Forgive me for having had a rather frustrating day, which is why it’s been somewhat quiet here at World of Reel. I did manage to catch a screening of Tim Burton’s upcoming “Dumbo,” which I will talk about later tonight.
The big news, however, is, of course, the success of Jordan Peele’s “Us” at the week-end box-office. It is absolutely astounding to see an original horror movie make close to $70M on its opening weekend. Does this mean that Peele is now included in the shortlist of Hollywood directors that could make a movie successful just by having their name attached to the project? There aren’t many, James Cameron, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino and, yeah, now Peele belongs there.
With a reported budget of $20 million, “Us” has turned into a total slam dunk success for Universal and Blumhouse. However, I will say this about “Us,” its CinemaScore of only a ‘B’ compared to the ‘A-’ for “Get Out” could be problematic for it having legs in the weeks to come at the box-office. As mentioned, the last 20 minutes drag with too much exposition and the ending is a rather dour one, with a big WTF stamped on top of that, unlike what we got in “Get Out.
Top 5 for March 22 to March 24:
1. Us – $70M (Debut)
2. Captain Marvel – $35M ($321M Overall)
3. Wonder Park – $9M ($29.5M)
4. Five Feet Apart – $8.75M ($26.5M)
5. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – $6.5M ($146M)