Benzinga | Jul 18, 2021 06:52PM EDT

'Space Jam: A New Legacy' Stomps 'Black Widow' At Weekend US Box Office

"Space Jam: A New Legacy" reigned at the weekend U.S. box office with an opening of $31.7 million in a release across nearly 4,000 theaters.

King James Rules: The film, which stars basketball great LeBron James and a host of animated Looney Tunes characters, overcame mostly poor reviews that compared it unfavorably to the original 1996 "Space Jam" starring Michael Jordan -- that film had an opening weekend gross of $27 million.

The film, which had a reported budget of $150 million, had less success in the global box office with a $23 million gross from 64 countries; AT&T's (NYSE:T) also released the film on HBO Max, but did not provide data on its streaming debut.

Last week's box office champ, the Marvel adventure "Black Widow" from Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), tumbled in its second week in release, falling by 67% to a second-place box office ranking of $26.3 million. The film is also being shown on the Disney+ streaming service for a $29.99 fee, but the studio did not offer data on its streaming gross.

To date, "Black Widow," has grossed $132 million in the U.S. and $264 million overseas.

Rounding out the top five films at the weekend U.S. box office was the debut of Sony Entertainment's (NYSE:SNE, SONY)) "Escape Room: Champion of Tournaments" and two holdovers from Comcast Corporation's (NASDAQ:CMCSA) Universal Pictures: "F9" with $7.6 million and "The Boss Baby: Family Business" at $4.7 million.

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Art House Revival: Perhaps the biggest surprise this weekend was the documentary "Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain" from Focus Features and CNN Films, which had an opening weekend box office of $1.9 million from 927 theaters -- enough to get it an eighth-place ranking on the box office list, the highest for a nonfiction film since the pandemic began.

Another specialty release, the Nicolas Cage film "Pig" from Neon, grossed about $1 million from 550 venues, enough to snag the tenth berth in the weekend's box office top 10.

Coming Soon: The July 23 premieres include Universal Pictures' "Old," a new horror-thriller from M. Night Shyamalan starring Gael Garc?a Bernal and Rufus Sewell, and "Snake Eyes: G.I Joe Origins" from ViacomCBS' (NASDAQ:VIAC) Paramount Pictures starring Henry Golding.

Also coming up in limited release are a pair of documentaries that have already generated positive buzz: "Val" from Amazon.com's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Amazon Studios on the life of actor Val Kilmer and Neon's "Ailey" on the life of dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey.

Photo: An animated LeBron James in "Space Jam: A New Legacy" courtesy of Warner Bros.