NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 13: (L-R) Ryan Reynolds and Blue attend the New York Premiere of "IF" at ... [+]
IF—Ryan Reynolds’ new family comedy about imaginary friends—is bringing audiences into theaters despite opening below projections at the weekend box office.
According to Variety, the PG-rated live-action and animated hybrid opened with an estimated $35 million in domestic ticket sales in 4,041 theaters in its debut weekend—yet was short about $6 million below its projected $40 million opening. Deadline also projected the film to open in the $40 million range.
Along with $20 million in international ticket sales, IF’s worldwide tally for the weekend is $55 million.
A Quiet Place filmmaker John Krasinski writes, directs and stars in a supporting role in IF. Krasinski plays a widowed father who sends his 12-year-old daughter, Bea (Cailey Fleming) to live with her grandmother (Fiona Shaw) while he’s hospitalized to undergo a serious heart operation.
While staying in her grandmother’s old apartment building, Bea encounters Cal (Reynolds), who is the caretaker of imaginary friends Blue (voice of Steve Carell) and Blossom (voice of Phoebe Waller-Bridge), two of many IFs, as he calls them, who were forgotten about when the children who invented them grew up.
Krasinski also enlisted several big-name stars to voice the other IFs, including George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Emily Blunt and the late Louis Gossett Jr.
Variety said IF had a production budget of $110 million before prints and advertising.
Noa (Owen Teague) in "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes."
‘Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes Tops $100 Million Domestically
Variety reported that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes dropped to No. 2 after it topped the domestic box office with $58.5 million in ticket sales in 4,075 theaters last weekend. Kingdom earned an estimated $26 million in its second weekend in theaters to bring its domestic tally to nearly $101 million. Along with this weekend’s international ticket sales, the global tally for Kingdom to date is $237.5 million.
The industry trade publication said the horror thriller The Strangers – Chapter 1 opened at No. 3 at the domestic box office with an estimated domestic tally of $12 million, besting its 2018 predecessor The Strangers: Prey at Night, which earned $10.4 million in its debut. The Lionsgate film had a production budget of $8.5 million before P&A.
Meanwhile, Universal Studios’ Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt action comedy The Fall Guy continued to tumble after its underwhelming $27.7 million domestic opening in the first weekend of May. This weekend, per Variety, the movie earned an estimated $8.4 million in 3,845 theaters for a No. 4 finish.
The Fall Guy—which had a $140 million production budget not including its P&A spend—has earned $63 million domestically to date. Combining the film’s $64.5 million in ticket sales overseas, The Fall Guy has grossed $127.5 million worldwide to date.
The weekend’s other new film—the Amy Winehouse music biopic Back to Black—opened at No. 5 with an estimated domestic box office take of $2.85 million in 2,010 theaters. Marisa Abela stars as Winehouse in the story of the rise and tragic fall of the singer, who died of alcohol poisoning on July 23, 2011, at age 27.
Despite a weak opening stateside, the good news for Back to Black is that it also has taken in $36.5 million in international ticket sales, bringing its worldwide box office take to $39.35 million. Variety said Focus features acquire the film for domestic and international distribution for $20 million.
The mettle of each of the top five films will be put to the test this weekend when the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga opens wide. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the younger version of Imperator Furiosa in the film, which also stars Chris Hemsworth. Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy played Furiosa and Mad Max Rocketansky, respectively, in 2015’s Fury Road.
This article has been update with international box office numbers. Final numbers will be released Monday.
