Adam Robitel’s Escape Room continued to defy expectations, finishing fifth at the weekend box office with an additional $8.9 million for a total of $32.5 million so far.
The film picked up where it left off last week, maintaining its theater count in spite of two new wide releases (The Upside and A Dog’s Way Home) and continued competition from Aquaman, Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse, and Mary Poppins Returns. Escape Room’s box office only declined 51% this week, which is a better than normal drop for most films. When compared to recent entries from the horror genre such as the Nazi zombie splatfest Overlord (which dropped 63% in its second weekend and finished with only a $41 million gross world-wide) and The Possession of Hannah Grace (with a similar decline, but much less in revenue, ending with only $35 million world-wide), Escape Room seems to be bucking typical trends and surviving in a crowded marketplace.
The film’s international prospects are hard to determine at this point, as it has not opened in any major regions so far, but Escape Room should be able to surpass Overlord and Hannah Grace on its domestic box office alone. A domestic finish in the $50 million range is all but assured at this point, and prospects could be even better if Sony is able to secure more screens overseas.
Escape Room stars Taylor Russel (Lost in Space), Jay Ellis (Insecure), Tyler Labine (Reaper), Deborah Ann Woll (Netflix’s Daredevil and True Blood), Logan Miller (Love, Simon), and Nik Dodani (Atypical).
Want to keep up with the rest of your “horrible” winter? Be sure to check out the recently updated HNN Winter Movie Preview for all the information you need about every upcoming horror film this season.
