• by Wayne Friedman , January 30, 2022

With no new wide-screen theatrical releases scheduled for the last weekend in January, Sony Pictures’ “Spider-Man: No Way Home” returned as the No. 1 box-office movie with a modest $11 million in revenue.

The lack of weekend theatrical scheduling was due to, in part, avoiding the expected large TV audience for the NFL’s major NFL championship conference games. The games can regularly top a massive 40 million to 45 million TV viewers, second only to the Super Bowl.

“Spider-Man,” in its seventh week on 3,675 North American screens, now totals $735.9 million for its entire U.S./Canadian run, according to Comscore.

Paramount’s “Scream,” now in its third week on 3,518 screens, pulled in $7.35 million this past weekend. Universal Pictures’ “Sing 2,” in its sixth week and on 3,450 screens, was at $4.8 million.

In the first month of 2022, Comscore says, the North American box office is up 484% over a year ago. IMdb’s Box Office Mojo says total U.S. box-office revenue, so far, hit $277 million.

In January, iSpot.tv says, movie studios' TV marketing has produced 5.5 billion impressions -- almost double that of a year ago (2.8 billion). There have been 15,672 airings (6,965 a year ago), with spending estimated at $67.2 million in national TV in 2022 ($25.5 million a year ago).

Upcoming movies earning major national TV dollars include Lionsgate’s “Moonfall,” an action-adventure take about a mysterious force that knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth. It starts February 4, and an estimated $8 million has been spent so far, according to iSpot.tv.

Paramount Pictures’ “Jackass Forever,” the longtime comedy/action franchise, also begins February 4. An estimated $3.6 million has been placed on national TV advertising to date.

Twentieth Century Studios' “Death on the Nile” ($7.2 million), opens February 11; Universal Pictures’ “Marry Me”($3.8 million), a romantic comedy starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson, also opens February 11.

MGM’s “Dog,” a comedy with Channing Tatum ($4.3 million), starts February 18.  Columbia Pictures’ “Uncharted,” an action-adventure film with Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland ($4.2 million), also debuts February 18.