This weekend, moviegoers helped launch the directorial career of already tremendously talented and successful actor, who delivered a film that’s definitely worth all the praise it has been receiving.
Jordan Peele‘s audacious “Get Out” opened huge, earning $30 million off a slim $4.5 million budget. Horror movies tend to drop off faster than most on their second weekend, and with “Logan” arriving on Friday, that will probably be the case here. But no matter what, this is a huge success for Peele, who has quickly established himself as a writer/director with plenty to say, and the cinematic skills to back it up. For Blumhouse Productions, it’s the second straight month with a modestly budget breakout hit (they were behind M. Night Shyamalan‘s “Split“), and the genre shingle continues to impress with their low overhead approach. Whatever Peele has coming next, we’ll be eagerly waiting.
Oscar weekend in general tends to be quiet, and outside of Universal‘s horror hit, there wasn’t much of note. Lionsgate‘s terrible looking animated “Rock Dog” launched outside the top ten with $3.7 million. Audiences seemed to smell a disaster from a long way off. Same goes for Open Road‘s frequently delayed, and barely promoted “Collide.” The action movie took in a tepid $1.5 million, marking a pretty low point for all involved, including Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, and Ben Kingsley, who would probably prefer you all forget this existed.
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At the arthouse, “Bitter Harvest” sowed $207, 235 on 127 screens, while the Oscar nominated “My Life As A Zucchini” earned $28,206 on 2 screens. Next week we’ll see which Oscar winners get a box office bump, but “La La Land” is still dancing at the box office, adding 127 screens this week, without dropping its audience, and taking in another $4.6 million to add to its $368 million worldwide haul.
1. “Get Out” — $30.5 million
2. “The Lego Batman Movie” — $19 million ($133 mil.)
3. “John Wick: Chapter Two” — $9 million ($74.4 mil.)
4. “The Great Wall” — $8.7 million ($34.4 mil.)
5. “Fifty Shades Darker” — $7.7 million ($103.6 mil.)
6. “Fist Fight” — $6.3 million ($23.2 mil.)
7. “Hidden Figures” — $5.8 million ($152.8 mil.)
8. “La La Land” — $4.6 million ($140 mil.)
9. “Split” — $4.1 million ($130.8 mil.)
10. “Lion” — $3.8 million ($42.8 mil.)