Box Office: Steven Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’ Won Easter

$TWX, $IMAX, $DIS, $SNE, $CMCSA, $FOX

The sci-fi adventure marks director Steven Spielberg’s biggest opening in 10 years with $41-M, and Tyler Perry’s ‘Acrimony’ placed #2 with $17-M for the holiday weekend.

The sci-fi adventure also marks Director Spielberg’s biggest domestic bow since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($100.1-M) 1o years ago.

Ready Player One secured the 2nd-best opening of the year so far behind Black Panther. It’s also the best number for an original film from Spielberg since Jurassic Park ($47-M) in Y 1993, not adjusted for inflation.

Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures partnered on Ready Player One, which was based on Ernest Cline’s pop-culture-laced novel about a teen’s quest to win control over a virtual universe. The pic is infused with references to the 1980’s, including numerous nods to popular movies.

Ready Player One came in ahead of other comparable films, and 65% of ticket buyers were male. Imax (NYSE:IMAX) theaters turned in an impressive $6.6-M in North America.

Tyler Perry and Lionsgate’s (NYSE:LGF) latest film together, the marital psychological thriller Acrimony, came in at # 2 over the weekend with a $17.1-M from 2,006 theaters. Nearly 75% of ticket buyers were female.

Acrimony, Ready Player One and Easter weekend’s 3rd new movie, God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness, all earned A-CinemaScores.

Faith-based moviegoers continued to embrace I Can Only Imagine, which placed # 4 in its 3rd weekend with $10.8-M from 2,648 theaters for a domestic total of $55.6-M. The distributor added 395 theaters to the film’s run over Easter weekend.

Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) faith-based title Paul, Apostle of Christ came in # 10 in its 2nd outing with an estimated $3.5-M for a domestic box office of $11.5-M.

Among other holdovers, Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Marvel’s Black Panther remained a powerful in its 7th weekend, coming in # 3 with an $11.2-M for a domestic take of $650.7-M and a global box office of $1.273 million.

Pacific Rim Uprising tumbled 67% in its 2nd weekend to $9.2-M for a 10-day North American take of $45.7-M. The sequel, from Legendary and Universal, is a bigger play internationally, where it earned another $31.4-M for a foreign tally of $186.2-M, and $231.9-M worldwide.

Sony’s family film Peter Rabbit jumped the $200-M mark globally, as it expanded into additional markets.

At the US specialty box office

Isle of Dogs earned $2.8-M for a theater average of $17,030, the best box office average of the weekend. The Fox Searchlight film added more than 144 runs in its 2nd weekend.

And Aaron Katz’s Gemini opened in 4 theaters, earning $34,184 for a theater average of $8,546. Zoe Kravitz stars in the mystery, which had its world premiere at SXSW.

Have some fun, see a movie this week.

  box, CMCSA, DIX, domestic, earned, Easter, film, FOX, IMAX, international, movie, office, SNE, SXSW, theater, TWX

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Paul Ebeling

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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