Rampage is No. 1, proving again Dwayne Johnson’s box office might

LOS ANGELES — True movie stars can “open” a film of any quality simply by having their name above the title. Very few of those specimens remain in this fragmented entertainment age, but Dwayne Johnson proved himself as one over the weekend.

“Rampage,” a PG-13 cheesefest involving mutant animals and marketed squarely around Johnson’s presence, generated $34.5 million in ticket sales in its North American debut, on the low end of prerelease analyst expectations but enough for No. 1.

“Rampage,” which received weak reviews, collected an additional $140 million overseas, according to comScore, which compiles box office data.

New Line Cinema, a division of Warner Bros., spent at least $220 million to make and market “Rampage” worldwide.

Second place for the weekend went to the hit horror movie “A Quiet Place” (Paramount), which collected a strong $32.6 million, for a twoweek domestic total of about $100 million.

Blumhouse’s “Truth or Dare” (Universal), a horror movie that only cost $3.5 million to make, arrived in third place, with stronger-thanexpected ticket sales of about $19 million.

The turnout is a testament to the Blumhouse brand: “Truth or Dare” received dismal reviews and faced strong competition from “A Quiet Place,” but young moviegoers — especially teenage girls — have come to see Blumhouse as a star in and of itself.

The horror-focused production company, founded by Jason Blum, has delivered one hit after another over the last decade, including “Get Out,” “Split,” “The Visit,” “Happy Death Day,” “Insidious,” “The Purge” and “Paranormal Activity.”