The high concept horror film A Quiet Place features a family of four (headed by Krasinski and his real life wife Emily Blunt) who have to fend off mysterious creatures that hunt by sound. With only about three minutes of conventional dialogue in the entire movie, A Quiet Place is chock full of old school horror film suspense and dread. Audiences, which were almost evenly split along gender lines (51% female) and included a fair number of younger viewers (37% under 25), responded, giving the film a “B+” CInemaScore, a GREAT score for a horror film (horror movie audiences being singular in their reluctance to grade “on a curve” like fans of other genres)—and the critics (as they were for Split and Get Out) have been ecstatic, giving A Quiet Place a stellar 97% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
A Quiet Place posted one of the best debuts ever for an “original” horror movie, and the second best bow of 2018 so far, only trailing (although at a great distance) Marvel Studios’ Black Panther. Produced for just $17 million, A Quiet Place, which has a “PG-13” rating, also earned $21 million overseas, where it opened in about 40 markets. A Quiet Place appears to have the potential for a Get Out-like $175 million run, but to do so it will have to demonstrate “great legs,” starting next weekend when it will face direct competition from Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare.
Steven Spielberg’s Ready, Player One dropped just 40% in its second frame, earning $25 million and driving the film’s domestic gross to $97 million. Overseas Spielberg’s latest is doing even better as it slipped just 35%, adding $81 million for an overseas total of $295 million and a current global tally of $391.3 million. This sounds great, and Ready, Player One’s strong second frame performance does indicate that it could eventually make money, but remember that $161.2 million of that total comes from China (where RP1 is already Warner Bros.’ biggest hit ever)—and that the studio gets to keep just 25% of its take from the Middle Kingdom versus 50% from its North American earnings. So, because RP1 cost $175 million to make (and millions more to market), it will have to gross well over $500 million worldwide just to break even.
Third place went to the R-rated comedy Blockers, which like A Quiet Place and Ready, Player One debuted at the South-By-Southwest Festival in Austin, which appears to have usurped the San Diego Comic-Con’s spot as the preferred venue to reach hardcore fans, perhaps because SXSW happens in March. Blockers earned $21.4 million with the kind of solid opening that eluded many R-rated comedies in 2017 (with the exception of Girls Trip). Again the opening weekend crowds were split almost evenly (51% female) with an excellent percentage (for an R-rated film) of viewers under 25 (44%), which testifies to the film’s potential with the hard-to-reach 18-25 segment. Audiences gave Blockers only an OK “B” CinemaScore, which is the only sour note in an otherwise solid debut.
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): April 6-8, 2018 |
||||||
|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
A Quiet Place |
$50,000,000 |
3,508 |
$14,253 |
$50,000,000 |
1 |
|
2 |
Ready Player One |
$25,060,000 |
4,234 |
$5,919 |
$96,920,525 |
2 |
|
3 |
Blockers |
$21,439,000 |
3,379 |
$6,345 |
$21,439,000 |
1 |
|
4 |
Black Panther |
$8,430,000 |
2,747 |
$3,069 |
$665,355,740 |
8 |
|
5 |
I Can Only Imagine |
$8,356,800 |
2,894 |
$2,888 |
$69,084,002 |
4 |
|
6 |
Tyler Perry's Acrimony |
$8,065,000 |
2,006 |
$4,020 |
$31,349,580 |
2 |
|
7 |
Chappaquiddick |
$6,200,000 |
1,560 |
$3,974 |
$6,200,000 |
1 |
|
8 |
Sherlock Gnomes |
$5,600,000 |
2,733 |
$2,049 |
$33,898,061 |
3 |
|
9 |
Pacific Rim Uprising |
$4,910,000 |
2,627 |
$1,869 |
$54,919,060 |
3 |
|
10 |
Isle Of Dogs |
$4,600,000 |
554 |
$8,303 |
$12,048,934 |
3 |
Meanwhile Marvel Studios’ Black Panther dropped just 27% in its eighth weekend as it earned an additional $8.4 million to push the film’s year-to-date leading domestic total to $665 million, making it the third highest-grossing film in North America of all time (not adjusted for inflation), trailing only Avatar and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Black Panther still has a decent shot to overtake the Dark Knight’s inflation-adjusted total of $687.7 million, to become the #2 superhero film (and the #1 solo superhero film) of all time.
The under-the-radar “stealth” hit I Can Only Imagine dropped just 20% as it added $8.4 million to bring its domestic total to $69 million. Easter is now past, but this faith-based film about one of the most popular Christian rock songs, just keeps performing. A “leggy” run could see I Can Only Imagine flirting with $100 million here in North America, which would make it one of the most successful faith-themed films of our era, trailing only “big-budget” films like The Passion of the Christ and the Narnia movies. Remember I Can Only Imagine cost just $7 million to produce.
Debuting at number six is the political/historical biopic Chappaquiddick, which earned $6.2 million from just over 1,500 theaters. Future prospects for Chappaquiddick are a bit murky given the “B” CinemaScore it received from its older audience, and the controversy surrounding the film’s portrayal of the notorious incident that sullied the reputation of the late Senator Ted Kennedy.
The bottom half of the top ten hold more bad news for a couple of struggling franchises. The animated Sherlock Gnomes has earned just $33.9 million in three weekends and could well be the final “Gnomes” movie for some time, and Pacific Rim: Uprising slipped to #9 in its third weekend and will likely end its run way behind the original Pacific Rim. While Universal was able to keep the cost down to “just” $150 million on Uprising, the movie will likely end up losing even more money than the original Pacific Rim.
Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated Isle of Dogs expanded to 554 theaters and earned $4.6 million to bring its total to $12 million. All signs point to Isle of Dogs becoming another in Anderson’s string of modest art house hits.
This weekend’s fourth debuting film, the sports drama A Miracle Season debuted in just over 1,700 locations and earned $4.1 million. The girls’ volleyball drama did earn an “A” CInemaScore from those who did go to see it, though the film’s theatrical audience appeal appears limited.
Be sure and check back here next week to see what happened in what should be a very interesting and highly competitive marketplace as the Dwayne Johnson-starring video game-inspired Rampage debuts in nearly 4000 theaters along with Blumhouse’s latest horror film, Truth or Dare, which heads to over 3000 venues, while the tennis drama Borg vs. McEnroe, and the animated Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero attempt to make some hay on the fringes of what should be a wild weekend.
