After spending three weeks at the top of the box office, Avengers: Endgame finally gave up the throne and it went to John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum.
The latest entry of the John Wick franchise grossed an estimated $57 million to finish in first place. The John Wick franchise had humble beginnings and low-key ambitions. It was a hate story about a man and the idiot fr who hurt his dog. The star of John Wick, Keanu Reeves, became an action hero for the ages when he starred in The Matrix trilogy. His fans and casual movie-goers supported the stylish first film to the tune of a modest $14.4 million opening weekend. John Wick – Chapter 3 cleared that opening and then some on its opening day. John Wick finished with a modest $43.8 million, a total that the opening of Chapter 3 eclipsed in just one weekend.
We probably should’ve seen where Chapter 3 was headed because Chapter Two opened to $30.4 million, more than doubling the debut of its predecessor. The franchise has benefitted from strong interest when the films debuted on the home ancillary market. John Wick started with a bit a cult status but as we have come to this latest release, the franchise is now a bonafide blockbuster. The $57 million opening makes it the biggest opening for Lionsgate since 2015’s The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2’s $102.6 million opening and I’m sure they’re happy that this opening ensures that the franchise will keep going. The third movie is currently 88 percent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, the highest grade for the franchise thus far. Its “A-” Cinemascore matches Chapter Two and surpasses the original, which somehow had only a B grade. Word of mouth should be good for the film as its the only hard R-rated action film in the marketplace. Chapter 4 should be announced any day now and Starz will air a series based on the film’s secretive hotel, The Continental, which begins filming later this year.
Dropping to second is Avengers: Endgame with an estimated $29.4 million. That’s a drop of 53.5% but even though it drops to second, Endgame surpassed another milestone over the weekend. With a domestic tally of $770.8 million, the film surpasses the $760 million of Avatar to become the second highest-grossing domestic release of all time behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Endgame isn’t going to top the $936 million of The Force Awakens but globally things are getting pretty exciting. Endgame currently has a global gross of $2.614 billion which means it’s only $174 million away from Avatar’s $2.78 billion to become the biggest global release of all time. Some say it will be close, others think it’s a sure thing while some are just worried Endgame will fall short. $174 million worldwide doesn’t seem out of the question but Aladdin is approaching and Godzilla will really kill overseas so there is incoming competition but I’m leaning on the side that it beats it. By the way, Endgame is hitting these global heights in a matter of weeks while Avatar needed months and a re-release to hit its final number so Endgame’s reign, while fading, is still pretty damn impressive.
Dropping to third is Pokemon Detective Pikachu with an estimated $24.8 million. That’s a drop of 54.4% which honestly was to be expected since fans of the brand rushed out on opening weekend. The film has a domestic take of $94 million and globally it has amassed $206.4 million and is currently the #1 film overseas. The film carries a budget of $150 million which is where it may end up on the domestic front but once the global tally is factored in, I’m pretty sure it will result with a sequel coming our way in the future.
Debuting in fourth is A Dog’s Journey which disappoints a bit with an estimated $8 million. A Dog’s Purpose opened to $18.2 million and grossed $205 million at the worldwide box office so I was expecting an opening on par with Purpose or maybe a little less. I think Universal got a tad greedy because they released A Dog’s Way Home only four months ago and that film performed decently with a final gross of $42 million but perhaps this film should’ve been held a bit longer so they didn’t oversaturate the market. The film did receive an “A” CinemaScore so maybe some puppy legs are in store.
Rounding out the top five is The Hustle with an estimated $6 million. That’s a drop of 53.3% which is a tad heftier than I was expecting. The Hustle isn’t really hustling anyone with a domestic tally of just $23.1 million which means it’s not exactly performing like Overboard did last year as it legged a $14.7 million opening to an impressive $50 million by the time it was all said and done.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
