Just how big is A Quiet Place? Well, at the very least, it’s going to be the biggest domestic grosser of the month and the second-biggest domestic earner of the year (for the moment) behind Black Panther. It snagged one of the biggest horror debut weekends of all time, fell by just 34% and then snagged one of the very biggest (unadjusted) second weekends for any somewhat scary movie. Paramount/Viacom Inc. has needed a hit like this for two years, and they may (emphasis on “may”) get their biggest domestic grosser since Transformers: Age of Extinction back in June of 2014.
A Quiet Place earned another $32.6 million in its second weekend, dropping just 35% for a $99.6m ten-day cume. That $32.6m weekend is, sans inflation, the sixth-biggest scary movie second weekend ever behind only Jurassic World ($105m in 2015), It ($60m in 2017), Jurassic Park ($38m in 1993), The Lost World ($34.1m in 1997), The Mummy Returns ($33.7m in 2001) and I Am Legend ($33.5 in 2007). Yes, inflation means that it has sold fewer tickets in its second weekend than the likes of World War Z ($29m in 2013), and Hannibal ($29m in 2001), but those films did not cost $17m back in their day.
The second-weekend drop is itself a marvel. Get Out fell 15% in its second weekend from a $33 million debut last year and The Sixth Sense fell 3% from a $26m debut in 1999. Oh, and the likes of The Blair Witch Project, The Ring and Paranormal Activity either opened slow or added a bunch of screens in their second wide release weekends. Beyond those offerings, it’s essentially The Boy (-29% from a $10.5m debut in 2016) and the likes of The Silence of the Lambs (-13% from a $13m debut in 1991), Se7en (-13% from a $13m debut in 1995) and Scream (+42% over the Christmas season after a mere $6m opening).
Even Split and The Conjuring fell by 36% and 47% respectively from $40-$41 million debut weekends. There have been horror movies with bigger openings, smaller drops and larger second weekends. However, A Quiet Place is in rare territory for snagging a colossal debut, a tiny drop and a sizeable second weekend. If it keeps this up, it will end up over/under Get Out ($175m last year) as one of the biggest “not based on anything” horror movies ever. A run like The Boy (which got smacked by severe weather in its opening weekend), The Conjuring or Split from this point onward gets it to $161-$177m domestic.
The crazy-good scenario is it plays like Signs, a film that took a hit in weekend two against xXx but rallied for the rest of the summer. A 3.7x multiplier gets A Quiet Place to $190 million while a run like Signs from this point on ($228m total after earning $117m in ten days) gets the chiller to $193m. If it passes Fatal Attraction ($170m in 1987) and Get Out ($175m in 2017), it is going to top every “not based on anything” horror movie (not accounting for inflation) save for maybe Signs and The Sixth Sense ($293m). Throw in inflation (and my intentionally generous definition of “scary movie”), and it’s in the top 15.
We can debate until the cows come home to what extent this rescues Paramount from their 28-month drought, but it should be one of their biggest domestic grossers in the last five years. If it gets past Interstellar ($188 million in late 2014) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($191m in 2014), it’ll be Paramount’s fifth-biggest domestic grosser in six years, behind Transformers: Age of Extinction ($245m in 2014), Madagascar: Europe’s Most Wanted ($216m in 2012), World War Z ($202m in 2013) and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation ($195m in 2015). Maybe it’s the start of a comeback, or perhaps it is a mirage in a sandstorm.
However, in an era when audiences flock to so-called event movies, it is finally Paramount’s turn to step up to the plate. That it did not (comparatively) happen with a Star Trek or Transformers movie is both ironic and possibly a lesson. Either way, A Quiet Place is the movie of the moment, and it will remain so at least until April 26 at 7:00 pm. Heck, if it can thrive alongside Avengers: Infinity War, and that is entirely possible, it will have a potentially healthy playing field for the next month. Who knows how much noise it can make between then and Deadpool 2 on May 19?
