Overcoming remake fatigue, worries about Coronavirus keeping punters away and the less-than-thrilling hit rate of recent horrors, Leigh Whannell's new take on The Invisible Man is a hit from the start, earning $29 million for its launch weekend.
Universal and the Blumhouse team will be particularly happy about this one, given that the former had the underperforming Fantasy Island and the latter has seen mixed fortunes with the likes of Cats and Dolittle. And the new movie also made money overseas, kicking off with $49.2 million. Given its typically tightly maintained Blumhouse budget ($7 million in this case), the movie is already likely in profit and will just grow from here. It's also good news for Whannell, who just signed a new, two-year, first-look deal with the company.
Sonic The Hedgehog was finally pushed to second place, adding $16 million for a $128.2 million running total. The Call Of The Wild also dropped one place, making $13.2 million. Fourth was the week's other new release, anime movie My Hero Academia, which landed with $5.1 million.
In fifth, we find Bad Boys For Life, which earned $4.3 million and is closing in on $200 million domestically. Still performing less successfully is Birds Of Prey, which fell to sixth from third and took in $4.1 million. At seventh, Impractical Jokers: The Movie, based on the US TV comedy series, added screens and leapt from 11th place to nab $3.5 million. 1917 slipped one place to eighth, and grabbed $2.67 million, while horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II was ninth on $2.62 million. Finally, in 10th, the aforementioned Fantasy Island added $2.3 million for a $24 million US total. It has so far made $40 million worldwide after three weeks on release.