The Invisible Man, a horror movie made for just $7 million, brought in $29,000,000 this weekend to claim the number one spot on the North American box office chart. Think of that: $29 million on just a $7 million budget. That’s a damn good opening for the movie. Plus it had good reviews. Plus it has a strong word-of-mouth from audiences. So $29 million is just the beginning. But, damn, what a beginning.
This is great news for Universal. Remember a few years ago when they were planning their “Dark Universe” cinematic experiment? Uni was going to revive all of its classic movie monsters with new directors and big stars in hopes of creating a Marvel-like cinematic universe that tied them all together and created lots of sequels and lots of money. Back then, The Invisible Man was going to be a Johnny Depp vehicle and would have certainly been a lot more like the original film.
But then The Mummy starring Tom Cruise happened. Or, rather, didn’t happen because the movie bombed horribly. Universal put the brakes on the Dark Universe and went back to the drawing board. And from that failure came Leigh Whannell’s novel take on the material and this weekend’s The Invisible Man was born. So the failure of Dark Universe ended up being great for Universal and for audiences. They were able to make a great horror-thriller on a cheap budget and it’s a hit. Take THAT, Johnny Depp!
So it was a terrific weekend for The Invisible Man and my hunch is that the movie will continue to perform well because audiences are really enjoying it (a B+ CinemaScore for a horror film is fantastic). Hopefully this means that Universal and other studios will take some risks with their horror movies. Now you see why so many people are always demanding that producers and filmmakers try new things — that’s how you get something like The Invisible Man.
There were some other new names popping up on the chart this week. My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising came in at number four with a tad over $5 million. From what I understand, My Hero Academia is a popular anime but, being the old man I am, I’ve never heard of it. Still, $5 million for an anime is pretty damn good here in the states.
Then there is Impractical Jokers: The Movie, which is a big-screen adventure starring the boys from the TV series of the same name. Impractical Jokers is kind of like Jackass Lite. They play pranks on people but it’s all much more lighthearted and charming than a lot of prank shows. The film earned $3,545,000 in its first weekend of wide release.
The rest of the top ten consisted of usual suspects: Sonic The Hedgehog sliding in at number two as its total reaches $130 million, Call Of The Wild and that goofy CGI dog at number three, Bad Boys For Life getting this close to $200 million. There’s a lot going on here. All in all, it’s a good, solid weekend.
Next week brings us the Ben Affleck drama The Way Back and Pixar’s Onward. Obviously a betting man would put his money on Onward taking the number one spot because, come on, it’s Pixar. But let’s keep an eye on The Way Back. That could sneak up and surprise people. There are a lot of adult moviegoers hungry for more content aimed at them. Plus who doesn’t love an underdog story?
