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Los Angeles — After a wobbly start, Dwayne Johnson muscled his way to a no. 1 opening for Rampage — but just barely. Close on its heels was the word-of-mouth sensation A Quiet Place in its second week in theatres, and not too far behind that was the Blumhouse horror Truth or Dare in a competitive weekend at the box office.
Warner Bros. said on Sunday that Rampage earned an estimated $34.5m in its first weekend in North American theatres, and dominated internationally too with $114.1m from 61 territories.
Based on the classic arcade game, Rampage carried a sizable budget of at least $115m. Although Rampage pulled in mixed reviews (it's at 50 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), audiences were more enthusiastic, giving it an A- CinemaScore.
"I wasn't sure how I was going to feel on Friday. But when I look at our global number of $148.6m, there's a lot to be proud of for Dwayne Johnson," said Warner Bros. president of domestic distribution Jeff Goldstein. "Talk about a real closer, he knows how to bring it home."
That Friday, of course, was Friday the 13th and audiences had the choice between two wide-release nail-biters to spend their entertainment dollars on — the buzzy thriller A Quiet Place that dominated the charts last weekend, and the new horror from the shop behind Get Out and Split, Truth or Dare.
After its stunning debut, John Krasinski's modestly-budgeted A Quiet Place fell only 35 percent in weekend two, adding $32.6m to its domestic total, which is now just shy of $100m for Paramount Pictures.
Truth or Dare also found a sizable audience that was mostly young (60 percent under the age of 25) and female (60 percent). The PG-13 rated pic stars Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale.
With a budget of just $3.5m, the film took in a terrific $19.1m over the weekend — just the latest in a string of successes for the Blumhouse and Universal Pictures partnership.
"They take high quality filmmaking at micro-budgets and just consistently over-deliver," said Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic distribution. "Everyone at Universal is just thrilled to be in business with these guys."
Orr said despite the competitive marketplace, the studio's marketing found a lane with the younger female audience and played into the Friday the 13th release.
Sliding into fourth place was Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One, with $11.2m in its third weekend, and in fifth was the R-rated comedy Blockers, with $10.3m.
Also, after a limited release, Wes Anderson's stop-motion animated Isle of Dogs added 1 385 locations and took the No. 7 spot with $5m. Chloe Zhao's well-reviewed indie The Rider also debuted this weekend in three theatres with $45 268.
While the success of a horror, especially a micro-budget one, isn't a surprise for the industry, big budget films like Rampage continue to face a complex marketplace. For box office analysts like comScore's Paul Dergarabedian, Rampage performance fits into the post-Black Panther narrative for most would-be blockbusters that have followed the Marvel and Disney phenomenon.
"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," Dergarabedian said, citing A Wrinkle in Time,Tomb Raider, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Ready Player One as recent examples.
Disney and Marvel's Black Panther added $5.3m in its ninth weekend in theatres, bringing its domestic total to $673.8m.
