“Rampage” Smashes Its Competition

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson remained king of the box office, as Rampage won the weekend, though it faced some stiff competition. The video game adaptation took the top spot with an estimated $34.5 million. That's the third-best opening for a similar movie, below 2001's Tomb Raider and 2016's Angry Birds Movie. It's also another feather in the cap of the former wrestler, who starred in one of 2017's biggest movies (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle) and even made movies like San Andreas and Pain & Gain No. 1 openers.

But close behind it was horror sensation A Quiet Place, which is just a few measly dollars away from topping $100 million already. By next weekend, it will be the second-biggest movie of the year. Yes, in just three weekends, it will have bested every other movie released this year besides Black Panther. And, at a cost of just $17 million, will be by far one of the most profitable.

Opening in third place, Blumhouse's Truth or Dare proved there's room for more than just one horror movie. The latest low-budget scarefest from Blumhouse opened with $19 million, earning more than quintuple its budget in just three days. The reviews were terrible, but audiences still turned up. Unlike A Quiet Place, it won't have legs in the theater, but it's already proved the studio's formula works. Ready Player One dropped to fourth place. Even with inflated ticket prices, it won't come close to finishing among Spielberg's top 10 films. And $500 million internationally won't be enough for a movie this big. Meanwhile, Blockers will struggle to top $50 million, but that's already well above its cost. It's almost like Hollywood should keep focusing on modestly budgeted movies instead of mega-blockbusters that could make or break them.

Outside the top 5:

• This Weekend's Indie Champ: The Rider, one of the most acclaimed films of the year. The rodeo drama starring mostly non-professional actors averaged $15,089 on its three screens.
• Isle of Dogs seems to have found its ceiling. Despite adding more than 1,300 more screens, the Wes Anderson animated project only saw a 9.6 percent bump in its gross. Still, it's likely to make more than both Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou to finish as the director's fourth-biggest movie.
• Beirut continues to delay the arrival of Jon Hamm, Movie Star. The '80s-set thriller about the conflict in Lebanon earned just $1.6 million, debuting all the way down in 13th place. Opening two days early only added about $400,000 to its haul.

Next week:

It's the last week before the summer movie season starts a week early. Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty takes on the belated Super Troopers sequel. Though Schumer took her semi-autobiographical Trainwreck to No. 1 in 2015, she won't have the same luck here. I think that A Quiet Place will jump back to the top spot, with around $25 million.