Box Office: 'A Quiet Place' Makes The Most Noise With $50M, 'Blockers' Scores $21M

1. A Quiet Place (review)- $50M
On a week in which all of the new releases got off to strong starts it was John Krasinski's well-reviewed horror A Quiet Place that made the most noise. Its $50M opening weekend has to be music to the ears of Paramount, as it ranks as among their best debuts in years, and definitely their biggest since Star Trek Beyond back in 2016.  The number charts as the second biggest opening for an original horror movie ever, just a tad behind M. Night Shyamalan's The Village in 2004. The reason is simple: awesome reviews and a truly unique premise. The film sits at 97% on Rotten Tomatoes and the audience consensus is high as well. We talk a lot about the negative impacts of Rotten Tomatoes but this is a case there it, along with good word of mouth, have taken a small-ish film to box office heights.
2. Ready Player One- $25M/$96.9M
Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One only had a single week at the top of the charts, but I don't think Warner Bros. will complain. The pop culture adventure flick scored another $25M domestic for $96M overall, but worldwide its playing like a champ with $391M.
3. Blockers (review)- $21.4M
Teen sex comedies don't always find the mark with audiences but Blockers is proving to be a winner. The comedy from director Kay Cannon (writer of the Pitch Perfect trilogy) stars John Cena, Leslie Mann, and Ike Barinholtz as parents who set out to stop their teen daughters from losing their virginity on prom night. The premise seemed like a potential minefield, especially in today's sex positive climate, but reviews have praised the film for being more thoughtful and feminist than expected, especially considering the five male writers who worked on it.
4. Black Panther- $8.4M/$665.3M
5. I Can Only Imagine- $8.3M/$69M
6. Tyler Perry's Acrimony- $8M/$31.3M
7. Chappaquiddick (review)- $6.2M
In a win for older-skewing dramas, Chappaquiddick, which centers on the 1969 scandal that nearly destroyed senator Ted Kennedy's career, opened with $6.2M. That's pretty good considering it only opened in 1500 theaters, and of course the serious material that isn't likely to attract anybody under the age of 35. I really enjoyed it and other critics are favoring it, as well. It could probably do with an expansion so that more people can have a chance to see what all of the good buzz is about. If this were later in the year we'd probably be talking about it as an awards season dark horse, especially for Jason Clarke's lead performance.
8. Sherlock Gnomes- $5.6M/$33.8M
9. Pacific Rim Uprising- $4.9M/$54.9M
At $267M worldwide Pacific Rim Uprising is looking like a dude, and well short of the underwhelming $411M of the first movie.
10. Isle of Dogs (review)- $4.6M
Cracking the top 10 is Wes Anderson's wonderful animated film, Isle of Dogs, which expanded to 554 theaters and earned $4.6M for $12M after three weeks.

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Box Office: 'Ready Player One' Achieves $181M High Score

1. Ready Player One (review) - $41.2M/$53.2M
The S.A.S. at the top of the leaderboard stands for Steven Allen Spielberg, whose Ready Player One proved to be a pop culture dynamo with $53M since its debut on Thursday, and $181M worldwide overall, $20M of that from IMAX alone. The $41M Fri-Sun number ranks as the fifth best of Spielberg's career, shockingly. You can probably guess which films rank above it. The film is based on Ernest Cline's 2011 novel beloved by retro enthusiasts and pop culture obsessives, but that also caused a good many of them to be dubious of the movie which was presented as a straight blockbuster. Reviews have been solid nonetheless, with critics and audiences digging it to mostly the same rate on Rotten Tomatoes. With Cline working on a sequel book don't be surprised if we start hearing rumblings of a film adaptation to follow.
2. Tyler Perry's Acrimony- $17.1M
The pairing of Tyler Perry and Taraji P. Henson continues to reap benefits for both. Tyler Perry's Acrimony opened with a strong $17M. Like most Perry films this one was not screened for press, but that's because they rarely need to because of his built-in, and highly consistent audience. Henson has emerged to become a reliable name, as well, which may explain why the quietly promoted film opened so well.  The two previously collaborated on I Can Do Bad All By Myself and The Family that Preys.
3. Black Panther- $11.2/$650.6M
4. I Can Only Imagine- $10.7M/$55.5M
5. Pacific Rim Uprising- $9.2M/$45.6M
The John Boyega-led sequel Pacific Rim Uprising fell hard in week two, dropping 67% for just $9M and $45M domestic. It's faring better worldwide with $168M total but I doubt it'll come close to matching the $400M of the first movie. Keep in mind that it still hasn't opened in Japan, and that should provide a big boost.
6. Sherlock Gnomes- $7M/$22.8M
7. Love, Simon- $4.8M/$32.1M
8. Tomb Raider- $4.7M/$50.5M
The $50M domestic total for Alicia Vikander's Tomb Raider reboot sucks, but the $245M worldwide should make up for it. This is still a popular franchise and I wouldn't write off chances of a sequel just yet.
9. A Wrinkle in Time- $4.6M/$83.2M
10. Paul, Apostle of Christ- $3.5M/$11.5M

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Box Office: 'Pacific Rim Uprising' Rockets To #1 With $151M Worldwide

