Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions’ The Invisible Man got off to a scary good start at the box office this weekend, pulling in an estimated $9.8 million on Friday. That puts it on track to pull in somewhere around $23 million for the weekend.
The film hails from co-writer/director Leigh Whannell, who got his start co-creating the Saw franchise before making his directorial debut with Insidious: Chapter 3 and 2018’s buzzy sci-fi pic Upgrade. His take on the titular Universal monster puts a modern spin on the story, as Elisabeth Moss plays a domestic abuse survivor who swears up and down that her supposedly dead husband is actually invisible and still tormenting her. It’s a tour-de-force from both Moss and Whannell, and incredibly good news for Universal who very publicly faltered with its Universal Monsters franchise just a couple of years ago.
Image via Universal Pictures
Indeed, Universal originally intended to mimic the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a series of interconnected films based on the classic monsters. Tom Cruise was The Mummy, Javier Bardem was Frankenstein’s monster, Russell Crowe was Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, and Johnny Depp was The Invisible Man. But those plans were scrapped entirely when the first installment, 2017’s The Mummy, went bust at the box office and with critics despite a hefty investment. Bardem and Depp never actually got to play their characters onscreen.
Now, it appears, The Invisible Man paves the way forward. Universal greenlit Whannel’s pitch without concern for an expanded universe or sequels. They merely heard a great idea for a movie, facilitated by the good folks at Blumhouse who specialize in low cost/high profit features. With a budget of just $7 million, The Invisible Man is already a success, and is estimated to pull in somewhere around $23 million for a weekend—just $8 million short of the opening for The Mummy, which cost nearly $200 million to make.
Sony’s Sonic the Hedgehog and Fox’s Call of the Wild are duking it out for second place, as the former pulled in $3.4 million on Friday and the “Harrison Ford and a CG dog are buddies” movie managed $3.3 million. And for all you anime fans out there (that means you, Dave Trumbore), My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising cracked the Top 5 with $1.8 million on Friday.
Check back tomorrow for full weekend results. See below for Friday’s Top 5.
| Rank | Title | Friday | Domestic Total |
| 1. | The Invisible Man | $9,800,000 | $9,800,000 |
| 2. | Sonic the Hedgehog | $3,470,000 | $115,763,652 |
| 3. | The Call of the Wild | $3,371,000 | $36,026,651 |
| 4. | My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising | $1,818,833 | $5,192,034 |
| 5. | Bad Boys for Life | $1,085,000 | $194,153,385 |
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