By Chris Kavan - 05/19/19 at 09:11 PM CT
If Keanu Reeves was looking for a reason to continue the John Wick franchise, he got an overwhelmingly "hell yes" over the weekend. John Wick 3 didn't just open in the top spot - taking down Avengers: Endgame in the process - it opened to the biggest numbers yet for the franchise, and represents the second-best opening in Reeves' career. It was also a much-needed boost for Lionsgate, who has seen recent releases like Hellboy and Long Shot fail to resonate with audiences. And even though Endgame may have dipped a spot, it continues to boast impressive numbers, taking down Avatar's domestic total in the process.
1) JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 - PARABELLUM
Keanu Reeves has found a new franchise to call home - and his John Wick persona can now also say he can stand toe-to-toe with some of the best action franchises, including Mission: Impossible, Jason Bourne and Taken. With a $57 million opening weekend, it exceeded expectations and opened well above the $30.4 million opening of John Wick 2. In fact, that 87.5% increase from a second to third movie is pretty much in a league all its own and proves just how popular the franchise, and Reeves, are to audiences. It represents one of the best openings for Lionsgate outside the Twilight and Hunger Games movies. In terms of numbers, it opened right between Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation ($51 million) and Fallout ($61 million), better than The Bourne Supremacy ($52 million) and just behind Jason Bourne ($59 million). For Reeves, it was the second biggest opening of his career, behind just The Matrix Reloaded ($91 million). It is most excellent indeed - and signs point to this earning anywhere from $130-$190 million, depending on how it holds from here on out. It we're sticking to the middle ground - $150 million is likely, with $175 million a good bet - anything above that would be gravy. It has earned $92.2 million worldwide thus far as well. This should have a good run ahead of it and I haven not problem predicting we're going to be seeing more of Mr. Wick in the near future.
2)
AVENGERS: ENDGAME
Avengers: Endgame finally had to settle for second place after four weeks, but I don't think Disney is going to lament too much. With a 53.5% dip, Endgame added $29.4 million to its total, which now stands at an impressive $770.8 million. That puts it ahead of Avatar ($760 million - including all reissues) to become second on the all-time domestic list behind just Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($937 million). It's not going to catch up to Star Wars, but should be looking at a domestic total around the $850 million mark. All other domestic records are going to now be in the "adjusted for inflation" milestones, which I never really try to get into. A bigger questions remains to be seen if Endgame can topple Avatar on the worldwide charts. With $76 million overseas, it stands at $2.615 billion - $173 million away from taking down Avatar - but it's going to be close. I still want Endgame to come out on top - but there is no guarantee at this point. Even if it falls short - $2.6 billion worldwide is nothing to sneeze at and I don't think Disney is going to complain. It'll be worth keeping an eye out.
3)
POKEMON: DETECTIVE PIKACHU
After coming in just short of Endgame last weekend, Detective Pikachu took a 54.4% second-week hit and it looks like the hardcore fans have had their fill and general audiences may be a bit underwhelmed. Still, with $24.8 million, the Pokemon film has earned $94 million thus far and will break $100 million before next weekend with no sweat. In the process is passed both Mortal Kombat ($70 million) and Prince of Persia ($90 million) to move up on that video game adaptation list - and it will catch up to Tomb Raider ($131 million) to take that title outright in a few more weeks. The $150 million film has made $287.4 million on the global front - and it still has a good shot at topping Warcraft ($433 million) to become the biggest video game movie worldwide. Even though it may have taken a somewhat bigger-than-expected second-week drop, I'm certain it will have no problem winding up in the black.
4)
A DOG'S JOURNEY
I was hoping that this sequel to A Dog's Purpose would somewhat match the first film, but, sadly it was not meant to be. A Dog's Journey opened to just $8 million, well below the $17 million of the first film - a 53% decrease. It also opened below the $11.25 million of the not-sequel A Dog's Way Home. None of this is promising news and if it plays out in a similar fashion to the original film, it will wind up with around $30 million total. The film likely has a similar budget to the first film ($22 million or so) so thus, it doesn't have to break big to break even. Still, I was hoping for more from this. It did make an additional $15 million overseas, so that will do nothing but help in the long run. I'm guessing this one failed due to competition and maybe because people just weren't all that interested in yet another feel-good doggone film.
5)
THE HUSTLE
Rounding out the top five, the Anne Hathway/Rebel Wilson comedy took a 53.3% hit, adding $6.08 million to its total, which now stands at $23.14 million. That's not exactly great news for the $31 million-budgets Dirty Rotten Scoundrels female-led remake, but it has also taken in $28 million overseas for a $51 million global total - not too bad in the end. Still, this one will have to hope for a bit more push if it hopes to ultimately become profitable. I don't think this is a bad remake - just one that had little marketing and buzz surrounding it and thus flew way under the radar to its detriment.
Outside the top five: Teen romance The Sun is Also a Star couldn't conjure up any magic, opening to a mere $2.6 million way down in 8th place. That is well below Everything Everything ($10 million), which came from the same author, and the mixed-raced pairing didn't seem to endear audiences to check it out. This Star is going to fall fast and hard out of the top 10 and isn't even going to hit $10 million in the long run.
In milestone news, Captain Marvel crossed the $425 million mark with a $727,000 and new $425.1 million total. Long Shot hit $25 million in its third weekend, a total many were hoping it would hit opening weekend, thus no need to celebrate this milestone.
Next week brings us Disney's next live-action remake in Aladdin, the superhero horror Brightburn and the teen-centric comedy Booksmart.
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