These days, Tom Holland is never too far from the top of box office charts.
The “Spider-Man: No Way Home” actor is returning to theaters this weekend as a different kind of vigilante in Sony’s “Uncharted,” an action adventure based on the popular video game. The film is expected to make $27 million between Friday and Sunday and $30 million through President’s Day on Monday. Some box office prognosticators believe “Uncharted” could reach $35 million in its first four days in theaters. Those receipts will be enough to easily glide to the No. 1 spot over last weekend’s champion, “Death on the Nile.”
“Uncharted” cost $120 million to produce, so it will need to sell tickets — and lots of them — to turn a profit for the studio. Reviews have been mixed, at best, so Holland’s charisma will be key at filling seats in otherwise spottily attended cinemas. As the dashing treasure hunter Nathan Drake, Holland is attempting to test his big-screen appeal out of his alter ego as Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider-Man. Earlier this week, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” officially unseated director James Cameron’s 2009 science-fiction epic “Avatar” to become the third-highest grossing domestic release in history. Can he sell tickets when he’s not donning his signature Spidey suit?
Ahead of its domestic debut, “Uncharted” opened at the international box office to a solid $21.5 million from 15 overseas markets. Along with the U.S. and Canada, the film opens this week Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico and South Korea.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer (“Venom”), the globe-trotting “Uncharted” follows Nathan Drake and his wisecracking partner Sully (Mark Wahlberg) as they embark on a death-defying quest to uncover the greatest treasure never found. Complicating matters, the fearless explorers are racing against two baddies (played by Antonio Banderas and Tati Gabrielle) to locate the fabled fortunes. Think “Indiana Jones,” but as a zoomer.
Variety’s chief film critic Owen Gleiberman called the film “a video-game movie that’s better than most,” but he qualified that statement by adding “that’s not saying much.”
“‘Uncharted’ is at least trying for something,” he wrote. “It’s built around an appealing pair of actors: Tom Holland, who I think registers more vividly as he grows less boyish (he’s in a more rough-and-tumble mode here), and Mark Wahlberg, who knows how to play a hard-ass who is also a trickster. (It’s no insult to Wahlberg to say that his intelligence is his secret weapon.)”
Though “Uncharted” will rule the competition, it’s not the only new nationwide release. Channing Tatum’s PG-13 canine adventure “Dog” is projected to collect $8 million to $10 million between Friday and Monday. MGM, who produced the movie along with FilmNation Entertainment, is rolling out “Dog” in approximately 3,677 locations across North America.
Tatum, who directed the movie with Reid Carolin, stars in the road trip buddy comedy as a former Army Ranger. Armed with his dog Lulu, a Belgian Malinois, and his 1984 Ford Bronco, the two race down the Pacific Coast in hopes of making it to a fellow soldier’s funeral on time.