Night School easily topped the weekend box office and fell in the mid-range of where it was tracking heading into the weekend. The number one finish marks another hit for both Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish.
Night School grossed an estimated $28 million over the weekend. The film was tracking in the $24-35 million range so this is a solid start for a movie that cost only $29 million to make. For comparison’s sake, the opening is ahead of Harts’ 2014 release About Last Night ($25.6 million opening) and just behind Think Like A Man Too ($29.2 million opening). Despite the high profile of Tiffany Haddish, this is her first real starring role in a film since Girl’s Trip broke out in a big way last summer. Haddish did appear in Uncle Drew this summer but her role was limited but her name listed among the marketing materials likely helped propel that film to its decent opening as well. Where Night School goes from here comes down to the word of mouth which is encouraging given its “A-” CinemaScore.
Landing in second is Smallfoot which grossed an estimated $23 million. The film was tracking in the $20-25 million range so this is another solid result in relation to its tracking heading into the weekend. Smallfoot earned an “A-” CinemaScore and is the only real option for kids for quite a bit so it’s likely to play well for the next few weeks.
Taking a hit in third place is The House With A Clock In Its Walls which grossed an estimated $12.5 million. That’s a steep drop of 53% which is pretty sizeable for a family driven film. Smallfoot also likely played a role in the bigger than usual drop since they’re both fighting for a similar audience. The film has grossed $44.7 million to date and it should be a solid investment in the end given its $42 million budget.
In fourth place, we find A Simple Favor which is continuing its solid run with an estimated $6.6 million. That’s a drop of 36% as the film has seen some solid holds since its opening due to good word of mouth. The appeal of the two leads and it being one of the only options for women at the movies also appears to be driving the film which is likely headed for at least a $60 million domestic finish which is a solid result for a movie the cost only $20 million to make.
Rounding out the top five is The Nun which grossed an estimated $5.4 million. The film sees a drop of 45.5% and brings its domestic total to $109 million. Not only is the film a hit domestically but it’s also still killing it overseas where it grossed another $16.2 million over the weekend. The $22 million film has now brought its global tally to $330 million.
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 |
