“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” is set to win the domestic box office for a fourth straight weekend, holding off two new challengers as Sony’s Tom Holland vehicle closes in on the $800 million mark. The film has already become the fastest movie ever to reach $800 million domestically, part of a record-setting run that has it sitting on $2 billion worldwide after just three weekends.
Sony’s own horror sequel “Insidious: Out of the Further” opens in roughly 3,000 North American theaters this weekend, with the studio projecting an opening between $23 million and $27 million. Directed by Jacob Chase, the film is the sixth entry in a franchise that began in 2011 and has grossed a combined $740 million globally on modest budgets; this installment cost $18 million to produce. It follows a young mother, played by Amelia Eve, who discovers she can pull spirits out of the otherworldly realm known as the Further and bring them home with her. Critics have been mixed, with the film holding a 65 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Lionsgate’s “Mutiny,” starring Jason Statham as a former Marine framed for murder, opens in about 2,700 theaters and is tracking toward a softer debut in the high single digits. The film carries a $40 million production budget; Lionsgate acquired North American distribution rights without financing the project itself.
Neither newcomer figures to seriously threaten “Brand New Day,” which has held the top spot since its record-breaking opening weekend. Sony chief Tom Rothman recently described the challenge of following “No Way Home,” a film that brought back two previous Spider-Man actors for a highly hyped multiverse crossover.
“The problem for a while was, how do you top that?” he said. The answer, so far, has been a summer box office running more than 23 percent ahead of last year’s pace, with total domestic grosses approaching $4.24 billion and within reach of 2013’s all-time seasonal record.
