Moviegoers crazy about Asians

Constance Wu plays Rachel Chu and Henry Golding is Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $26.5 million.
Constance Wu plays Rachel Chu and Henry Golding is Nick Young in Crazy Rich Asians. It came in first at last weekend’s box office and made about $26.5 million.

LOS ANGELES -- Warner Bros.' highly anticipated Crazy Rich Asians dominated the box office last weekend, making history for Asian-American representation and becoming the highest-opening romantic comedy since 2015's Trainwreck.

The first contemporary English-language Hollywood film with an all-Asian cast since The Joy Luck Club 25 years ago, Crazy Rich Asians grossed $26.5 million over the weekend and a cumulative $35.3 million since its opening Aug. 15, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore. Analysts predicted that the film would collect $29 million through Sunday.

"It's a well-made movie, and it has tapped into the zeitgeist culturally as an important touchstone across the domestic marketplace," said Jeff Goldstein, the studio's distribution chief.

The movie appeals to everyone, he said: "I think it just looks like fun. The people are handsome and pretty and the locations are exotic. It looks like a nice diversion from life."

Goldstein said the lesson for major studios here is to take risks and try things that are outside the norm. "We're always looking to do that, it's often hard to find that right project that you really believe in. And it takes a lot of work to execute effectively and professionally a project like this and we're proud that we were able to do it."

Crazy Rich Asians earned positive reviews from audiences and critics, with an A rating on CinemaScore and a 92 percent fresh rating from review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.

Now in its second week, the studio's The Meg dropped one spot to No. 2, earning $21.1 million over the weekend for a cumulative $83.7 million.

STX Entertainment's Mile 22 debuted at No. 3 with $13.7 million.

The film, which was intended to launch a franchise, is the second-lowest opening of the four collaborations between director Peter Berg and actor Mark Wahlberg as well as one of the worst-reviewed films of their careers -- and of this summer.

Paramount's Mission: Impossible -- Fallout, added $10.7 million in its fourth weekend, for a cumulative $181 million. Columbia's Alpha opened at No. 5 with $10.3 million.

In limited release, Sony Pictures Classics opened The Wife with $111,137 in four theaters for a solid per-screen average of $27,784. It earned a 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Roadside Attractions' Juliet Naked opened in four theaters with $60,922, a per-screen average of $15,230.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday (except Crazy Rich Asians, which opened Aug. 15), 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:

  1. Crazy Rich Asians, Warner Bros., $26,510,140, 3,384 locations, $7,834 average, $35,276,909, 1 week.
  2. The Meg, Warner Bros., $21,151,012, 4,118 locations, $5,136 average, $83,760,074, 2 weeks.
  3. Mile 22, STX Entertainment, $13,710,825, 3,520 locations, $3,895 average, $13,710,825, 1 week.
  4. Mission: Impossible -- Fallout, Paramount, $10,773,347, 3,482 locations, $3,094 average, $181,012,068, 4 weeks.
  5. Alpha, Columbia, $10,352,512, 2,719 locations, $3,807 average, $10,352,512, 1 week.
  6. Christopher Robin, Disney, $8,861,530, 3,602 locations, $2,460 average, $66,878,940, 3 weeks.
  7. BlacKkKlansman, Focus Features, $7,383,195, 1,788 locations, $4,129 average, $23,392,685, 2 weeks.
  8. Slender Man, Columbia, $4,801,712, 2,358 locations, $2,036 average, $20,578,291, 2 weeks.
  9. Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation, Columbia, $3,768,479, 2,187 locations, $1,723 average, $153,962,179, 6 weeks.
  10. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Universal, $3,405,405, 2,270 locations, $1,500 average, $111,222,895, 5 weeks.
  11. The Equalizer 2, Columbia, $2,863,549, 1,888 locations, $1,517 average, $94,782,433, 5 weeks.
  12. Ant-Man and the Wasp, Disney, $2,646,856, 1,520 locations, $1,741 average, $208,392,506, 7 weeks.
  13. The Spy Who Dumped Me, Lionsgate, $2,617,298, 2,409 locations, $1,086 average, $29,998,313, 3 weeks.
  14. Incredibles 2, Disney, $2,302,020, 1,238 locations, $1,859 average, $594,100,868, 10 weeks.
  15. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Universal, $1,157,380, 814 locations, $1,422 average, $411,754,745, 9 weeks.
  16. Dog Days, Mirror/LD Entertainment, $868,664, 2,387 locations, $364 average, $5,929,487, 2 weeks.
  17. Geetha Govindam, Independent Indian, $821,990, 160 locations, $5,137 average, $1,564,311, 1 week.
  18. Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, Warner Bros., $750,127, 590 locations, $1,271 average, $27,301,479, 4 weeks.
  19. Eighth Grade, A24, $735,240, 542 locations, $1,357 average, $11,638,783, 6 weeks.
  20. Three Identical Strangers, Neon Rated, $502,144, 276 locations, $1,819 average, $10,567,548, 8 weeks.

MovieStyle on 08/24/2018

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