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Just how big is A Quiet Place? Well, at the very least, it’s going to be the biggest domestic grosser of the month and the second-biggest domestic earner of the year (for the moment) behind Black Panther. It snagged one of the biggest horror debut weekends of all time, fell by just 34% and then snagged one of the very biggest (unadjusted) second weekends for any somewhat scary movie. Paramount/Viacom Inc. has needed a hit like this for two years, and they may (emphasis on “may”) get their biggest domestic grosser since Transformers: Age of Extinction back in June of 2014.
A Quiet Place earned another $32.6 million in its second weekend, dropping just 35% for a $99.6m ten-day cume. That $32.6m weekend is, sans inflation, the sixth-biggest scary movie second weekend ever behind only Jurassic World ($105m in 2015), It ($60m in 2017), Jurassic Park ($38m in 1993), The Lost World ($34.1m in 1997), The Mummy Returns ($33.7m in 2001) and I Am Legend ($33.5 in 2007). Yes, inflation means that it has sold fewer tickets in its second weekend than the likes of World War Z ($29m in 2013), and Hannibal ($29m in 2001), but those films did not cost $17m back in their day.
The second-weekend drop is itself a marvel. Get Out fell 15% in its second weekend from a $33 million debut last year and The Sixth Sense fell 3% from a $26m debut in 1999. Oh, and the likes of The Blair Witch Project, The Ring and Paranormal Activity either opened slow or added a bunch of screens in their second wide release weekends. Beyond those offerings, it’s essentially The Boy (-29% from a $10.5m debut in 2016) and the likes of The Silence of the Lambs (-13% from a $13m debut in 1991), Se7en (-13% from a $13m debut in 1995) and Scream (+42% over the Christmas season after a mere $6m opening).
Even Split and The Conjuring fell by 36% and 47% respectively from $40-$41 million debut weekends. There have been horror movies with bigger openings, smaller drops and larger second weekends. However, A Quiet Place is in rare territory for snagging a colossal debut, a tiny drop and a sizeable second weekend. If it keeps this up, it will end up over/under Get Out ($175m last year) as one of the biggest “not based on anything” horror movies ever. A run like The Boy (which got smacked by severe weather in its opening weekend), The Conjuring or Split from this point onward gets it to $161-$177m domestic.
The crazy-good scenario is it plays like Signs, a film that took a hit in weekend two against xXx but rallied for the rest of the summer. A 3.7x multiplier gets A Quiet Place to $190 million while a run like Signs from this point on ($228m total after earning $117m in ten days) gets the chiller to $193m. If it passes Fatal Attraction ($170m in 1987) and Get Out ($175m in 2017), it is going to top every “not based on anything” horror movie (not accounting for inflation) save for maybe Signs and The Sixth Sense ($293m). Throw in inflation (and my intentionally generous definition of “scary movie”), and it’s in the top 15.
We can debate until the cows come home to what extent this rescues Paramount from their 28-month drought, but it should be one of their biggest domestic grossers in the last five years. If it gets past Interstellar ($188 million in late 2014) and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ($191m in 2014), it’ll be Paramount’s fifth-biggest domestic grosser in six years, behind Transformers: Age of Extinction ($245m in 2014), Madagascar: Europe’s Most Wanted ($216m in 2012), World War Z ($202m in 2013) and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation ($195m in 2015). Maybe it’s the start of a comeback, or perhaps it is a mirage in a sandstorm.
However, in an era when audiences flock to so-called event movies, it is finally Paramount’s turn to step up to the plate. That it did not (comparatively) happen with a Star Trek or Transformers movie is both ironic and possibly a lesson. Either way, A Quiet Place is the movie of the moment, and it will remain so at least until April 26 at 7:00 pm. Heck, if it can thrive alongside Avengers: Infinity War, and that is entirely possible, it will have a potentially healthy playing field for the next month. Who knows how much noise it can make between then and Deadpool 2 on May 19?
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