What peaks are there to climb after four NBA championships and 17 starts on the All-Star team? Number one at the box office, of course.
LeBron James led his Looney Tunes teammates to victory this weekend, earning $31.7 million domestically. This is, according to The Hollywood Reporter, substantially higher than the $20 million that was expected. Space Jam was a record-breaker for family-oriented pictures since the coronavirus outbreak, despite pretty lousy reviews. (“I’ve never seen anything like it. I also hope to never see anything like it again,” wrote the Chicago Sun-Times’s Richard Roeper). It likewise prevailed even though, as with all 2021 Warner Bros. titles, it was released simultaneously to HBO Max.
The animation-live action blend, a follow-up to the Michael Jordan-led hit from 1996, co-stars Sonequa Martin-Green and Don Cheadle, and sets a new benchmark for brand awareness with cameos and easter eggs from other intellectual properties in the Warner Bros. portfolio. Classic titles such as Casablanca rub shoulders with new favorites like Mad Max: Fury Road. But there are also some unexpected, not-for-kids deep cuts in there, with brief visual references to Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and Ken Russell’s The Devils. Also, The Wizard of Oz may have been an MGM production, but thanks to a late ‘90s library acquisition, it gets an appearance. (Kids love corporate mergers!) You can check out this deep dive on all the references; thankfully, WB’s Ready Player One didn’t make the cut. Otherwise, the world would cave in on itself.
Second place at the box office this weekend went to Black Widow, whose fans had no reason to mourn with $26.3 million in its week two take. Like Space Jam, this latest Marvel Cinematic Universe entry is available for home viewing, but at a $30 premium on top of a monthly Disney+ subscription. Sony’s Escape Room: Champion of Tournaments came in third place with $8.8 million in domestic receipts.
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