“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation”
tops the box office at $44.1 million, while “Skyscraper” stumbles with $25.5 million.
“Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” has checked into the No. 1 spot at the box office in its opening weekend and left the Dwayne Johnson action thriller “Skyscraper” in the dust.
Sony Pictures estimated Sunday that the animated family movie earned $44.1 million from North American theaters. As the first in the franchise to open in the summer, it’s just slightly under the previous installment’s $48.5 million debut in September 2015.
Worldwide, “Hotel Transylvania 3” already has earned more than $100 million. The successful series has grossed over $900 million worldwide to date.
Going into the weekend, experts expected a threeway race to the top between “Hotel Transylvania 3,” “Skyscraper” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” but the family film won by a large margin.
“There haven’t been a lot of options for families this summer,” said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “They become instant hits.”
Johnson’s “Skyscraper,” a rare original summer blockbuster, remained earthbound in its first weekend in North America. The Universal Pictures film brought in only $25.5 million domestically. “Skyscraper” cost a reported $125 million to produce, not accounting for marketing costs.