This year has so far seen several films getting hit with the sequel curse—The LEGO Movie 2not connecting,Happy Death Day 2Ugetting slashed, etc etc—and yet here’sHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, a threequel out here earning the highest opening of 2019. The trilogy-capper written and directed byDean DeBloisfired up $55.5 million in its debut this weekend; for comparison,How to Train Your Dragonbowed to $43.7 million and its sequelHow to Train Your Dragon 2premiered to $49.9 million.
The animated film from DreamWorks is also setting the overseas box office ablaze, notching another $34.7 million to bring its international take to $216.9 million.
It’s not so breezy a story for the number two slot this weekend, whereAlita: Battle Angeldropped 57% from its premiere to earn $12 million, bringing the film’s domestic total to $60 million.Robert Rodriguez’s CGI-heavy manga adaptation is still fighting valiantly against its own $200 million price tag. Although the response has been less-than-enthusiastic here in the states,reportsare hinting thatAlitadebuted in China to the tune of more than $60 million, with an official number on its way later today. At this point, it’s definitely the overseas audience that’s going to giveAlitalegs, much like a whopping 70% ofAquaman’s $1 billion+ take came from the foreign box office.
Meanwhile, the weekend’s other new wide release, writer/directorStephen Merchant’sFighting With My Family, is off to a perfectly okay start with $8 million—plus a near-perfect A CinemaScore—good enough for fourth place behindThe LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part. Merchant’s film, which was produced by perennial box office winnerDwayne Johnson, tells the real-life story of pro wrestlerSaraya-Jade “Paige” Bevis, played byFlorence Pugh.
Check out the weekend’s top 10 estimates below, and be back here next week to see ifTyler Perrycan snag another success withA Madea Family Funeral.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
$55,527,000
$58,027,000
Alita: Battle Angel
$12,000,000
$60,681,068
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
$10,015,000
$83,619,039
Fighting With My Family
$8,012,000
$8,227,021
Isn’t It Romantic
$7,510,000
$33,768,742
What Men Want
$5,200,000
$45,061,066
Happy Death Day 2U
$4,988,000
$21,611,880
Cold Pursuit
$3,300,000
$27,085,567
The Upside
$3,210,000
$99,749,409
Run the Race
$2,273,050
