All Eyes on Robert Pattinson’s Debut as Bruce Wayne
By Elton Allen
Welcome back to The Couch Potato Corner, where every week I go over the latest news from Tinsel Town in both streaming as well as the traditional box office. There is a lot to go over in this week’s edition, so let’s just dive right into it.
First up, as I teased in last week’s edition, The Batman will finally be making its debut in theaters this weekend. With a slow box office this past weekend (more on that later), the trades have shifted their focus to guessing how much, if any, Batman will truly save the day for the multiplex. With estimates ranging from Forbes’ $80 million to other trade publications’ more liberal $115 million, and rival studios hoping for under $100 million, all bets seem to lead to a good opening, especially during the pandemic, for Bruce Wayne’s return to the big screen. The only one who isn’t making any guesses is Warner Brothers themselves, who must be too afraid to set themselves up too high and seemingly would rather be able to brag about any of those numbers instead. These guesses are not without merit, either, as Batman is one of the top 10 global franchises of all time with $6.04 billion across all its titles earning it a spot among such company as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and last week’s star Spider Man.
While all roads seem to lead to a great opening weekend, the review embargo lifts on Monday, 2/28 and Rotten Tomatoes might prove to be Mr. Wayne’s mortal enemy with the popular movie review service never being on the same page as the DCEU. Even the Oscar-winning Joker only sits at a 68% on there! Other strikes against it include its particularly long runtime at approximately 3 hours long, not including trailers and ads, as well as HBO Max offering it at no extra cost in just a month, possibly hurting its repeat viewings. Will this movie go the way of Robert Pattinson’s indie track record or his previous Twilight numbers? We’ll have to wait and see.
As for this weekend, Tom Holland is enjoying his last weekend as king of the box office with Uncharted falling only a measly 47% earning it the number one spot for this past weekend for the second one in a row, bringing its total earnings to $83.3 million. Channing Tatum’s return to the multiplex with Dog took number 2, only falling 32% with $30.8 million, as well as Spider Man No Way Home ranking at number 3 in its incredible 11th weekend with $779.8 million to date. When it came to new releases, it seems the Game of Thrones curse is alive and well as Peter Dinklage couldn’t even outrank the Foo Fighters’ starring (and wildly criticized) Studio 666 with just $1.4 million in its opening weekend, as opposed to 666’s $1.5.
Let’s go back to the couch and talk about what went down on streaming over this past week. The insane story of the Tinder Swinder, with a wow factor reminiscent of the days of Tiger King, continues to captivate audiences earning the number one spot in its 3rd week in the top 10, with over 34 million hours viewed. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre might’ve hoped to take that spot but at least it wound up chopping Tall Girl 2 to size, taking the number 2 spot from the aforementioned flick with 29 million hours viewed this weekend. Not all bad news for Tall Girl 2, though, as it is still the third most streamed movie on the platform with 21 million hours viewed. I suppose all the influencer reaction videos have run their course and predict that it will continue to drop over the next few weeks.
When it comes to the top performing series on Netflix, perhaps some of you lovely readers took my advice as Inventing Anna continues to absolutely dominate the competition. Seriously, it’s not even close. With over 195 million hours viewed, it seems like Netflix has a tried and true formula of unbelievable and outlandish stories being a gold mine for the platform. Following a similar formula, the closest competition for Inventing Anna was the sequel season to everyone’s favorite cringe-worthy dating show, Love is Blind, which came in at number 2 with 58 million hours views this past week.
Moving ahead to the weekend, this is your official Couch Potato warning to beware of spoilers, as the Batman will be open to select viewings as early as Tuesday. Only Vertical Entertainment’s A Day to Die, starring Bruce Willis, dares to stand up to the Batman and will likely not put up much of a fight. For my non-comic book fans, other notable things to keep an eye out for are the SAG Awards, which I will provide some highlights from in next week’s article as well as the season finale of Euphoria, which was recently proclaimed the most tweeted about show of the decade in the US. Showtime rounds out the list hoping to grab a piece of the pie with Super Pumped, a drama about the foundation of Uber starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Travis Kalanick.
Streaming platforms are ready to bring in those who have no interest in seeing the Batman providing an array of content including the first three episodes of the Dropout, where Amanda Seyfried hopes to capitalize on the current trend of women who scammed their way to the top, debuting on Hulu on Thursday. Seyfried and co. will be going up against Joe vs. Carole which debuts the same day on Peacock. That’s two references to Tiger King in one article, is it March of 2020 all over again? Netflix is also coming to play this week with new titles including Jaosn Blumhouse’s new project, Worst Roommate Ever, which showcases some insane true stories of awful roommates for your enjoyment debuting on Tuesday. Other titles include Toni Collette’s newest thriller series, Pieces of Her, coming to Netflix on Friday along with Against the Ice starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who hopes to break the Game of Thrones curse, on Wednesday. Leighton Meester of Gossip Girl fame, rounds out the list with The Weekend Away coming to Netflix on Thursday.
Phew. That’s all I’ve got for this week. Sounds like you’ve got a bunch of options on how you want to be entertained, and I hope you enjoy whichever one you choose. Tune in next week to see how your favorites performed at the Box Office and in homes across the country.