Labor Day Box Office Plummets 55% From 2021 as ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ Returns

thewrap.com:

Current industry estimates have overall figures for the 4-day weekend finishing at just $63-65 million. In 2021, “Shang-Chi” boosted that total to $140 million, and prior to the pandemic, only one Labor Day weekend in the 2010s saw a 4-day total below $100 million ($97 million in 2017.)The National Association of Theater Owners stemmed the tide somewhat with National Cinema Day, a campaign that offered $3 movie tickets at cinemas nationwide on Saturday with major chains like Cinemark and AMC also offering discounts on popcorn and soda.

While that did not dramatically boost the box office with a 9% increase over last Saturday, NATO reported that 8.1 million tickets were sold by participating theaters, greatly increasing admissions while encouraging customers to spend the saved money on concessions, which theaters keep a larger share of the profit on than ticket sales.

NATO is also hoping that moviegoers who took part in the discounts will get back into the habit of heading to theaters when the release slate picks up in the fall.

But on the charts, the two films fighting for No. 1 are not new releases, but rather record-breaking blockbusters released months ago: Paramount/Skydance’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The “No Way Home” re-release, titled “More Fun Stuff,” adds 11 new minutes of footage to the $1.9 billion blockbuster hit, including a new post-credit scene that explains the ripple effects of Peter Parker’s actions in the film’s climax.