Thriller ‘A Quiet Place’ beats out R-rated prom comedy ‘Blockers,’ while ‘Black Panther’ blows past ‘Titanic’ in all-time box office.
NEW YORK – John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place made a thunderous debut at the box office, opening with $50 million in ticket sales and rumbling to the year’s second-best weekend after Black Panther, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The thriller far exceeded expectations to land one of the top opening weekends for a horror release. It marks an unlikely breakthrough for Krasinski, the former Office star associated more with interoffice romance and deadpan expressions than silent cinematic frights. Krasinski’s third directing effort, which stars him and wife Emily Blunt, is about a family in a future dystopia populated by violent creatures with extremely acute hearing.
But it was far from the only success story of the weekend, which also saw R-rated prom-night comedy Blockers open solidly with $21.4 million; Steven Spielberg’s virtual-reality adventure Ready Player One dip only 40% with $25.1 million in its second weekend; and period docudrama Chappaquiddick beat expectations with a debut of $6.2 million.
For one weekend, at least, just about everything Hollywood could throw at moviegoers worked. The weekend was up more than 35% from last year.
But nothing approached the runaway success of A Quiet Place. Hollywood had forecast closer to $30 million for the film, which cost just $17 million to make. Yet A Quiet Place rode strong word of mouth from its South By Southwest film festival premiere in March, good reviews ( 97% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and moviegoers’ continuing thirst for horror.
“We always knew we had something special from the first screenings. But you don’t get to a number like this without breaking free of the genre. I think this is about great storytelling,” said Kyle Davies, head of domestic distribution for Paramount, who heaped praise on Krasinski. “We’re looking forward to what else he has up his sleeve.”
More: John Krasinski and Emily Blunt say ‘A Quiet Place’ is their ‘most personal’ film
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Blockers also heralds a filmmaking breakthrough aided by an enthusiastic response from SXSW audiences. The film, which cost about $21 million to make, is the directorial debut of Kay Cannon, a writer whose credits include 30 Rock and Pitch Perfect. Blockers, starring Leslie Mann, John Cena and Ike Barinholtz as parents trying to prevent their daughters from losing their virginity, shrugged off a recent slump for comedies.
Continuing sales also pushed Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther further into the record books. Marvel’s superhero phenom, which ranked fourth in its eighth week with $8.4 million, is now the third highest-grossing film of all time in North America with $665.35 million, comScore says, after Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avatar, and bypassing Titanic and Jurassic World.
Review: The silence is terrifying in John Krasinski’s ‘Quiet Place’
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Faith film I Can Only Imagine, inspired by the backstory of MercyMe’s Christian hit, finished fifth with $8.35 million.
Chappaquiddick, about the 1969 Ted Kennedy scandal, opened in seventh place. The film, starring Jason Clarke as Kennedy, was originally planned for an awards season release. The move to spring seemed to give Chappaquiddick a better chance to stand out.
“Everyone kind of won this weekend,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “This is the kind of weekend that Hollywood should try to re-create over and over again. The diversity of the lineup and the originality of the films drove huge numbers of moviegoers to the multiplex.”
Final numbers are expected Monday.
Contributing: Kim Willis
