LOS ANGELES -- Dwayne Johnson and his gorilla buddy George might have scored the box office crown with a $35.7 million take for city-smashing action flick Rampage -- but the weekend's real winner knew how to speak softly and carry a big second weekend.
Rampage, the Warner Bros./New Line release arrived in theaters with just enough of a box office bang to eke out a No. 1 opening over previous weekend winner A Quiet Place.
Impressively, less than $2 million in ticket sales stood in the way of A Quiet Place upset by director-star John Krasinski, whose critically acclaimed tale about a family living in silence to hide from monsters came in at second with about $33 million. That's a modest 35 percent decline from its surprisingly potent debut April 5.
The tense genre film also stars Emily Blunt, Noah Jupe and Millicent Simmonds and is on the verge of breaking $100 million domestically, with a worldwide total of $151.3 million after 10 days in theaters.
The success of an inventive horror concept such as A Quiet Place coincides with the more low-hanging frights of Universal's Truth or Dare, which landed a B-minus CinemaScore but an anemic 15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
Making the most of a gruesome plot inspired by the real-life game and 'tween catnip stars Lucy Hale and Tyler Posey, the critically panned PG-13 outing took in about $19 million over the Friday the 13th weekend. Even so, made within the low-budget Blumhouse Productions 0model, that's still a recipe for success.
Fourth place went to Steven Spielberg's pixel-party nostalgia-fest Ready Player One, which fell a hefty 54 percent from last weekend but added about $11.5 million to its coins for a total of about $115 million domestic to date.
The Kay Cannon-directed Blockers came in fifth, slipping a steep 50 percent to add another $10.7 million to its $37.4 million domestic tally. Universal's R-rated comedy starring John Cena, Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, Geraldine Viswanathan, Kathryn Newton and Gideon Adlon has notched $52.9 million worldwide to date.
Wes Anderson's stop-motion outing Isle of Dogs went ambitiously wide but made about $5.5 million from 1,939 locations. The Fox Searchlight release added 1,385 locations from last week but saw a weekend box office bump of only 10 percent.
Three weeks ago, Dogs opened in limited release to the best per-screen average of the year but also faced criticisms of cultural appropriation, largely from the Asian-American community.
Elsewhere in canine cinema, upstart distributor Fun Academy unleashed the animated title Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero -- and added an A CinemaScore to a robust 90 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating -- also in wide release, but weekend grosses were about $1.2 million.
Slipping into 755 theaters for about a $1.7 million take was Bleecker Street's R-rated Jon Hamm vehicle Beirut, a CIA spy film directed by The Machinist's Brad Anderson. Written and produced by Tony Gilroy, the film scored 78 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. It also stars Rosamund Pike.
The specialty release of note is Sony Pictures Classics' The Rider. The award-winning drama from director Chloe Zhao stars Brady Jandreau as a former rodeo star redefining his sense of self after a devastating riding accident. It's sitting pretty at 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
After premiering at Cannes, where it won the Directors' Fortnight Art Cinema Award, the film opened to $45,268 from three theaters and solidifies Zhao as a rising director to watch.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:
Rampage, Warner Bros., $35,753,093, 4,101 locations, $8,718 average, $35,753,093, 1 week.
A Quiet Place, Paramount, $32,970,049, 3,589 locations, $9,186 average, $100,005,934, 2 weeks.
Truth or Dare, Universal, $18,667,855, 3,029 locations, $6,163 average, $18,667,855, 1 week.
Ready Player One, Warner Bros., $11,519,388, 3,661 locations, $3,147 average, $114,922,186, 3 weeks.
Blockers, Universal, $10,770,310, 3,418 locations, $3,151 average, $37,403,980, 2 weeks.
Black Panther, Disney, $5,777,896, 2,180 locations, $2,650 average, $674,233,418, 9 weeks.
Isle of Dogs, Fox Searchlight, $5,475,139, 1,939 locations, $2,824 average, $18,926,003, 4 weeks.
I Can Only Imagine, Roadside Attractions, $4,141,834, 2,573 locations, $1,610 average, $75,293,399, 5 weeks.
Acrimony, Lionsgate, $3,652,698, 1,332 locations, $2,742 average, $37,828,175, 3 weeks.
Chappaquiddick, Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures, $3,059,560, 1,645 locations, $1,860 average, $11,040,943, 2 weeks.
Sherlock Gnomes, Paramount, $2,404,661, 2,116 locations, $1,136 average, $37,228,148, 4 weeks.
The Miracle Season, MIRR/LD, $2,213,207, 1,707 locations, $1,297 average, $7,042,043, 2 weeks.
Beirut, Bleecker Street, $1,734,497, 755 locations, $2,297 average, $2,107,194, 1 week.
Pacific Rim: Uprising, Universal, $1,451,540, 1,537 locations, $944 average, $57,605,675, 4 weeks.
A Wrinkle in Time, Disney, $1,380,257, 1,112 locations, $1,241 average, $92,476,477, 6 weeks.
MET Opera: Luisa Miller (2018), Fathom Events, $1,280,000, 900 locations, $1,422 average, $1,280,000, 1 week.
Sgt. Stubby: An American Hero, Fun Academy, $1,180,939, 1,633 locations, $723 average, $1,180,939, 1 week.
Love, Simon, 20th Century Fox, $1,060,295, 889 locations, $1,193 average, $39,329,296, 5 weeks.
Paul, Apostle of Christ, Affirm Films, $611,693, 581 locations, $1,053 average, $16,394,992, 4 weeks.
The Death of Stalin, IFC Films, $478,727, 323 locations, $1,482 average, $6,316,538, 6 weeks.
MovieStyle on 04/20/2018