1. Crazy Rich Asians (review)- $25.2M/$34M
They say you have to vote with your dollars, and while audiences don’t always turn out for the movies they say they want, they definitely turned out for Crazy Rich Asians. The adaptation of Kevin Kwan’s bestselling novel and first major film to feature an all-Asian cast earned $25M over the weekend, which is great. But it actually opened on Wednesday and earned $34M overall, which is even better. The $30M film doesn’t have a lot of star power to rely on, and that’s fine because the ensemble is the real hook in this case. And with this debut it should be a solid domestic earner before it ever hits wider international territories. Get ready for the rest of the book series to find their way on screen now.
2. The Meg– $21.1M/$83.7M
The Meg had a 53% bite taken out of it in week two, but still earned $21M for $83M domestic. As expected, overseas is where the biggest damage is being done, and the shark film has $314M worldwide already.
3. Mile 22 (review)- $13.6M
Mark Wahlberg and Peter Berg may love working together, but their movies don’t make any movie. Action flick Mile 22, the kind of star-powered old school action movie that doesn’t get made much anymore, opened with just $13.6M, which is kinda sad given the cast. Wahlberg is joined by MMA/WWE star Ronda Rousey, The Walking Dead‘s Lauren Cohan, John Malkovich, and The Raid‘s Iko Uwais; a formidable group if there ever was one but audiences didn’t care. This is a slightly better debut than Berg and Wahlberg’s Patriots Day ($11M), but well short of the $20M start for Deepwater Horizon. The only one of their collaborations to really score was Lone Survivor, which opened at $35M on the way to $154M worldwide. I don’t know what this means for the planned sequel and VR followup, but probably not good things.
4. Mission: Impossible-Fallout– $10.5M/$180.7M
5. Alpha (review)- $10.5M
I hoped for the best for the prehistoric survival thriller Alpha, which is genuinely really good, but the $10.5M opening is not a good start. The $60M film starred Kodi Smit-Mcphee as a young hunter who survives an ice age and a trek home with the help of a wolf companion. This was never going to be huge but it could have done better than this, which is probably why Sony started playing up the “man’s best friend” angle. I don’t want international plans are but it may fare better elsewhere.
6. Disney’s Christopher Robin– $8.8M/$66.8M
7. BlacKkKlansman– $7M/$23M
The buzz continues to build for Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, which has now earned $23M in two weeks. The $15M film is riding some of the same wave that powered Jordan Peele’s Get Out (he’s a producer on BlacKkKlansman as well), and could see a spike if it gets re-released during awards season, which I expect it will.
8. Slender Man– $4.9M/$20.7M
9. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation– $3.6M/$153.8M
10. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again– $3.3M/$111.2M
