If it weren’t for the ferocious success of Marvel Studios’ Black Panther, we would be talking about a precipitous box office decline in the first quarter of 2018, and even with T’Challa’s box office magic, which should make the Black Panther the third highest-grossing film in North American box office history (not adjusted for inflation), the overall box office was still down a substantial 22.9% in the first quarter when compared with 2017. There are numerous would be blockbusters set to debut this coming spring, summer, and fall that could reverse this trend, but the 2018 box office will still have to dig out of a fairly deep first quarter hole.
In terms of unadjusted box office totals, Ready Player One posted the fifth biggest opening among Steven Spielberg’s films, trailing only Indiana Jones 4, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, and Jurassic Park. But when adjusting for ticket price inflation, Ready Player One falls to tenth place, trailing films like Minority Report and Catch Me If You Can. Ready Player One cost in the neighborhood of $175 million to produce, so the film’s North American debut is a modest success at best.
Ready Player One did receive a solid “A-“ CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, which skewed male (59%) and a bit older for such a “youth-oriented” video game-inspired film with 56% over 25. With solid notices from the critics (currently 76% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes), and good word-of-mouth Ready Player One could “play” well over the next few weeks with the only major competition for its target audience coming from the Dwayne Johnson-starring video game-inspired monster movie Rampage, which opens on April 13.
Like many of its video game-inspired predecessors (e.g. World of Warcraft) Ready Player One is doing better in China, where it posted Warner Bros.’ best debut ever ($61.7 million), for an overseas debut total of $128 million.
Tyler Perry’s Acrimony, which stars Taraji P. Henson, debuted at #2 with $17.1 million and a solid $8,524 per screen average. Acrimony drew a crowd that skewed heavily female (74%) and very much older with 85% over 25.
In its seventh weekend in theaters Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther dropped 34.1% as it earned $11.3 million to bring its 2018 leading box office total to $650.7. It now appears possible that Black Panther will reach $687.7 to surpass the Dark Knight’s adjusted total and become the true #2 superhero film of all time (the Avengers’ adjusted $704 million total appears to be a bridge too far, but passing the Dark Knight’s total would be a mammoth achievement). Black Panther’s global haul is now $1.2739 billion as it passed Beauty and the Beast ($1.263 billion) to the #11 spot all-time (not-adjusted).
Fourth place went to the Christian Rock biopic I Can Only Imagine, which dropped just 21% as it earned $10.8 million and dispatched its faith-based adversaries Paul Apostle of Christ (#10, $3.5 million) and God Is Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, #12, $2.6 million) into oblivion.
Last week’s number one film, Pacific Rim: Uprising, tumbled a whopping 67.3% as it earned just $9.2 million to bring its domestic total to $45.7 million. Uprising has earned $122.4 million overseas, but this $150 million production could well mark the last gasp of this anime-inspired franchise.
After its disappointing debut, the animated Sherlock Gnomes did post a solid second frame as it dropped just 34%, but this $60 million production, which has earned $22.8 million in 10 days, still has a long way to go to turn a profit.
Faring better is Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon, which dipped 36.8% as it earned $4.8 million to bring the $17 million production’s domestic total to $32.1 million.
Lurking just outside the top ten is Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs, which added 138 screens (for a total of 165) as it earned $2.8 million for an excellent $17,030 average (the best of the week). Look for that average to dip as the film expands to near 500 theaters next weekend before it goes wide on April 13.
Next week Universal will debut the R-rated comedy Blockers in more than 3300 theaters, while John Krasinski’s horror film A Quiet Place bows on 3200 screens, with the sports drama A Miracle Season and the political drama Chappaquiddick open in just under 2000 venues each. Both Blockers and A Quiet Place have received a lot of pre-release buzz, but can either of them topple Ready Player One?