'Uncharted' Tops US Box Office With Projected $51M Over Holiday Weekend

The big screen adaptation of the video game “Uncharted” is the dominant player at the Presidents’ Day weekend box office, with the Sony Pictures SONY title on track to generate a projected $51 million in ticket sales from 4,275 screens.

What Happened: “Uncharted” easily outpaced the weekend’s other new film release, the MGM/United Artists Releasing “Dog” starring and co-directed by Channing Tatum, which is projected to bring home $18 million in ticket sales from 3,677 screens.

“Uncharted” star Tom Holland’s earlier blockbuster, Sony Pictures' “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” was the weekend’s third highest grossing film, generating a projected $9.1 million from 2.956 screens for its tenth week in theatrical release. Last week’s top grossing film, “Death on the Nile” from Walt Disney Co. DIS, sank into fourth place with a projected $7.6 million from 3,280 theaters.

“Jackass Forever” from Paramount PARAA, rounded out the top five grossing films with a projected $6.1 million from 3,071 theaters in its third week of theatrical release.

What Happens Next: For the upcoming weekend, the sole film going into nationwide release is the thriller “The Desperate Hour” from Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment, starring Naomi Watts as a mother racing to save her child as an active shooter situation puts their town under a police lockdown.

Opening in limited release is “Studio 666,” a horror-comedy from Open Road Films starring the Foo Fighters as themselves in a haunted mansion; Samuel Goldwyn Films’ comedy “Big Gold Brick” starring Andy Garcia and Oscar Isaac; and Lionsgate’s (NYSE: LGF-A) Western adventure “Desperate Riders” starring Tom Berenger and Trace Adkins.

Also Happening: Two classic films are returning with special anniversary presentations.

Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 Academy Award-winning masterpiece is having a 50th anniversary theatrical re-release on Friday in limited AMC Theatres AMC. The film and its two sequels, “The Godfather Part II” (1974) and “The Godfather Part III” (1990) will be made available for home entertainment release in 4K Ultra HD for the first time on March 22 from Paramount.

F.W. Murnau’s “Nosferatu” is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. The film was an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” – and the film was nearly lost forever when Stoker’s widow successfully sued to have the production withdrawn and all prints destroyed. Mercifully, materials survived and a new HD version from a 35mm restoration – which includes color tinting and an orchestral performance of Hans Erdmann's original score – is being released by Kino Lorber on DVD and Blu-ray and on all major VOD platforms.

Photo: Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland in "Uncharted," courtesy of Sony Pictures.