$190 million box office weekend is the biggest since 'Rogue One'
The Lego Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, and John Wick: Chapter Two.
The cumulative domestic box office take for those three movies -- all new releases -- accounts for the lion's share of an estimated $190.3 million weekend at the box office. It's the biggest three-day weekend for Hollywood since Rogue One opened in Dec. 2016.
Batman finished on top, with an estimated $55.6 million. Its opening performance doesn't quite rival that of The Lego Movie ($69.1 million) -- which Batman spins off from -- but the critical buzz on this new family comedy bodes well for the weeks ahead.
Trailing at #2 is Fifty Shades Darker, sequel to the Twlight fan fiction-turned-erotic novel-turned-movie adaptation, Fifty Shades of Grey. Its $46.8 million estimate isn't enough to give it a shot of surpassing Batman once the final Sunday receipts are tallied, but it's a fine opening nonetheless.
Grey had a stronger start in 2015 -- its $85.1 million opening nearly doubles Darker's -- but don't take that as a sign of failure. With Universal reporting an estimated $100.1 million overseas take for the latest Fifty Shades chapter -- making it a #1 international opening this weekend -- it's clear that audiences are still interested in Christian Grey's kinky affairs.
John Wick comes in solidly behind the other two, with an estimated $30 million in its opening weekend. That's a huge improvement on 2014's original cult hit ($14.4 million opening), which saw star Keanu Reeves shooting all of New York City in the face in his quest for vengeance.
The original Wick turned out to be a slow burn in theaters, amassing $43 million domestically (and roughly the same internationally) during its theatrical run. It's hard to predict what will happen with Chapter Two, but doubling the opening box office of its predecessor amounts to a killer start. Critics also seem to love it.
The three newcomers forced M. Night Shyamalan's Split out of the #1 box office spot it had held for three week's running. The Sixth Sense director hadn't managed to accomplish that feat since ... well ... The Sixth Sense.
In other words: don't judge the drop too harshly. Split's $9.3 million estimate is enough for #4, and its initial three-week performance was already enough to cement Shyamalan's comeback. Expect more from the filmmaker's seemingly happy creative marriage with Blumhouse Productions in the future.
All current box office estimates are provided by comScore and all historical box office data comes from BoxOfficeMojo.com.
Topics Film
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
