‘How To Train Your Dragon 3’ Soars To The Top Of The Weekend Box Office
It’s official: peoplereallywant to learn how to train their dragons.How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the third and final entry in the animated franchise, won the weekend box office, hauling in $55.5 million. This is the best debut of any film in the series, probably because audiences couldn’t resist seeing hot older Hiccup and his CGI beard. Meanwhile,Alita: Battle Angeldropped to second place,The Lego Movie 2: The Second Partcame in third, andFighting With My Familywrestled its way to fourth place.
Congrats,How to Train Your Dragon 3: you’re number one at the box office, and number one in our hearts.Varietysays the animated sequel took in $55.5 million during its opening weekend, making it the biggest opening weekend of the year to date.
“We’ve been eagerly awaiting our first DreamWorks Animation release, and it’s great to celebrate this milestone with a No. 1 opening,” said Jim Orr, head of domestic distribution, Universal. “[Director] Dean DeBlois has delivered a stunning film for a franchise that’s truly beloved.”
The film is also doing well internationally, earning $216 million so far – and it hasn’t even opened in China yet (that happens March 1).
WhileHow to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden Worldwas dominating the weekend, last weekend’s winner,Alita: Battle Angel, fell to second place, the result of a 58% decline in attendance. Still, the sci-fi flick has done much better than predicted, and is making a killing overseas.
WhileAlitais performing above expectations,The Lego Movie 2: The Second Partis performing below. The animated film is in third place, earning $10 million. The total so far – $83,619,039 – is well below the earnings of the firstLego Movie. Perhaps audiences just weren’t interested in returning to this world.
Fighting With My Family, a wrestling movie that stars Florence Pugh and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, opened in limited release last weekend, and made $8 million.
This upcoming weekend will see the release ofGreta, starring Isabelle Huppert and Chloe Grace Moretz. I’mprettysure it won’t be a mega-blockbuster, but I could be wrong. Also opening:Tyler Perry’s A Madea Family Funeral, which will probably do well, as all Madea films do.
The real weekend to watch, though, is next weekend. Audiences will have a Marvel movie on their hands –Captain Marvel. This will no doubt boost what has been a sagging 2019 box office. The Brie Larson superhero flick is tracking for a $140 million-plus opening weekend.
Here’s the top 10 films of last weekend’s box office (viaBox Office Mojo):
How to Train Your Dragon 3 – $55.5 million
Alita: Battle Angel – $12 million
The LEGO Movie 2 – $10 million
Fighting with My Family – $8 million
Isn’t It Romantic? – $7.5 million
What Men Want – $5.2 million
Happy Death Day 2U – $5 million
Cold Pursuit – $3.3 million
The Upside – $3.2 million
Run the Race – $2.3 million
