Box Office: 'Us' Slaughters 'Captain Marvel' With Record-Breaking Opening Weekend
Universal Pictures/Marvel Studios/Claudette Barius
Movie

Jordan Peele's latest directorial effort posts the best opening ever for an original horror title, surpassing 'A Quiet Place'.

AceShowbiz - "Us" scares away its competitors at North American box office with record-breaking opening weekend. The psychological thriller, which follows up Jordan Peele's directorial debut "Get Out", debuted to an impressive estimated haul of $70.3 million to top the chart, dethroning "Captain Marvel" after a two-week reign.

The horror movie starring Lupita Nyong'o delivers the best opening ever for an original horror title, surpassing last year's sleeper hit "A Quiet Place" ($50.2 million). It also marks the third biggest horror opening of all-time behind the 2017 "It" remake ($123.4 million) and last year's "Halloween (2018)" sequel ($76.2 million).

"Peele has really crafted an extraordinary story that I think once again is going to capture the cultural zeitgeist," said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal which distributes the movie. "He is recognized as just an amazing talent. He crafts films that make you think, that are extraordinarily well-acted, well-written and are amazingly entertaining."

"Us" received glowing reviews from critics, with an approval rating of 94% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences, however, were not that impressed as they gave it a modest "B" CinemaScore. Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, reasoned that moviegoers felt shell-shocked when leaving the theater after watching the movie.

He praised Peele, though. "It's really difficult for a director to become a superstar whose name gets people in theater, and Jordan Peele has done just that," Dergarabedian said. "He's a superstar director with a brand all his own, and that's with two feature films under his belt. That's pretty astonishing. That just doesn't happen."

Former champion "Captain Marvel" drops to No. 2 with an estimated $35 million in its third weekend. It has collected $321.5 million domestically and $588.8 million in international markets for a worldwide total of $910.3 million so far.

The rest of the top five belong to holdovers "Wonder Park", "Five Feet Apart" and "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World", which lose a spot each. Paramount Pictures' animated movie is now at No. 3 with additional $9 million. The romantic drama film places fourth with an estimated $8.8 million, while the third and final installment of the "How to Train Your Dragon" movie franchise adds approximately $6.5 million to its domestic gross.

Top Ten Movies at Weekend Box Office for Mar. 22-24:

  1. "Us" - $70.2 million
  2. "Captain Marvel" - $35 million
  3. "Wonder Park" - $9 million
  4. "Five Feet Apart" - $8.8 million
  5. "How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World" - $6.5 million
  6. "Tyler Perry's a Madea Family Funeral" - $4.5 million
  7. "Gloria Bell" - $1.8 million
  8. "No Manches Frida 2" - $1.8 million
  9. "The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part" - $1.1 million
  10. "Alita: Battle Angel" - $1 million

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