Weekend Box Office (April 6 - 8, 2018)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND The modestly-priced fright film A Quiet Place captivated the attention of North American moviegoers and rocketed to a sensational opening of an estimated $50M delivering one of the best debuts of all-time for the horror genre. It was the biggest opening weekend in 20 months for Paramount and the studio's first number one opener since last June's Transformers: The Last Knight.

Place averaged a stunning $14,253 from 3,508 locations and capitalized on buzz that had been growing rapidly over the past two weeks leading up to opening day. These results are well above all expectations. The CinemaScore grade was a B+ which is encouraging for this genre.

Word of mouth has been incredible and with Friday the 13th approaching in a few days, the road ahead seems very bright. The Saturday gross inched up a bit from Friday's take (which includes Thursday night pre-shows) so momentum is solid and more people are learning about the PG-13 thriller. Studio data showed that the crowd was 51% female, 63% over 25, and 54% white.

Directed by and starring John Krasinski, A Quiet Place scored the third biggest opening weekend ever in the month of April for a non-sequel after The Jungle Book and Clash Of The Titans. And compared to the openings for top horror movies, it beat every film from the Conjuring, Insidious and Saw franchises plus all but one Paranormal Activity pic, as well as high-profile reboots of genre heavyweights like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, and Halloween.

With a low production cost of only $17M, A Quiet Place looks to gross at least seven or eight times that amount in North America alone. Half of international territories opened this weekend with $21M so reaching $250M worldwide looks possible making for one of 2018's most profitable films.

Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi adventure Ready Player One held up quite well in its second weekend dropping 40% from its Easter holiday launch. The Warner Bros. release grossed an estimated $25.1M and lifted its 11-day sum to $96.9M. This week, the futuristic actioner will easily become the director's 16th career film to break $100M domestic and is on its way to a possible finish of about $160M from North America which is the world's number two market on this picture.

China is taking in another $42M this weekend in its sophomore session boosting the cume there to a stunning $161.3M with much more to go. International markets contributed an estimated $81.7M this weekend raising the overseas tally to $294.4M and the global take to $391.3M on its way north of the $600M mark.

Universal scored an R-rated comedy hit with Blockers which opened to an estimated $21.4M from 3,379 theaters for a solid $6,345 average. Good reviews plus starpower from Leslie Mann and John Cena helped attract an audience as did the engaging plot about three parents trying to stop their teenage daughters from trying to lose their virginity on prom night. Studio data showed a broad audience with the gender split being an even 51/49 female. 56% were over 25 and 60% were white. The B grade from CinemaScore indicates decent but not great word of mouth.

Another weekend, another box office milestone for Black Panther. The T'Challa hit sailed past Titanic on the all-time domestic blockbusters chart with $665.4M to take the number three spot behind only Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($936.7M) and Avatar ($760.5M). Dropping only 27% in its eighth weekend, the biggest super hero movie ever grossed an estimated $8.4M which was more than the $7M that Force Awakens did in its eighth round. Look for domestic to finish in the $690M neighborhood.

Overseas markets are finishing up their Black Panther runs with the total cume standing at a staggering $634.5M led by China ($104.6M), the U.K. ($67.6M), Korea ($42.8M) and Brazil ($36M). The worldwide haul has now reached an eye-popping $1.3 billion. In less than three weeks, the Wakanda heroes return to the big screen in Avengers: Infinity War which is already tracking to generate one of the largest global openings in box office history.

The faith-based sleeper hit I Can Only Imagine stayed in the top five for the fourth time with an estimated $8.4M dropping a mere 20%. The cume for Roadside Attractions is now $69.1M on its way to the $95-100M range. Tyler Perry saw his standard second weekend drop for Acrimony which fell 53% to an estimated $8.1M putting Lionsgate at $31.4M to date.

The Kennedy drama Chappaquiddick attracted modest numbers debuting to an estimated $6.2M from 1,560 locations for a so-so $3,974 average. Reviews were good for the Entertainment Studios release. The toon Sherlock Gnomes held up quite well dipping 20% to an estimated $5.6M giving Paramount $33.9M overall.

Falling 48% in its third wave was Pacific Rim Uprising with an estimated $4.9M for Universal and a domestic total of $54.9M. Rounding out the top ten was Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs which expanded again going from 165 to 554 locations grossing an estimated $4.6M. Fox Searchlight enjoyed the second best average in the top ten with a robust $8,303. Cume is $12M and next weekend will see an addition of over 1,000 screens as the animated pic enters all markets with a total theater count of roughly 1,750.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $142.7M this weekend which was up 34% from last year when The Boss Baby stayed at number one with $26.4M; and up 57% from 2016 when The Boss opened in the top spot with $23.6M.

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Watch the trailer for Deadpool 2.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Rampage and Truth or Dare open.

THIS WEEKEND'S TOP 20

Last Updated: April 8, 2018 at 2:10PM ET

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