A Quiet Place 2 came in second this weekend, behind fellow horror/thriller The Conjuring 3. The race wasn’t quite as close as expected, but both movies did well regardless of rank (click here for more on the Conjuring debut). This weekend’s AQP2 gross is actually the seventh highest weekend of the pandemic era, behind only the opening weekends of itself, Godzilla Vs. Kong, this weekend’s Conjuring 3, Mortal Kombat, Cruella, and Demon Slayer.

So yeah, this is a very solid hold and another huge weekend for the Paramount picture, especially in the face of direct competition from a wildly successful horror franchise. The John Krasinski directed sequel even had a solid percentage drop even when compared to the before times (pre-pandemic). The last few big films to open over the holiday weekend can give us some insight into AQP2’s hold.

Let’s start with Aladdin. It opened to the tune of $91.5M over the 3-day/$116.8M over the 4-day Memorial Day Weekend in 2019. Those are obviously bigger numbers than AQP2 put up, but not only was it the before times, when there were no capacity restrictions and more theaters open, but it’s a massive Disney property that cost significantly more. Aladdin’s production budget was $183M, where AQP2 cost only $61M.

Aladdin went on to fall only 53.2% over its second weekend and took in $42.8M. Fellow Memorial Day weekend release Solo: A Star Wars Story dropped 65.2% on weekend 2 in 2018, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales feel 64.9% in 2017.

The point here being: the 53% drop of Aladdin was great. AQP2’s fall of 59% is right in the middle of those figures, but considering its most direct competition for the same audience (horror/thriller) has now opened, it looks as though it can keep holding very well as it continues its box office run. Also of note is that Conjuring 3 took some of the IMAX and specialty theaters away from AQP2 this weekend, which undoubtedly dented the numbers a tad too.

More good news for the Emily Blunt starring sequel is that it displayed great dailies last week, and similar percentage drops over the upcoming weekdays would be very encouraging and keep it on track to get much closer to the original’s $188M gross than expected just a couple weeks ago. The film currently has $88.6M domestic, and will look to pass Godzilla Vs. Kong ($99M and almost done) by as soon as next weekend. If it does so, it will be the biggest movie since Sonic The Hedgehog made $149M in February 2020. That is, until Fast and Furious 9 comes out and bulldozes its way through the domestic market.

However, we may may see a dog fight for the top position at some point sooner than later, as the Fast Saga movies usually open huge and fall quickly, and AQP2 looks to take in smaller numbers throughout the summer. And how big will Black Widow be considering it will be in Disney Plus simultaneously for a $29.99 surcharge? I don’t know the answers yet, but I’m excited we’re seeing competition back at the box office.

Published by Seth Dayrich

Founder of WSYS and writer of two motion pictures (Catching Summer, Dan's Humongous Apartment) and a play (The Restaurant Tango). View all posts by Seth Dayrich