1. Pacific Rim Uprising (review)- $28M
It was inevitable that SOMETHING would knock Black Panther off its perch, and that credit goes to Pacific Rim Uprising. The Del Toro-less sequel stars John Boyega as the son of Idris Elba's character from the first movie, and it opened with $28M domestic which is only $9M shy of its predecessor. That's not too bad, and considering the $151M worldwide haul I'd call this a mild success. With a budget hovering around $150M the film still needs to leg it out for a while to truly be called a hit, but the prospect of that happening is better now than it was a couple of days ago. The reviews by critics have been middle of the road while audiences seemed to like it well enough. Who knows? Maybe John Boyega has a new franchise to call his own?
2. Black Panther- $16.6M/$630.9M
Holy crap, Black Panther is now the highest-grossing superhero movie of all time domestically. Think about that. At $630M it has also surpassed Star Wars: The Last Jedi's $619M and The Avengers' $623M.  The film now has $1.23B worldwide which I think is more than Marvel could have ever imagined.
3. I Can Only Imagine- $13.8M/$38.3M
4. Sherlock Gnomes (review)- $10.6M
I'm one of the few who apparently remembers 2011's Gnomeo & Juliet quite fondly, but even I have a hard time justifying the need for Sherlock Gnomes. The original film opened with $25M and managed nearly $200M worldwide. Seven years later and the sequel opened with $10.6M domestic and barely a blip overseas. The reviews have been horrible (including from me) and the attempt to tell a Sherlock Holmes mystery in place of following the characters we liked the first time was a huge mistake. With Johnny Depp playing the titular detective can we count this as another flop for him? Let's do that.
5. Tomb Raider- $10.4M/$41.7M
The rebooted Tomb Raider with Alicia Vikander isn't exactly holding on for dear life in week two, slipping 56% for just $10.4M. At $41M domestic those numbers aren't too great; fortunately thanks to $170M overseas it sits at $211M worldwide. Not awesome, but when all is said and done it should surpass the totals of both Angelina Jolie flicks.
6. A Wrinkle in Time- $8M/$73.8M
7. Love, Simon- $7.8M/$23.6M
Well, I hoped for an extended run for Greg Berlanti's terrific Love, Simon, and that might be happening. The Nick Robinson-led gay teen comedy fell just 33% and now sits at $23M after two weeks. I'm expecting it to stick around for a while despite the glut of blockbusters due to the strong reviews and genuinely great material. Let's hope.
8. Paul, Apostle of Christ- $5M
The second of two faith-based movies in the top 10, Paul, Apostle of Christ opened with a solid $5M but was likely cannibalized by the second week momentum of I Can Only Imagine.
9. Game Night- $4.16M/$60.8M
10. Midnight Sun (review)- $4.11M
The latest entry in the "sick teen romance drama" is Midnight Sun, starring Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger in a remake of the 2006 film that nobody in American saw. Trust me, the Japanese version is better. Anyway, it's also very similar to last year's Everything Everything, and stars Bella Thorne as a girl with a rare disease that keeps her out of the sunlight. Fortunately, Schwarzenegger is just the right shade of hot to keep her comfy and protected. The film opened with just $4.1M and will be out of sight, out of mind fairly quickly.

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Box Office: 'Tomb Raider' Unearths $126M Worldwide, 'I Can Only Imagine' Surprises With $17M

1. Black Panther- $27M/$605.4M
Standing strong for the fifth straight week is Marvel's Black Panther, which has now surpassed $600M domestic and nears $1.2B. At this rate there's a chance it could still be in theaters when Avengers: Infinity War comes through next month. I'll be interested to see how Disney handles that situation.
2. Tomb Raider (review)- $23.5M
The rebooted Tomb Raider franchise with Alicia Vikander in the lead role of Lara Croft opened with a decent $23M domestic. That's not terrible but hardly a great launching point, especially when you consider Angelina Jolie's sequel The Cradle of Life opened with $21M and that was what killed hope for future movies. That said, this version has the benefit of a strong international market that added $102M into the mix. So even if the film does just okay here, overall we're probably looking at a modest success for Warner Bros. 
3. I Can Only Imagine- $17M
Emerging like a spiritual RKO outta nowhere was the faith-based drama I Can Only Imagine, which was neither screened for press or had marketed to wide audiences. Roadside Attractions scored their biggest debut ever and, if it holds up, could surpass Manchester by the Sea as their highest-grossing release. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Trace Adkins, Cloris Leachman, and newcomer J. Michael Finley, telling the story of the origin of the titular MercyMe song. Roadside targeted the Christian audience with this one and clearly they hit the right sweet spot. The faith-based genre has been rolling now for a few years consistently, so remember that the next time someone tells you Hollywood only appeals to us heathen liberals.
4. A Wrinkle in Time- $16.5M/$61M
Ava DuVernay's A Wrinkle in Time isn't holding on to its audience as well as it needed to after last week's disappointing debut. The big budget, starry adaptation slipped 50% and earned $16.5M. With overseas grosses it now has $71M worldwide. The good news is DuVernay isn't paying the price for this as she was just hired to do New Gods for Warner Bros.
5. Love, Simon (review)- $11.5M
I was hoping for a whopper debut from Greg Berlanti's teen romance Love, Simon. Not only is it the first major studio release with a gay teenage lead, but it's just a terrific movie that should appeal to just about everybody. But $11M will have to do, and it actually isn't a bad start. The film has great reviews from critics and audiences, leading me to think it'll be sticking around for a while. At least we know it didn't lose any audience to I Can Only Imagine, right? Probably not.
6. Game Night- $5.5M/$54.1M
7. Peter Rabbit- $5.2M/$102.4M
8. Strangers: Prey at Night- $4.8M/$18.6M
9. Red Sparrow- $4.4M/$39.5M
10. Death Wish- $3.3M/$29.9M

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