With new comedies “I Feel Pretty” and “Super Troopers 2” being the only major debuts this weekend, many saw the fight for #1 at the box office as a rematch of last week. And they were right. However, this weekend, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson didn’t have enough in the tank to power over “A Quiet Place.”
Before we get to The Rock versus Jim Halpert, let’s talk about the big debuts this weekend. Amy Schumer’s highly controversial comedy “I Feel Pretty” performed about as well as expected, pulling in $16.2 million in its debut frame. Unfortunately for Schumer, ‘Pretty’ marks the lowest debut for the actress after a $19.5 million debut for her last film “Snatched,” and a $30 million opening for her first film “Trainwreck.”
READ MORE: ‘I Feel Pretty’ With Amy Schumer Is Well-Intentioned, But Flimsy & Shallow [Review]
Coming into the weekend, the PG-13 comedy had an uphill battle in the press. Critics trashed the film (34% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the comedy sparked a million think pieces on whether or not the supposed feminist message was actually un-feminist. Perhaps those factored into the low debut, or maybe after “Snatched” failed to deliver as a follow-up to the beloved “Trainwreck,” audiences aren’t completely sold on Schumer as a leading lady anymore. Only time will tell.
The weekend could have gone a lot worse for Schumer and “I Feel Pretty,” thanks to a surprising showing from “Super Troopers 2,” which almost beat the much bigger film. After a crowd-funding campaign saw the Broken Lizard comedy group come back with a long-awaited sequel to their 2002 film, many were predicting a low, single-digit debut for the raunchy comedy. However, “Super Troopers 2” debuted at #4 with an impressive $14.7 million domestic opening. This is more than double the $6 million debut of the first ‘Troopers,’ and the sequel is already less than $4 million off the domestic total for the previous film.
Even though critics ravaged this film, it was never going to be a critical darling. Launching on 4/20, the film positioned itself as the go-to movie for the stoner crowd and rode the cult status of the original film to a respectable showing this weekend. Unlike “I Feel Pretty,” which has a reported production budget of $32 million, ‘Troopers’ has a much more reasonable budget of $13.5 million. This means that ‘Troopers’ has a clear path ahead of itself to profitability. However, if we’re talking about profitable movies, you need not look much further than the top spot this weekend.
In its third weekend, John Krasinski’s “A Quiet Place” again ruled over the domestic box office with an impressive $22 million. This #1 finish leads the modestly budgeted ($17 million) horror film to a domestic total of $132 million. Krasinski directed and starred in the film, alongside his wife Emily Blunt, and audiences are really flocking to see their unique take on the horror/thriller genre. With impressive reviews and incredibly strong word-of-mouth, “A Quiet Place” just continues to out-perform expectations, becoming one of the biggest surprises in the first half of 2018.
“Rampage” is no slouch, however. Coming in at #2 with $21 million, The Rock almost did it again. After many were predicting that this might be a big underperformer for the actor, “Rampage” only suffered a 41% drop after its second weekend, which is well above the action film average of at least 50%. While a domestic total of $66.6 million isn’t something that Warner Bros. will flaunt, the film is showing signs of having some staying power, which means this film could stick around the top 10 in the very big weeks ahead. However, the real story with “Rampage” is the international gross. WB is hoping that even with a modest domestic total, they can recoup their money overseas – China, specifically, seems to be really enjoying the film.
Last week’s debut for “Truth or Dare” showed that the Blumhouse brand of micro-budgeted horror films still can succeed, even with a horrible product. In its second weekend, the horror flick managed to pull in a decent $7.9 million for a domestic total of $30.4 million. It’s not the breakout that Blumhouse might have hoped for, but then again, it’s far from a flop.
“Ready Player One” and “Blockers” are sticking around as well, with $7.5 million and $7 million respectively. However, the big story in the bottom of the top 10 is the fact that “Black Panther” pulled in another $4.6 million for a #8 showing in its 10th weekend. The film now has a domestic total of $681 million. The real question is if theaters will keep the screens open for ‘Panther’ next weekend, which would allow for the Marvel Studios film to have an outside shot at the Top 10 again, putting two MCU films in the top 10 (clearly “Avengers: Infinity War” will debut at #1) at the same time. Can you think of another time when two films from the same franchise were in the top 10 at the same time?
Speaking of ‘Infinity War,’ expect all the box office news in the next week to be about the much-hyped mega-sequel. Box office tracking has the film debuting anywhere from $200 million to perhaps breaking “Star Wars: The Force Awakens’” single-weekend record of $248 million. Either way, fully expect ‘Infinity War’ to crush the competition over the next three weeks.
Here’s the rest of the Top 10 for April 20 – 22:
1. A Quiet Place — $22M ($132M Overall)
2. Rampage — $21M ($66.6M)
3. I Feel Pretty — $16.2M (Debut)
4. Super Troopers 2 — $14.7 (Debut)
5. Truth or Dare — $7.9M ($30.4M)
6. Ready Player One — $7.5M ($126M)
7. Blockers — $7M ($48.3M)
8. Black Panther — $4.6M ($681M)
9. Traffik — $3.9M (Debut)
10. Isle of Dogs — $3.4M ($24.4M)