Thanks to a string of notable underperformers including Glass, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part, and Happy Death Day 2U, 2019 got off to a bumpy start at the North American box office. Thankfully, fortunes reversed this weekend with the release of How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, which blasted past expectations to an estimated $ million in its opening frame (a total that doesn’t include $2.5 million from a special Fandango preview screening on February 2), besting the two previous entries in the franchise and injecting new life into a sluggish year at the multiplex. Elsewhere, the Dwayne Johnson wrestling comedy Fighting with My Family performed well in its wide expansion, while the faith-based football drama Run the Race managed to crack the Top 10 in its debut on 853 screens.
Roaring onto 4,259 screens, How to Train Your Dragon 3 built on goodwill from the last two installments in the popular animated franchise to best expectations and post the highest opening weekend numbers of the year so far. By comparison, 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon and 2014’s How to Train Your Dragon 2 opened to $43.7 million and $49.4 million, respectively, before legging it to $217.5 million and $177 million in North America. Notably, this is the first time Universal has released an installment in the series following their purchase of Dreamworks Animation in 2016 (the first film was released by Paramount and the second by Fox).
Billed as the final installment in the HTTYD series, The Hidden World debuted in North America with its coffers already overflowing from a strong performance over the last several weeks in international markets, where it took in an impressive $180 million-plus prior to the weekend. Stateside, strong critical reviews (it has a score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes) and pent-up demand from audiences who enjoyed the first two entries (it had a strong showing in our Trailer Impact surveys, with 73% of audiences polled stating their interest in seeing the film) helped push it over the top, allowing it to become the year’s first true blockbuster opening. Additionally, an apparent lack of enthusiasm for The LEGO Movie 2 opened a wider-than-expected berth among family audiences, giving The Hidden World a larger portion of that demo to itself this weekend. Including that $2.5 million in Fandango previews, Dragon‘s total now stands at $58 million through Sunday.
Dropping to second place after a better-than-expected debut last weekend was Alita: Battle Angel, which fell a steep 58% to an estimated $12 million in weekend number two. That gives the Fox sci-fi $60.6 million to date, a number that pales in comparison to its reported $170 million production budget. At this point, international grosses will be key for the James Cameron-produced actioner, which, while apparently well-liked by those who have seen it (opening day audiences awarded it an “A-” Cinemascore, while it boasts a strong 94% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes), simply didn’t break out the way it needed to given its hefty price tag.
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part finished in third place with an estimated $10 million in its third weekend of release, bringing the animated sequel to $83.6 million after 17 days in theaters. The Warner Bros. title is currently running a whopping ?% behind the first LEGO Movie at the same point in its run and ?% behind The LEGO Batman Movie. No doubt, the film took a sizable hit from How to Train Your Dragon 3 this weekend. While it’s on track to top $100 million, LEGO 2 nonetheless counts as a major disappointment for a franchise that already suffered one notable underperformer with 2017’s The LEGO Ninjago Movie.
Fourth place went to Fighting with My Family, which brought in an estimated $8 million in its wide expansion after debuting in just four locations last weekend. That counts as a healthy result for the MGM release, which boasts a reported budget of $11 million and which sold to the studio for $17 million back in 2017. The film undoubtedly benefitted from strong reviews (it’s at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes) and the presence of box office-dynamo Dwayne Johnson in the cast. Its total now stands at $8.2 million.
Isn’t It Romantic dropped to fifth place in its sophomore frame with an estimated $7.5 million, bringing the total for the Rebel Wilson rom-com to $33.7 million since debuting on February 13. That’s a 47% dip for the Warner Bros./New Line release, which is performing similarly to this month’s other fantasy rom-com What Men Want.
Speaking of What Men Want, the Taraji P. Henson comedy came in sixth place with an estimated $5.2 million in its third weekend of release, bringing its domestic total to a healthy $45 million after 17 days.
Last weekend’s surprise underperformer Happy Death Day 2U dropped to seventh place in its sophomore frame with an estimated $5 million, bringing the horror sequel to just $21.6 million so far. For the record, that’s several million shy of what the first Happy Death Day made in its opening weekend alone ($26 million). That’s a notable hiccup for a series that was previously being viewed as yet another successful franchise launch for Blumhouse.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is The Upside, the true sleeper hit of the first two months of the year. Dropping to ninth place, the Kevin Hart comedy-drama grossed an estimated $3.2 million in its seventh weekend of release, bringing its total of $99.7 million. This week it will become the fifth $100 million live-action grosser of Hart’s career after Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Ride Along, Central Intelligence, and Scary Movie 3.
Ninth place went to the Liam Neeson action film Cold Pursuit, which brought in an estimated $3.3 million in its third weekend. The Lionsgate/Summit release currently has $27 million in the bank and is performing similarly to last year’s Neeson release The Commuter ($36.3 million total).
In tenth place, Roadside Attractions’ faith-based sports drama Run the Race (executive-produced by former NFL star and current MLB outfielder Tim Tebow) brought in an estimated $2.2 million on 853 screens. That’s a better debut than last year’s Christian-themed release Indivisible, which opened to $1.5 million on about the same number of screens back in October, but a far cry from Roadside Attractions’ breakout faith-based hit I Can Only Imagine last year. That film opened to $17.1 million last spring and finished its domestic run with $83.4 million.
Overseas Update:
How to Train Your Dragon 3: The Hidden World brought in an estimated $34.7 million overseas this weekend, bringing its international total to a sensational $216.9 million and its worldwide tally to $274.9 million. The animated threequel opens in China on March 1.
The post Studio Weekend Estimates: <em>How to Train Your Dragon 3</em> Soars to $55.5M; <em>Fighting with My Family</em> Expands to $8M appeared first on BoxOffice Pro.
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