Rampage Box Office: Dwayne Johnson Nabs Number One, But Barely Beats A Quiet Place

Rampage Dwayne Johnson

Not only is Brad Peyton's Rampage the first video game adaptation to ever get a 50 percent or higher on Rotten Tomatoes, but it managed to take the top spot at the box office in its opening three days. Of course, also hard not to notice that John Krasinski's A Quiet Place gave it some serious competition with a fantastic second weekend. Check out the full chart below, and join me after for analysis!

Rampage Box Office CinemaBlend

With a take of $34.5 million, Rampage made just enough money to be called the number one movie in America - and it's a modest start for the would-be blockbuster. The film carries a hefty reported budget of $120 million, largely thanks to the expective digital creature effects that the film utilizes - but in the long run it should be an immensely successful win for Warner Bros. Why? Because the reality is that it can totally coast domestically while it rakes in cash worldwide. In foreign markets its already made an additional $114 million, which means it has already made back its budget and will probably take care of its marketing costs in the coming weeks (it's worth noting that it has a nice cushion week that separates it from The Avengers: Infinity War).

As far as Dwayne Johnson movies go, Rampage is right in the middle of the pack when it comes to opening weekends. It didn't do quite as well as his previous collaboration with Brad Peyton, as San Andreas made $54.6 million when it debuted in summer 2015; but it did outpace their first time working together, as Journey 2: The Mysterious Island only pulled in $27.3 million during its opening frame in winter 2012. It will probably end up as an average earner for the star when all is said and done, but that shouldn't really matter in the long run considering the incredible amount of money Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle made in recent months.

Rampage Dwayne Johnson

While I focus on Rampage because it grabbed the top spot, I can't ignore the amazing performance put on by A Quiet Place during Round Two with audiences. Horror is clearly clicking with American audiences right now, as John Krasinski's movie continues a trend started by major successes like Split, Get Out, and IT. Not only is it incredible that it only dropped 35.1 percent in its second weekend, but the film is also now on the verge of becoming the fifth title in 2018 to reach a nine-figure box office score domestically (and will do so by the end of tomorrow). We are in the midst of watching an awesome genre boom, and it definitely helps that it's being supported by phenomenal features like A Quiet Place.

Continuing that argument, the numbers put up by Jeff Wadlow's Truth or Dare further show mass audiences' hunger for horror - though it's a movie very different than A Quiet Place in the quality department. Critics destroyed it (15 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), and audiences have been kind of "meh" about it (indicated by a "B-" on CinemaScore), but at the end of the day the Blumhouse low budget strategy allows it to be called a big win. The film, starring Lucy Hale, only cost $3.5 million to make, which means that an opening of $19.1 million immediately puts it in profit territory. Hopefully producer Jason Blum decides to put that money towards much better films, because this one really killed a nice hot streak.

Because it seems that no major film wants to be within a week of release of The Avengers: Infinity War, we have a slow Friday ahead of us - with the arrival of Jay Chandrasekhar's Super Troopers 2, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein's I Feel Pretty, and Deon Taylor's Traffik. We'll be back next Sunday to see how the Top 10 shifts, so join us again then!

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.