LeBron James just scored a slam dunk at the box office after Space Jam: A New Legacy shot straight to the North American box office this weekend. It easily topped Black Widow with an impressive debut of $32 million following a $13.2 million opening day on Friday.
The Marvel Studios movie, on the other hand, dropped a massive 80% from Friday to Friday with an $8 million haul for a projected second weekend of $26 million - $27 million (a 67% drop).
That's by no means a bad result, but it is a big fall from last week, and a result, perhaps, of people being able to watch the movie at home on Disney+'s Premier Access. Black Widow broke records last weekend (in the pandemic era), and it seems Space Jam: A New Legacy's negative reviews have done nothing to stop families from taking their kids to see the sequel to the animated classic.
Of course, the movie is also available is HBO Max (for free), making these numbers even more impressive in some respects. Now, all eyes will be on The Suicide Squad in a few weeks.
There are concerns about the Delta variant of COVID-19, but it's unclear whether that's had any sort of impact on the box office this weekend. Moviegoers have certainly embraced the opportunity to return to the theatrical experience, and that's hopefully going to continue as we head into the winter.
Check out our interview with Space Jam star Billy West in the player below: