The battle was close between loud, clumsy aliens and gigantic, loud monsters at the box office, but those big boys took home the crown with the Bally-Midway video game adaptation Rampage topping A Quiet Place this weekend. Although Variety and Forbes initially reported that A Quiet Place was the winner, it turns out that Rampage actually unseated last week’s champ (perhaps those outlets should wait until actual estimates are released next week, before they announce their “favorite” as the big winner).
According to estimates, Rampage will win this week’s title, as it generated $34.5 million in its first weekend. The Dwayne Johnson monster mash Rampage performed admirably, besting A Quiet Place by nearly $2 million ($32.6). Rampage didn’t fare as well as A Quiet Place with critics (with the monsters getting a 50% Rotten Tomatoes score vs. the noise sniffing critters who garnered a 95% rating), but audiences scored Rampage higher according to CinemaScore (giving the film an A- rating vs. A Quiet Place’s B+).
Both films will have a chance to add to their totals next week (with the only new competition coming in the form of I Feel Pretty, Super Troopers 2, and Traffik) before the real 2,000 pound gorilla of the summer season, Avengers: Infinity War, opens nationwide on April 26 .
Despite terrible reviews and a luke-warn response from the movie-going public (scoring a dismal 15% on Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus, a 21% audience score, and a B- on CinemaScore) Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare did earn an estimated $19 million on only a $3.5 million dollar budget. This appears to be the typical “one-week-only” box office event that is typical of disposable teen horror films where a 60% to 70% drop at the following week’s box office is not uncommon and readily accepted by studios.
If you are thinking of seeing any of these films, check out the official Horror News Network reviews for A Quiet Place, Rampage, and Blumhouse’s Truth or Dare and keep your eyes peeled for the Summer Horror Movie Preview coming in late April.
