‘Rampage’ Fights Back To Barely Beat The Surprising ‘A Quiet Place’ [Box Office]

Never bet against The Rock.

After Friday’s estimates put Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s latest film, “Rampage,” finishing in the high-$20’s and good for a second-place finish – way below expectations – the people came out in full-force this weekend and gave the film an opening weekend win. With $34.5 million, “Rampage” was barely able to eek out a win, but New Line/Warner Bros. has to be happy with that performance. Because all weekend long, it was looking like last week’s winner, “A Quiet Place” was going to shock the world yet again.

Now, it’s not all good news for “Rampage.” While $34.5 million is good enough to win the weekend, the action film would have liked an opening of at least $45 million and will likely need some help from the international audiences to make this film profitable. And with a global opening weekend of $148.6 million, it looks like it might be on its way to earning a decent profit for the studio. The film also scored a very respectable A- CinemaScore, which bodes well for word-of-mouth for the film. However, realistically, this film has only one more weekend to dominate before Marvel Studios’ “Avengers: Infinity War” comes out at the end of the month, and will no doubt, destroy all in its path.

READ MORE: ‘Rampage’: A Surprisingly Boring Blockbuster That Dwayne Johnson’s Charisma Can’t Save [Review]

However, the big news this weekend isn’t about The Rock, it’s about John Krasinski’s horror flick, “A Quiet Place.” After a monster opening of $50 million, the low-budget film pulled in another $32.6 million, which is only a slight -35% off last weekend. This means that after 10 days the $17 million-budgeted film has already pulled in $99.6 million domestically. Expect word-of-mouth to carry this film for at least the next weekend. Paramount has an unqualified hit on their hands with this film. It’s no wonder they were quick to snatch up Krasinski’s follow-up film.

The other big opening this weekend was Blumhouse’s “Truth or Dare.” The sub-$5 million budgeted horror film debuted with a very respectable $19 million after three days, landing in third place. Many people wondered if the ridiculous success of “A Quiet Place” would hinder the opening of “Truth or Dare,” but it doesn’t seem like there was much if any, impact. “A Quiet Place” is attracting people of all ages, while “Truth or Dare” is still going after those young people looking for a cheesy horror film. While this movie won’t have the breakout theatrical run that Blumhouse saw with their 2017 films “Get Out,” “Split,” and “Happy Death Day,” “Truth or Dare” is definitely going to turn a tidy little profit for the production company.

In its third weekend, Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” dropped 54% for a weekend total of $11.2 million, for a #4 showing, and a domestic cume of $114.6 million. Sadly for the film, “Rampage” stole a fair amount of large-format screenings, and with ‘Avengers’ on the horizon, Spielberg’s latest has a tough road ahead. However, “Ready Player One” is inching closer to that $500 million worldwide gross, which is a pretty great milestone for the big-budget sci-fi film, even though Warner Bros. would have probably liked something higher.

The R-rated comedy with surprisingly great reviews, “Blockers,” dropped a decent 50% in its second weekend for a fifth-place finish of $10.3 million. The John Cena-led film now stands at $36.9 million domestically. “Black Panther,” which is still doing pretty great, is at #6 with a $5.3 million weekend in its 9th frame. The film is now about $1.3 billion worldwide and should be wrapping up its run just in time for the character to appear in ‘Avengers.’ “Black Panther” barely beat Wes Anderson’s “Isle of Dogs,” which finally saw its nationwide release and landed at #7 with $5 million. The animated dog film now has a domestic total of $18.4 million.

The only other film to debut in a decent amount of theaters this weekend was Tony Gilroy’s latest film, “Beirut.” That film was shown in 755 theaters and pulled in a decent $1.65 million. While that’s not going to wow anyone, the film is a throwback to the political thrillers of the ‘90s and was never positioned as something that would dominate the box office.

READ MORE: Tony Gilroy Talks ‘Beirut’; Unearthing A Script From 1991 & More [Interview]

Next week sees the release of three films, with comedies “I Feel Pretty” (Amy Schumer’s latest) and “Super Troopers 2,” as well as the thriller “Traffik.” Look for “A Quiet Place” and “Rampage” to contend for the #1 spot against “I Feel Pretty.”

Here’s the top 10 for April 13 – 15:

1. Rampage — $34.5M (Debut)
2. A Quiet Place — $32.6M ($99.6M Overall)
3. Truth or Dare — $19M (Debut)
4. Ready Player One — $11.2M ($114.6M)
5. Blockers — $10.3 ($36.9M)
6. Black Panther — $5.3M ($673.8M)
7. Isle of Dogs — $5M ($18.4M)
8. I Can Only Imagine — $3.8M ($75M)
9. Tyler Perry’s Acrimony — $3.7M ($37.9M)
10. Chappaquiddick— $3M ($11M)