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Sunday April 01, 2018

Box Office: Spielberg's ‘Ready Player One’ Opens OK

Ready Player One box office

Steven Spielberg is the only director to have two movies among the top 10 most popular movies of all time (domestic, adjusted), three in the top 20, and four in the top 25. No other director comes close. George Lucas has one in the top 10, two in the top 20, but his No. 3 isn't until No. 66. James Cameron: one in the top 10, two in the top 20, but no No. 3 until 113. 

Spielberg rules. 

Just not lately. His biggest hit of the 21st century has been the dopey “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” which grossed $317 in ‘08, or $405 adjusted (142nd all-time), then the grim “War of the Worlds,” which grossed $234 in ’05, or $335 adjusted (221st all-time). His biggest hit this decade, meanwhile, was “Lincoln,” $182/$208, which is definitely a feat—getting all of those asses in seats for a Civil War biopic. It's just that his lighter movies (“BFG,” “Adventures of Tintin”) don't bring them out like they used to.

“Ready Player One” doesn't quite change that. It grossed $41 million to win the weekend, and $53 over four days. (For some reason, it opened on Thursday.) Nothing to sneeze at, nothing to crow about. Its weekend total, for example, is about as good as the fourth weekend of “Black Panther,” this year's runaway hit, which, btw, earned another $11 mil to reach $650. It will soon pass “Jurassic World” ($652) and “Titanic” ($659) to become the third-highest-grossing domestic film of all time. Unadjusted. Adjust, and it's currently 36th, having just passed “Love Story” and “Butch Cassidy,” the No. 1 box-office hits of 1970 and 1969, respectively. 

Will be interesting to see how “Ready Player One” does in its second weekend. Is word-of-mouth good? Looks like it won't have any real competition until Dwayne Johnson's “Rampage” opens April 13. 

No. 2 this weekend? “Tyler Perry's Acrimony,” starring Taraji P. Henson, which is one of Perry's weaker openings. 

Meanwhile, the third “God's Not Dead” flick, “God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness,” died. It earned $2.6 million—or about a third of what the second film earned during its opening in 2016. It grossed less in 1,693 theaters than Wes Anderson's “Isle of Dogs” did in 165 theaters ($2.8 million; 11th place). 

The big Christian movie this Easter weekend is still “I Can Only Imagine,” which grossed another $10 mil for fourth place. It's now at $55.5. “Pacific Rim Uprising” dropped 67%, not good, and finished in fifth place. It's at $45 after two weeks. 

Posted at 10:04 AM on Sunday April 01, 2018 in category Movies - Box Office