Warner Bros.' 'Tom & Jerry' Scores $13.7M At Box Office

AT&T’s T Warner Bros. subsidiary reigned at the weekend box office with its animation-live action hybrid "Tom & Jerry," scoring $13.7 million in domestic ticket sales and $25.1 million internationally.

What Happened: Only 42% of U.S. movie theaters are open, and those venues are operating at limited capacity seating. Not surprisingly, box office performance has been far below pre-pandemic levels.

The “Tom & Jerry” box office numbers are the second highest for a film opening since the pandemic began — another Warner Bros. film, “Wonder Woman 1984,” brought in $16.7 million in its December opening weekend.

The film significantly outpaced the No. 2 film at the box office, “The Croods: A New Age” from Comcast CMCSA subsidiaries Universal Pictures and DreamWorks.

What Happens Next: “Tom & Jerry” also debuted simultaneously on the HBO Max streaming service for a one-month run, and the vibrancy in the weekend box office suggests audiences may start to move away from watching movies at home and return to theaters.

Also, the film’s robust opening breathes new life into the Tom & Jerry franchise, which had been stuck for years in direct-to-DVD productions that placed the cat and mouse duo in uninspired remakes of classic films including “The Wizard of Oz” and “Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.”

The last attempt at a feature film using the characters was in 1992, and it flopped with audiences.

Photo courtesy Warner Bros.