“Crazy Rich Asians” has continued its luxurious ride at the box office in its second weekend, pulling in $25.9 million and besting tracking expectations of $18 million.
The two-week domestic total for Warner Bros’ Asian-American-centric romantic comedy directed by Jon M. Chu is $77.7 million, and it’s flaunting a 94 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
“Crazy Rich Asians,” adapted from Kevin Kwan’s best-selling book of the same title, has earned acclaim both as a fun rom-com and as a rallying cry for Asian-Americans looking for more representation in the industry.
While the MPAA reports that Asian audiences account on average for about 6 percent of total domestic grosses last year, they accounted for 40 percent of the film’s opening weekend audience, according to comScore’s PostTrak, a demographic share unheard of for a Hollywood film.
Another Warner Bros. film, “The Meg,” has held on to its second place spot at the box office, pulling in $13.1 million in its third weekend despite a couple of new releases this weekend. The jumbo shark flick, which has a 47 percent Rotten Tomatoes score, has gobbled up $105.3 million at the domestic box office so far.
In third was STX Entertainment’s domestic wide-release of “The Happytime Murders,” which fell short of tracker expectations of $13-15 million, with an opening weekend gross of an estimated $10 million. The Melissa McCarthy-led film directed by Brian Henson, the son of the legendary Jim Henson, opened to 3,256 theaters, which amounts to a per screen average of $3,076.
Also starring Maya Rudolph, Joel McHale and Elizabeth Banks, the film, which explores a world where humans and puppets coexist, had a weekend audience that was 59 percent male and 63 percent 25 or older. The Rotten Tomatoes score for “The Happytime Murders” is a not so happy 23 percent.
The top five films at the box office this weekend was rounded out by a couple of holdovers in Paramount Pictures’ “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” which earned $8.1 million in its fifth weekend, and Disney’s “Christopher Robin,” which earned $6.4 million in its fourth weekend.
Outside of the weekend’s top five was the opening for Global Road Entertainment’s “A.X.L.,” which fell in-line with estimates by grossing roughly $2.9 million in its wide release. Written and directed by Oliver Daly, the adventure film stars Thomas Jane, Becky G and Alex Neustaedter.
The low opening for the film doesn’t do much to help the Global Road, whose film division was effectively taken over by creditors last week, as the company tries to avoid filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The overall box office total for the weekend was up 52 percent compared to the same weekend last year.