.8% over the prior weekend. Its per-screen average was a healthy $4,847, and its three-week domestic box office cume now stands at $8.4 million.

It looks like we’ve found this season’s zany little movie that could.

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April 8-10, 2022: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 $72,105,176
2. Morbius $10,201,332 / $57,078,553
3. The Lost City $9,027,813 / $68,716,972
4. Ambulance $8,699,630
5. The Batman $6,458,465 / $358,960,613
6. Everything Everywhere All at Once $6,059,263 / $8,428,962
7. Uncharted $2,634,821 / $142,937,039
8. Spider-Man: No Way Home $626,327 / $803,817,175
9. Dog $514,606 / $61,196,963
10. Sing 2 $225,090 / $162,324,720