The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
has since turned to producing, including this and future “Spider-Man” installments.) Box-office disappointments like the Dan Brown adaptation “Inferno,” Ang Lee’s high-frame-rate gambit “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” and the cultural flashpoint “Ghostbusters” have dotted its lineup.
But now, Sony has arguably the two biggest hits in the land: one a smartly recycled franchise, the other a quick and quirky original. Edgar Wright’s acclaimed action-musical “Baby Driver” slid just 38 percent in its second week, coming in third with $12.8 million. The movie, which cost $34 million to produce, has already earned $56.9 million domestically.
Last week’s top film, “Despicable Me 3,” dropped to second with $34 million.
As good as the news was for Sony, the weekend’s results also proved a modern-day movie maxim: No one does franchise-building better than Marvel. “Spider-Man” is one of three major summer hits thus far, following the Marvel-Disney sequel “Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2” and the Warner Bros.-D.C. Comics release “Wonder Woman.”
The latter success came only after several high-profile missteps in Warner Bros.’ attempt to build a Marvelstyle universe of films. Earlier this summer, Universal’s plans for its “Dark Universe” of monster movies got off to a rocky start with the poorly performing “The Mummy.”