Rampage debuts at No. 1, but Quiet Place proves a sleeper hit

LOS ANGELES — Dwayne Johnson and his gorilla buddy George might have scored the box-office crown, with a $34.5-million US take for city-smashing action flick Rampage — but the weekend’s real winner knew how to speak softly and carry a big second weekend.

Rampage, a Warner Bros. and New Line release, arrived in theatres with just enough bang to eke out a No. 1 opening over previous weekend winner A Quiet Place.

Global audiences smelled what Johnson was cooking last December when he helped lead Sony Pictures’ positively reviewed Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle to a $950-million worldwide box office.

But Rampage, in which he plays a primatologist trying to save the world and his primate BFF from a nefarious scientific experiment gone haywire, split critics down the middle with a 50 per cent Rotten Tomatoes score, even as audiences gave it an “A-minus” CinemaScore rating.

The Brad Peyton-directed action adventure took $114.1 million internationally in its worldwide debut for a $148.6 total and will have to lean heavily on Johnson’s star power to offset the pricey budget.

Impressively, less than $2 million in ticket sales stood in the way of A Quiet Place upset by director-star John Krasinski, whose critically acclaimed tale about a family living in silence to hide from monsters came in at second with $32.6 million. That’s a modest 35 per cent decline from its surprisingly potent debut last weekend.

The tense genre film also stars Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds and is on the verge of breaking $100 million domestically, after 10 days.

The more low-hanging frights of Universal’s Blumhouse’s Truth Or Dare landed a “B-minus” CinemaScore, but an anemic 15 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Making the most of a gruesome plot inspired by the real-life game and tween catnip stars Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey, the critically panned PG-13 outing took in $19.09 million over the Friday the 13th weekend. Made within the low-budget Blumhouse model, that’s still a recipe for success.

Fourth place went to Steven Spielberg’s pixel-party nostalgiafest Ready Player One, which fell a hefty 54 per cent from last weekend, but added $11.2 million, for a total of $114.6 million domestic, to date.

The Kay Cannon-directed Blockers came in fifth, slipping a steep 50 per cent to add another $10.29 million to its $36.92 million domestic tally. Universal’s R-rated comedy starring John Cena, Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, Geraldine Viswanathan, Kathryn Newton and Gideon Adlon has notched $52.9 million worldwide to date.

Wes Anderson’s stop-motion outing Isle of Dogs went ambitiously wide, but made just $5 million from 1,939 locations. The Fox Searchlight release added 1,385 locations from last week, but saw a weekend box office bump of only 10 per cent.

Three weeks ago, Dogs opened in limited release to the best perscreen average of the year, but also faced criticisms of cultural appropriation, largely from the Asian-American community.

Elsewhere in canine cinema, upstart distributor Fun Academy unleashed the animated title Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero — and added an “A” CinemaScore to a robust 90 per cent Rotten Tomatoes rating — also in wide release, but weekend grosses barely cracked $1 million.

Slipping into 755 theatres for a $1.65-million take was Bleecker Street’s R-rated Jon Hamm starrer Beirut, a CIA spy film directed by The Machinist’s Brad Anderson. Written and produced by Tony Gilroy, the film scored 78 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.