How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World flies to second weekend box office victory
Universal’s How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is far from draggin’ at the box office.
The final entry in the animated franchise continues to soar past the competition, winning the box office for the second weekend in a row with an estimated opening total of $30 million in ticket sales at 4,286 theaters in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday. It has now earned an impressive $97.7 million in domestic ticket sales boosting its global total to an estimated $375.4 million, far surpassing the previous titles in the franchise at this stage.
New release Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral takes second place with an estimated $27 million in ticket sales across 2,442 theaters, while the weekend’s other debut title, Isabelle Huppert-led thriller Greta, faltered with a $4.6 million haul across 2,411 theaters for a disappointing eighth place slot.
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World continues the Dreamworks animation franchise for the third and final entry in the trilogy. It debuted last week with the biggest opening of the year to date, knocking both the first film’s 2010 opening of $43.7 million and the sequel’s $49.5 million 2014 debut out of the sky. It should hold strong in coming weeks due to positive reviews and a glowing A CinemaScore from audiences.
This conclusion follows young Viking Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his Night Fury dragon Toothless as they seek out the “Hidden World,” a secret dragon utopia home to other Night Furies. The team must find the secret world before hired tyrant Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham) does and uses it for nefarious purposes. Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Cate Blanchett, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Wiig also lend their vocal talents to the film. Dean DeBlois continues his directing duties from the first two films.
While The Hidden World signals the end to the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, second place this week goes to another final cinematic chapter, Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral. The film marks the end of Tyler Perry’s Madea franchise, which kicked off with 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Perry has enjoyed a long partnership with Lionsgate, releasing 21 films with them, but this also closes the door on that relationship for the time being.
A Madea Family Funeral exceeded expectations with its $27 million release, which puts the film in third place overall in the franchise behind 2009’s Madea Goes to Jail $41 million opening and 2006’s Madea’s Family Reunion $30 million opening. In this final Madea tale, Tyler Perry stars as the titular matriarch in a story that finds a family reunion going awry when a trip to backwoods Georgia results in the planning of an unexpected funeral that threatens to unveil unsavory family secrets.
Mike Tyson, Cassi Davis, Patrice Lovely also star, while Perry dons the directing hat to close out this conclusion to a franchise that shot him to superstardom. Audiences gave the film a warm A- CinemaScore. Madea continues to resonate with women, pulling in a 67% female audience.
Other new release Greta fared more poorly, taking in $4.6 million for an eighth place debut. The Focus Features thriller stars Oscar nominee Isabelle Huppert as the title character, an eccentric and lonely French piano teacher who lures a young woman named Frances (Chloe Gracce Moretz) to her with a lost handbag she left on the subway. Frances soon discovers there might be more to Greta than meets the eye in this sinister tale. Maika Monroe, Colm Feore, Stephen Rea, Jeff Hiller, and Parker Sawyers also star in the Neil Jordan (Interview With The Vampire) helmed film.
Robert Rodriguez’s sci-fi epic Alita: Battle Angel fell to third place with an estimated $7 million across 3,096 theaters, bringing its domestic total to a paltry $72.2 after three weekends. The story of a female cyborg has reportedly taken in $350.4 million worldwide, which does little to make a dent in the rumored $200 million production budget.
Fourth place goes to another animated sequel Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, with an estimated $6.6 million haul across 3,458 theaters in its fourth week out. The latest entry in the Lego franchise now has a domestic cumulative total of $91.7 million, only coming in ahead of 2017’s The Lego Ninjago Movie in four week totals. Despite its all-star voice cast, which includes Chris Pratt, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman, and Will Arnett, the sequel pales in comparison to its smash-hit predecessor.
Following its Oscar Best Picture victory, Green Book rounds out the top five with an estimated $4.7 million across 2,641 theaters in its sixteenth week at the box office. The film added 1,388 locations on the heels of its Oscar success, which also included wins for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali.
The film follows driver Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen) and pianist Don Shirley (Ali) on a 1962 trip through the American South, where the pair forge an unlikely friendship as they encounter virulent racism, homophobia, and more. Peter Farrelly directed the award-winning film. It now boasts a $75.9 million total, putting it ahead of last year’s Best Picture winner The Shape of Water, which ended its theatrical run with a $63.9 million domestic gross.
Overall box office is down 25.8 percent year-to-date, according to Comscore, still lagging behind the juggernaut success of last year’s Black Panther release. Check out the Feb. 22-24 numbers below.
1. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World— $30 million
2. Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral— $27 million
3. Alita: Battle Angel— $7 million
4. Lego Movie 2: The Second Part— $6.6 million
5. Green Book— $4.7 million
6. Fighting With My Family— $4.7 million
7. Isn’t It Romantic— $4.6 million
8. Greta— $4.6 million
9. What Men Want— $2.7 million
10. Happy Death Day 2U — $2.5 million