Women of ‘Ocean’s 8’ easily make off with No. 1
NEW YORK – Ocean’s 8, the womenled overhaul of the starry heist franchise, opened with an estimated
$41.5 million at the box office, taking the weekend’s top spot from the fast-falling Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Made for about $70 million, Ocean’s
8, with a cast featuring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett and Anne Hathaway, set an opening-weekend best for the franchise, not accounting for inflation. The three previous Ocean’s films — starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon and based on the 1960 original Ocean’s 11 with Frank Sinatra — all made their debut with $36 million to $39 million in the last decade.
“We thought we’d come in in the $35 (million to) $40 (million) range,” says Warner Bros. distribution chief Jeff Goldstein. “No.1, it’s fun. No. 2, it hits an underserved audience. Unfortunately, there’s a lack of stories that are aimed right at women.”
Yet the weekend’s three new wide releases were all female-fronted.
The acclaimed horror thriller Heredi- tary, starring Toni Collette, made its debut with $13 million, finishing fourth. The feature-film directing debut of Ari Aster has been hailed as the year’s scariest movie since its debut at Sundance Film Festival. Either from disappointment or simply because they were stunned from fear, audiences gave the film a D-plus on CinemaScore.
Less successful was Hotel Artemis, starring Jodie Foster, Sterling K. Brown, Dave Bautista and Charlie Day, which flopped with $3.2 million. Set in a nearfuture L.A., Hotel Artemis is about a members-only hospital for criminals.
Coming between big releases like Solo and the upcoming Incredibles 2, the weekend was down about 20% from last year, according to comScore, when Wonder Woman was setting records.
One of the early summer’s breakout hits has been the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary RBG, which has made $9.1 million in six weeks of release through Sunday.
Meanwhile, the troubled Solo slid to second place with $15.2 million on its third weekend. It has now grossed $176.1 million, well off its expected pace.
Rounding out the top five: Ryan Reynolds’ anti-heroic Deadpool 2, which was third with $13.7 million, and Marvel’s epic Avengers: Infinity War, in fifth with $6.8 million after seven weekends.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom began its international rollout in 48 overseas markets with an estimated $151.1 million. That’s a predictably strong start for a film expected to be one of the biggest of the summer. It opens Friday in China and on June 22 in North America.
Initial reviews were mixed for J.A. Bayona’s sequel. But critics also were less than thrilled with 2015’s Jurassic World, which grossed more than $1.6 billion worldwide.
Final figures are due Monday.