“A Quiet Place” Makes Some Noise

Defying even the loftiest expectations of Paramount and writer-director-star John Krasinski, A Quiet Place took the top spot at the box office this weekend, more than doubling what the No. 2 film earned. The estimated $50 million opening marks the second biggest debut of the year, topping the $41 million Ready Player One earned last weekend. While horror has been one of the most reliable genres of the past decade, A Quiet Place and last year's It delivered monster openings. While the film will certainly experience a drop next weekend, it's an impressive debut and has nearly universally positive word-of-mouth that should help it earn more than $100 million.

Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One slipped to second place. While it's not quite at $100 million yet, it's doing quite well for itself overseas, where it's made nearly $300 million so far, with its biggest foreign market being China. Blockers debuted strongly at No. 3 with $21.4 million. That's about what Neighbors 2 opened with two years ago. But that can definitely be considered a success since Blockers didn't have the heavy expectations of a sequel weighing it down. Like many R-rated comedies, it's sure to have a long life on streaming and home video.

Black Panther hit its lowest position yet, but still managed to pass Titanic to become the third-biggest movie of all time. That's where it will stay. It can't go any higher, as it would have to earn another $100 million to catch up to Avatar and nearly $300 million more to come close to The Force Awakens. And I Can Only Imagine is still proving to be the sleeper hit of 2018. The Christian music biopic has made nearly $70 million so far.

Outside the top 5:

• This Weekend's Indie Champ: You Were Never Really Here, a thriller from idiosyncratic director Lynne Ramsey. This one can be summed up as Joaquin Phoenix going John Wick on some sex traffickers. It debuted with a whopping $43,304 on its three screens.
• Neither Chappaquiddick nor The Miracle Season made much of an impression. The historical drama about Ted Kennedy made just $6.2 million, while the inspirational sports drama managed a meager $4.1 million.
• Lean on Pete, the latest from acclaimed director Andrew Haigh, also opened strongly in limited release. The first boy-and-his-horse drama in some time, the tearjerker averaged $12,530 on its four screens.

Next weekend:

Dwayne Johnson once again tries to prove that he can make any premise – no matter how ridiculous – a success. The video game adaptation Rampage (yes, the one with the giant ape, lizard and wolf) will face off against Blumhouse horror flick Truth or Dare. I think the Rock saves the day once again, as Rampage takes the top spot with $35 million.