Robert Pattinson’s moody superhero adventure “The Batman” prevailed at the box office again.
The film earned $66 million in its second weekend of release, propelling its domestic tally to a robust $238.5 million. After only 10 days on the big screen, “The Batman” ranks as the highest-grossing movie of 2022, as well as the second-highest grossing movie since the onset of COVID-19. Only “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which has generated a stellar $792 million in North America, has earned more money at the domestic box office in the past two years.
Ticket sales for “The Batman” declined 41% from its debut, a better hold than most comic book tentpoles — especially in pandemic times. Other COVID-era releases, such as “The Suicide Squad,” “Eternals,” “Black Widow” and “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” plummeted anywhere from 53% to 71% in their sophomore outings.
Positive reviews and strong word-of-mouth have kept audiences coming back to “The Batman,” which co-stars Zoe Kravitz as Catwoman and Paul Dano as the Riddler. Directed by Matt Reeves, the PG-13 “The Batman” — which runs at a butt-numbing three hours — takes a gritty look at Bruce Wayne’s earlier days as “the world’s greatest detective.”
Without any new nationwide releases, “The Batman” had no trouble towering over domestic charts. In a distant second place, Tom Holland’s video game adaptation “Uncharted” nabbed $9.2 million from 3,725 North American venues. After four weeks of release, the PG-13 action-adventure has earned $113 million.