‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ Beats ‘Black Widow’ At The Box Office

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy‘ may have been slammed by critics, but it’s currently celebrating a major victory at the box office.

LeBron James and the animated Looney Tunes crew grabbed the top spot at the box office this past weekend, bringing in $31.6 million in ticket sales. Many predictions had it bringing in around $20 or $25 million, so the $31 million is a nice surprise.

And even more impressive, it beat Marvel’s ‘Black Widow‘ which brought in just $26.3 million during its second weekend inside theaters. It was a major drop for the superhero flick. A 67% decline from its opening weekend, which some are blaming on its Disney+ release.

Movie theaters are not happy with Disney right now. They believe their new release strategy is costing them ticket sales, and you know what? They’re probably right. If users couldn’t rent Black Widow from their couch on Disney+, the second weekend numbers probably would have been much higher inside theaters.

Without a hybrid release, NATO predicts that ‘Black Widow’ would have secured a much larger opening weekend, somewhere north of $92 to $100 million. And while the film soared past the opening weekends of recent releases like ‘A Quiet Place 2’ and ‘F9,’ its ticket sales quickly dropped off. In its sophomore outing, ‘Black Widow’ collected $26 million, a huge 69% decline. Or, as NATO put it, a ‘stunning second weekend collapse in theatrical revenues.’

But at the end of the day, it’s a new world. Studios are trying to figure out how they can make the most money possible, and right now, the method that seems to work best is this hybrid release.

Will they continue with this streaming/theatrical release when (hopefully) things are back to normal in a year or so? Who knows, but you can bet theaters are going to fight against it.