As “Ready Player One” tries to build its solid start at the box office into long-term performance, two genre films will enter movie theaters hoping to carve out their own niche among theatergoers: Paramount’s silent horror film “A Quiet Place” and Universal’s raunchy teen comedy “Blockers.”
“A Quiet Place” has received rave reviews since its premiere at SXSW last month, currently holding a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes with 49 reviews logged. That’s very good news for Paramount, a studio for which box office successes have become very sparse over the past year.
After a March marked by high-budget blockbusters struggling just to break even, “A Quiet Place” is a change of pace, as Paramount has taken an approach closer to the low-risk/high-reward formula that Universal and Blumhouse have perfected to great success. Directed by “The Office” star John Krasinski in his first project for a major studio, “A Quiet Place” has a budget of $17 million that it is expected to make back this weekend with an opening in the low $20 million range.
“A Quiet Place” is also hitting theaters at a time when audiences have come out in droves for quality horror films. From criticall- acclaimed titles like “Get Out” and “Split,” to record-breaking populist fare like “It,” 2017 was a year when moviegoers couldn’t get enough of a good scare. If the critics are any indication, Krasinski has created just that, and positive word of mouth could help turn this film into a much needed win for Paramount.
“As we’ve seen over the past few years, nothing can stop a losing streak for a distributor like a good horror film,” said Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock. “And Paramount has had a history of big horror hits like ‘Friday the 13th’ and ‘Paranormal Activity,’ so they know how to market in the genre.”
“A Quiet Place” stars Krasinski and his wife, Emily Blunt, as Lee and Evelyn Abbot, a married couple trying to protect their family from monsters who hunt humans and can track even the slightest noise. As a result, the family is forced to communicate through sign language, something that they had already done to communicate with their deaf daughter, Regan (“Wonderstuck” star Millicent Simmonds). Krasinski directed from a screenplay he co-wrote with Bryan Woods and Scott Beck, and is producing with Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller.
“Blockers,” meanwhile, is another film that is entering theaters with strong reviews, but is doing so from a genre that is recovering from a big slump: R-Rated comedies. The last film of that kind to hit theaters, “Game Night,” has been able to do well with $101 million grossed against a $37 million budget. But 2017 was filled with adult comedies that fell flat, including “Snatched,” “Baywatch,” “The House,” and “Rough Night.”
But Universal did have the one comedy of 2017 that bucked this trend: “Girls’ Trip,” which grossed $140 million against a $19 million budget. Now it’s hoping to find similar success with “Blockers,” which sports a $20 million price tag and an 88 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Trackers have the film opening in the high teens, with hopes of a strong multiple as the film will provide theaters with a female-focused comedy at a time when cineplexes are filled with big action films aimed at men.
“This weekend should be a pretty good one because we now have a variety at theaters that we haven’t had much of so far this year,” said comScore’s Paul Dergarabedian. “While ‘Ready Player One’ will still be around as a mainstream blockbuster, there’s now a smaller horror film and comedy film that have good word of mouth and can provide something for moviegoers who want something different. And ‘Isle of Dogs’ will also be expanding to more theaters, so that will provide even more options.”
Directed by “Pitch Perfect” trilogy writer Kay Cannon in her directorial debut, “Blockers” follows a group of teenage girls (Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan and Gideon Adlon) who make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night. When the girls’ parents (Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz and John Cena) discover their plans, they form a desperate plot to stop them. Cannon directs from a script by Brian and Jim Kehoe, with Seth Rogen producing.
“Ready Player One,” meanwhile, hopes to keep its momentum going by holding its second weekend drop to less than 50 percent. That would mean a result of more than $20 million, though to hold on to the No. 1 spot it will likely need to make more than $26 million as “A Quiet Place” is expected by analysts who spoke with TheWrap to perform above projections. The film currently has a domestic total of $59 million after five days in theaters.
Fortunately for Warner Bros., Spielberg’s latest is performing very well in China, where it is approaching the $100 million mark while pushing “RP1″‘s global total past $200 million. With the exception of a handful of films like “Coco” and the “Fast & Furious” franchise, very few Hollywood movies endure in China as audiences go back to local fare shortly after those American blockbusters are released.
But “RP1” is showing more life in the Middle Kingdom, making $9.8 million in China on Monday for a 57 percent drop from its Sunday total. By comparison, “Coco,” which grossed $189 million in China, had a Sunday-to-Monday drop of 65 percent. “Black Panther” had a 68 percent drop, and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” had a 70 percent drop. If these good holds continue to come in, a $500 million global total could be in reach for “Ready Player One.”