A Quiet Place Part II is the surprise winner, as the heavily hyped In the Heights was in the depths.
It was a huge weekend for A Quiet Place Part II. The horror thriller became both the highest grossing film of 2021, but also the first film in over a year to pass the $100 million mark at the domestic box office (as Godzilla vs. Kong, which fell out of the Top 10 this weekend, remains stalled at $99.7 million). Even more surprisingly, it did this while returning to the #1 spot in its third weekend, pulling down $12 million for a total of $109.4 million.
Quiet was one of the few bright spots of the weekend, however, as the film that was widely expected to top the charts, In the Heights, faltered. The musical drama was arguably the most hyped film of the early summer, and for once, critics agreed that the hype was legitimate, as it opened to near unanimous raves. Forecasters were expecting an opening above $25 million. Instead, Heights couldn't even muster half that total, opening to $11.5 million. Observers cast blame on everything from the lack of familiar actors and story to its simultaneous debut on HBO Max. On the bright side, the film doesn't have anything else opening in its niche for months, and the great word of mouth should help the film have strong legs, especially in a summer with a lot fewer wide releases than normal. Still, unless this has legs resembling that of The Greatest Showman, which went from an $8 million opening to a nearly $175 million final gross, Heights is likely to be regarded as a disappointment.
Falling from first to third was The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, which scared up $10.3 million for a ten-day total of $44.1 million. The drop from last week, while steep, is in line with how horror movies typically operate, and we'll see if the film can stabilize in the coming weeks.
The weekend's other big newcomer, Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, also underperformed, opening to $10.1 million. That's less than half of what the first Rabbit opened to in February 2018. While some drop-off was expected, it was hoped that family audiences would respond in bigger numbers. Peter does have some room to hop, as the next big family movie, Boss Baby 2, isn't arriving until 4th of July weekend.
Cruella rounded out the top 5 with $6.7 million, for a total of $56 million. It should pass Tenet and The Croods: A New Age this weekend to become the third-highest grossing movie of the pandemic era. In sixth was Spirit Untamed, which had an even worse drop than The Conjuring had. It made $2.6 million for a ten-day total of $11 million.
You'd be forgiven for forgetting the existence of Meet the Blacks, a 2016 horror spoof starring Mike Epps which made only $9 million. For some reason, it got a sequel, The House Next Door, in which Epps has to comically battle a vampire played by Katt Williams, and somehow, it became the last movie of the weekend to earn over $1 million, despite a limited opening. It earned just over a million, and we'll see how it does as it goes wider this weekend.
Wrath of Man came in 8th, bringing its total to $26 million. Opening in ninth, also in limited release, was the comedy-drama Queen Bees, which appears to be Mean Girls set in a retirement community. Ellen Burstyn, James Caan, and Ann-Margret star. It took in $0.4 million. Spiral rounds out the Top 10, with a gross of $22.8 million.
There is only one wide release this weekend, The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, the sequel to the successful 2017 action comedy The Hitman's Bodyguard. Samuel L. Jackson returns as the hitman, and Ryan Reynolds as the bodyguard, who reluctantly has to protect the wife Salma Hayek. This is one of those movies that manages to attract a surprisingly stacked cast, including Gary Oldman, Richard E. Grant, Morgan Freeman, and Antonio Banderas, all of whom, I'm assuming, got paid very well. Reviews are terrible, but with little competition, it's expected to debut at #1. That said, if it underperforms, A Quiet Place will be right there, and maybe In the Heights will find its legs. We'll find out what happens next weekend.
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