Warner Bros.’ The Batman continued to dominate the box office for the third week in a row with an estimated $36.8 million in sales, while Crunchyroll’s Jujutsu Kaisen 0 was able to pack theaters with anime fans for a strong second place finish to the tune of $17.7 million.
The Batman crossed the $300 million mark domestically this weekend and it is just about to cross the $600 million threshold worldwide, becoming the second biggest hit on the pandemic-era so far, behind Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Among third weekends for DC-branded films, The Batman ranks as the third-best, after Dark Knight ($42.6 million) and Wonder Woman ($41.2 million). Don’t tell bitter Synder-verse fans, but The Batman is currently only $30 million away from beating Batman v. Superman‘s domestic take, and $35 million away from swimming past James Wan’s Aquaman. While competition does get stiffer once April arrives (with Morbius and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 on April 1 and April 8 respectively), The Batman should be able to surpass both films before it leaves theaters at start of May.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 “cursed” all the competition at the box office (other than the Bat, of course) and once again proved that big budget anime films have a place at the domestic box office. Similar to the $21.2M opening of Funimation’s Demon Slayer last April, Jujutsu Kaisen O surprised prognosticators, as both critics and audiences loved the film (100% positive from critics and 98% from ticket buyers on Rotten Tomatoes). Exhibitors offered both a dubbed and subbed version of Jujutsu Kaisen O to movie-goers, allowing the sub and dub camps to avoid debate over the merits of both choices, giving either group no reason to stay away.
Come back next week to see how The Batman and Jujutsu Kaisen O fare at the weekend box office as the spring releases begin to roll out.