Tiffany, Kevin have a hit with ‘Night School’
Warner Bros’ animated release ‘Smallfoot’ trailed in second
For the first time in more than two years, a straight-up comedy is No 1 at the box office. Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish’s Night School debuted with $28 million (Dh102.83 million) in ticket sales in the US. The race for the weekend top spot was, in the end, a laugher. Warner Bros’ animated release Smallfoot, which cost about $80 million to make, trailed in second with $23 million.
Not since Melissa McCarthy’s The Boss topped the box office in April 2016 has a comedy that didn’t mix other genre elements been No 1. The romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians was a huge success, leading the box office for four straight weeks, and Tyler Perry’s two horror-comedies — Boo! A Madea Halloween and its sequel — both opened at the top.
But big-screen comedy has been in a tailspin for years. It took two of comedy’s biggest names teaming up to push Universal’s Night School to the year’s best comedy opening.
“We’ve been very consistent in this genre,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal. “When you get in business with people like Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish who are just on fire, and then really extraordinary filmmakers like [producer] Will Packer, that’s how you get good results.”