Plus Tyler Perry Makes a Big Splash in Emerging Partnership with Netflix
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. As I teased last week, Warner Brothers’ newest title, The Batman, was the star of the show, but is it a contender for the billion-dollar club?!
The stars really seemed to align for the defender of Gotham. Not only did he bring in an impressive global opening of $248.5 million, with $128.5 million domestically and $120 million overseas, but Rotten Tomatoes wound up being a strong sidekick to the DCEU with a certified fresh rating of 85%. It also got an additional unexpected assist from AMC’s recent move to charge an average $1.28 per ticket, which despite public outrage seems to be a regular practice for movie theaters (it’s just usually done quietly for this exact reason!) Nonetheless, it seems like the majority of movie goers gladly ate the additional fees, rewarding Robert Pattinson’s Bruce Wayne with the number one spot at the box office this weekend. Uncharted took second place, crossing the century mark with over $100 million in total ticket sales.
Moving to the couch, here is what’s going on in the world of streaming. Netflix and Tyler Perry’s new partnership is off to a great start as A Madea Homecoming was the first film to finally dethrone The Tinder Swindler, debuting at number one with 31 million hours viewed. Don’t worry too much, true crime fans, I have some good news for you as well. Not only did the captivating series swipe its way to the second-place spot with 17 million hours viewed this week but, moving on to the television list, Inventing Anna continues to dominate the competition with 130 million hours viewed in its third week, retaining its number one spot once again. If you are a fan of Vikings Valhala, you can rejoice in its second-place debut with 80 million hours viewed.
Looking ahead to next weekend, everyone’s eyes are on The Batman to see how it holds up in its second weekend. Will word of mouth bring it further along on the road to a billion dollars, or is the dark knight all out of moves? For the families out there, Turning Red, which was scheduled to be released to theaters this week, is instead heading straight to your living room on Disney + at no extra cost. Netflix also has a big screen worthy release with The Adam Project, starring Ryan Reynolds, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner and Zoe Saldana, debuting on the platform this Friday. Talk about clearing a path for the DCEU’s latest addition to have all the screens to itself!
If you’re a basketball fan, you can turn on your HBO Max right after you finish reading this and tune into Adam McKay’s Winning Time about the history of the Lakers, which debuted on March 6th. Other streaming options include an entire season of Bust Down releasing on Peacock on Thursday, and Apple TV’s first two episodes of The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey coming out on Friday. Finally, fan-favorite Upload’s second season will be heading to Amazon Prime on Friday as well as Ryan Murphy’s docuseries The Andy Warhol Diaries debuting on Netflix this Wednesday.
That about wraps up this week’s edition of The Couch Potato Corner. Tune in next week to see how your favorites performed at the Box Office and in homes across the country.