Rock’s ‘Rampage’ storms the box office
LOS ANGELES – After a wobbly start, Dwayne Johnson muscled his way to a No. 1 opening at the box office for Rampage — but just barely. Close on its heels was the word-of-mouth sensation A Quiet Place in its second week in theaters, and not too far behind that was the Blumhouse horror flick Truth or Dare.
Rampage earned an estimated $34.5 million for the weekend in North American theaters, and dominated internationally, too, with $114.1 million.
Based on the classic arcade game, Rampage carried a sizable budget of at least $115 million.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel on Friday. But when I look at our global number of $148.6 million, there’s a lot to be proud of for Dwayne Johnson,” says Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution.
That Friday, of course, was Friday the 13th, and audiences had a choice of two nail-biters to spend their entertainment dollars on: the buzzy thriller A Quiet Place, which dominated the charts last weekend, and Truth or Dare, the horror movie from the production house behind Get Out and Split.
After its stunning debut, John Kra- sinski’s modestly budgeted A Quiet Place fell only 35% in its second weekend, adding $32.6 million to its total, which is now just shy of $100 million.
Truth or Dare also found a sizable audience that was mostly young (60% under the age of 25) and female (60%).
With a budget of just $3.5 million, the film starring Lucy Hale took in a terrific $19.1 million for the weekend.
Sliding into fourth place was Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, with $11.2 million in its third weekend, and in fifth was the R-rated prom comedy Blockers with $10.3 million.
While the success of a horror movie isn’t a surprise, big-budget films like Rampage continue to face a complex marketplace. For box-office analysts like comScore’s Paul Dergarabedian, Rampage’s performance fits into the post- Black Panther narrative for most would-be blockbusters.
“Rampage joins a long list of popcorn movies that have opened in the wake of Black Panther to rely heavily on their international box-office revenues,” says Dergarabedian. “We’re just in this lull waiting for Avengers: Infinity War that is going to blow the doors off of the box office in a little less than two weeks.”
Final numbers are due Monday.