Weekend Box Office (March 22 - 24, 2019)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND No sophomore slump here as Jordan Peele's second feature, Us, crushed the box office this weekend with an estimated $70.25M from 3,741 theaters for a per screen average of $18,778. The film set a few new standards with this tremendous opening. Us has the highest-grossing original horror opening in history, the highest-grossing original R-rated film opening ever and has the biggest opening weekend for an original live-action film since Avatar way back in 2009. It started with $29M on Friday (including previews), slipped 12% on Saturday to $25.49, and currently Universal has it with $15.7M on Sunday, but don't be surprised if that goes up when the final numbers are released. Internationally it added $16.7M from 47 markets bringing its worldwide cume to $86.95M. The CinemaScore was a B which means we should pay close attention to how it does next weekend, but critics were in love with the film as it currently stands at 94% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience was split 50/50 between men and women and 53% of the audience was 25 and up.

Current queen of the superhero universe, Captain Marvel had to settle for second place in its third weekend, bringing in an estimated $35M raising its total up to $322M. It now stands as the #21 domestic super-hero genre release of all-time with a lot more to go. Internationally it added an additional $52M, bringing its overseas number to $589M for a worldwide cume of $910M, passing the likes of Batman vs Superman ($874M) and Spider-Man 3 ($891M) for 10th place on the global super-hero list.

The animated Wonder Park slipped 43% in its second weekend to an estimated $9M, bringing its total up to $29.5M. A finale in the $50M region seems likely. CBS/Lionsgate's Five Feet Under held on pretty well in its second weekend, falling only 34% to an estimated $8.75M this weekend, bringing its cume up to $26.4M. A final total in the $50M range also seems likely for this teen romance.

The DreamWorks Animation sequel How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World landed in fifth place with an estimated $6.5M bringing its total after five weeks up to $145.7M. Tyler Perry's latest Madea romp, A Madea Family Funeral added another $4.5M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its total up to $65.8M after four weekends. It is now the third highest grossing Madea film ever.

A24's Gloria Bell added 615 theaters and took in an estimated $1.8M this weekend raising its cume to $2.5M. The Spanish-language sequel No Manches Frida 2 had the steepest drop in the top 10 falling 53.5% in its second weekend to an estimated $1.78M, bringing its total up to $6.6M. A finale in the $10M area seems reasonable.

More animation as WB's The LEGO Movie 2 stayed in the top 10 in its seventh weekend with an estimated $1.1M, bringing its total up to $103M. Rounding out the top 10 was Alita: Battle Angel with just over $1M, according to estimates, bringing its cume up to $83.7M after six weekends.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $139.8M which was up 28.6% from last year when Pacific Rim: Uprising opened in the number one spot with $28.1M; but down 27.4% from 2017 when Beauty and the Beast held on to the top spot with an astounding $90.4M in its second weekend.


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Watch the trailer for Dark Phoenix.

THIS WEEKEND'S TOP 10

Last Updated: March 24, 2019 at 12:40PM ET

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