Weekend box office: 'Crazy Rich Asians' easily fends off tepid competition
SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - “Crazy Rich Asians” fell 10 percent from last week’s numbers for a three-day weekend total of $22 million. That’s more than double than what second place’s “The Meg” was able to make and $16 million more than “Operation Finale,” the highest-ranking film that opened this week.
I realize we live in a time when facts are often trumped by personal perspective, but no matter how you dissect or attempt to dismiss the success of “Crazy Rich Asians” it isn’t rationally possible to consider its three-week run on top of the box office as anything but significant. The film has now earned $111 million domestically and currently has a worldwide total of $130 million. The film cost $30 million. When you quadruple your investment, you’ve done something right.
The lesson here is that putting a cultural twist on old genre tropes can make for a new cinematic experience that is every bit as commercial, if not more so, than the status quo.
“The Meg,” once the bride, now always the bridesmaid, took in $10.5 million. Jason Statham and his pet shark have amassed a domestic total of $120.5 million. Its worldwide total of $462 million puts the film in 12th place on the 2018 worldwide gross list. By next week it will reach 11th place. It won’t get any higher and is likely to fall back a few slots before the year is done, but it's a hit for Warner Bros. nonetheless.
“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” continues to have a steady presence six weeks into its run as Tom Cruise’s action thriller made $7 million for a domestic total of $204 million. Add in the international numbers and the film is just below $650 million.
“Operation Finale,” a film about the identification, capture and trial of Holocaust mastermind Adolph Eichmann starring Ben Kingsley and Oscar Isaac, made an estimated $6 million over the three-day weekend, boosting its five-day total to $7.7 million. That’s slightly better than predicted and should see the film earning an additional $1-2 million on Monday. I like the film quite a bit and the performances are really good, but there isn’t nearly enough tension or suspense.
Fifth place goes to “Searching,” Sony’s mystery thriller about a father (John Cho) who attempts to locate his missing daughter based on the contents of her laptop, earned $5.7 million in its first week in wide release. I haven’t had the chance to see the film, but reviews have been strong.
You have to go all the way down to 12th place to find Lionsgate's sci-fi thriller "Kin." The film struggled to a $3 million total.
Unfortunately, "The Little Stranger," a nice little mystery horror film from "Room" directorLenny Abrahamson, barely made the top 25 with $417,000 from 474 theaters.