By Chris Kavan - 01/13/19 at 09:14 PM CT
While Aquaman was expected to run away with a fourth-week box office championship, it had to settle for second place as Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston's Intouchables remake The Upside had a surprisingly stronger-than-expected opening. Don't feel too bad for Aquaman, however, as it become the first film in the DCEU to hit the $1 billion global mark. In other opening news, A Dog's Way Home had a perfectly decent opening while Keanu Reeves' Replicas couldn't even crack the top 10 - oh, well, we still have John Wick to look forward to in a few months.
1) THE UPSIDE
It was good news for STX Entertainment, as The Upside became the studio's first film to open in the top spot with a fantastic $19.5 million debut. It was also the second-best debut behind just Bad Moms $22 million opening. For Hart, while it was far and away from Ride Along ($41 million) or Night School ($27 million) one also has to remember this is a straight-up drama with comedic elements rather than a feel-good comedy or romance. This is the kind of film that would in typical years maybe be up for a few Oscar nominations, but it will have to settle for coming in ahead of some of the major contenders like The Favourite, Green Book and the recently-expanded On the Basis of Sex. Audiences were happy, giving the film an "A" Cinemascore and the PG-13 audience likely helped it along. That audience was 59% female with 74% coming in 25 years or older. Depending on how things play out, The Upside could be looking at a $50 million plus total and that would be a win for everyone involved.
2)
AQUAMAN
Aquaman couldn't quite become the first DCEU film to top the box office for four weeks straight, but the $17.26 million showing (down 44.3%) pushed it to $287.2 million total, crossing the $275 million mark and it will certainly be able to cross $300 million by next weekend. And while the film is likely to come in on the lower end for domestic DCEU films, it's global total is a much different story. With $1.02 billion (including an obscene $287.3 million in China alone), Aquaman has topped every previous DCEU film on the global market and is the second highest-grossing DC property behind just The Dark Knight Rises ($1.08 billion) and it will catch up soon enough. In fact, Aquaman is now the eighth highest-grossing superhero film of all time. And for director James Wan, it's his second-best film behind only Furious 7 ($1.5 billion worldwide) and tops every Warner Bros. film of the year and I'm guessing a sequel is already in the works, though nothing has been announced as of yet. Still, with Wonder Woman and Aquaman having such an impact, Warner Bros. has certainly turned things around and, for the first time, I'm anticipating the next film in this series just as much as I am with Marvel.
3)
A DOG'S WAY HOME
Adults drove the box office more than families, as the feel-good story of A Dog's Way Home settled nicely in the third-place spot with $11.3 million. That is below the opening of A Dog's Purpose ($18.2 million) though this is not a direct sequel (which is actually coming later in the year). But it also cost less ($18 million versus $22 million) and if it has a similar run to that film, it is looking at a total near the $35 million mark and with a small bump overseas, will be a profitable venture. Audiences seemed to like it well enough, giving the film an "A-" Cinemascore. That audience was 52% female with 51% coming in 25 years or older. That bodes well for the film to at least play well through January.
4)
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
Retaining its fourth-place position with a light 31.4% drop, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse added another $9 million to its total, which now stands at $147.77 million. It will cross $150 million in the next day or two as well as topping Hotel Transylvania ($148.3 million) to become the third highest-grossing animated film for Sony Pictures. It also crossed the $300 million mark on the worldwide market ($302 million to be exact) and looks to soon pass The LEGO Batman movie on that front. Things are looking very good for the $90-million budgeted film as the awards are sure to continue to pile up for this truly ground-breaking animated offering.
5)
ESCAPE ROOM
Last week's better-than-anticipated Escape Room dipped 51.2% and rounded out the top five with a $8.9 million weekend and a new total of $32.43 million. That is actually a decent hold for a horror film and it will soon pass Jigsaw ($38 million) on the domestic front. For a film that cribs from so many other horror films, that is a great result and I am slightly more interested in checking this one out whenever it hits the steaming market. With Glass likely to eat up any remaining major interest, Escape Room should still be able to leg it to around the $42 million mark or so by the time it finally exits theaters.
Outside the top five: I was expecting Keanu Reeves to have a rough time with Replicas, but things wound up even worse than I imagined. The sci-fi-mystery landed well outside the top 10 in 12th place with a $2.5 million opening. That is bad enough to land it in 28th place among worst openings for films in 2000 or more theaters as well as the lowest opening for Reeves in wide release. It also earned a blah "C" Cinemascore meaning the few who turned out for it weren't impressed. This one will earn less than $10 million and be gone quickly.
On the Basis of Sex expanded into nearly 2000 theaters itself, earning $6.22 million and jumping from 16th to 8th place and representing a 286.9% increase from last week. The film has earned $10.55 million so far and earned an "A" Cinemascore and should play well with adult audiences in the coming weeks.
If Beale Street Could Talk also expanded to over 1000 theaters, but didn't find nearly as much interest with general audiences, taking in $2.38 million ($7.68 million total) and jumping a single spot from 14th to 13th place and a minimal 29.6% increase (in comparison, Bohemian Rhapsody added just 254 theaters and jumped 35.1% after 11 weeks in theaters). This one just won't be able to compete in a crowded market.
In milestone news, Mary Poppins Returns crossed the $150 million mark with a $7.2 million weekend (6th place) and a new $150.65 million total. And A Star is Born crossed the $200 million mark with $1.1 million and a $203.5 million total while also passing the $400 million mark on the worldwide front.
Next week brings us just a single wide release, M. Night Shyamalan's followup to Split, Glass, which gives us Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson and James McAvoy going head-to-head in a true villain/hero story.
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