The Equalizer 2 came in $1,059,460 ahead of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! to claim first place at the box office.
Both sequels surpassed the opening of their predecessors and are well on their way to blockbuster status.
The Equalizer 2, the first sequel ever for star and producer Denzel Washington, opened to $36.0 million. That’s a 5.2% increase on the first film, which opened in September 2014.
Critics weren’t too pleased with the sequel considering its 51% on Rotten Tomatoes and 50 on Metacritic, but CinemaScore polled audience’s reaction at an “A” rating. The first movie received similar scores and went on to make $101.5 million domestically. However, Equalizer 2 immediately faces competition with Mission: Impossible 6 this weekend.
The Equalizer 2 also opened in some of its foreign markets and added $3.1 million to the domestic opening.
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! arrives 10 years and 2 days after the release of the original. It also topped the original’s opening by about 25.9%.
Mamma Mia 2 took in $34.9 million, which is the biggest opening for stars Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried and Cher and the third biggest opening for Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth. The movie also took in $42.9 million internationally for a $77.8 million global cume. There’s a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes but a 60 on Metacritic. CinemaScore has audiences matching the first film with an “A-” rating.
The sequel carries a $75 million budget and has no competition in the musical genre for months. The original movie went on to make $609.8 million worldwide.
The only other new opener of the weekend was the horror movie Unfriended: Dark Web. This sequel didn’t fare as well as Equalizer and Mamma and lost 76.9% of its audience from the last movie. Unfriended 2 opened to $3.6 million in ninth place, while the original took in $15.8 million in third place on its opening in April 2015.
The good news? Unfriended 2 carries a $1 million budget.
Even better news? Sorry to Bother You crossed 1,000 theaters and took in $2.8 million on its third weekend of release. Its domestic haul is now $10.2 million with a budget around $3 million before marketing, according to the director.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation added $23.7 million in its second weekend. That’s down 46.1% from its opening, which is a bit steep for the franchise. The first film dropped 36.4% while the second one lost 31.5% in the second frame.
But, after 10 days of release (and a special Amazon Prime screening day a couple of weeks before the opening), Hotel 3 is pacing ahead of Hotel 2 by about 1.1% and Hotel 1 by 16.3%. Hotel Transylvania 3 has now racked up $208.0 million worldwide against an $80 million budget.
Disney-Marvel’s 20th movie, Ant-Man and the Wasp, took in $16.5 million on its third weekend. At $165.0 million domestically, the sequel is outpacing the original by 19.8%. Bloomberg places the budget at $195 million while Deadline has it at $162 million with $154 million spent on marketing.
The movie would need to hit about $650 million worldwide to be profitable. Right now, Ant-Man and the Wasp sits at $354.5 million.
Incredibles 2 added $11.8 million to its insane run to remain the ninth highest-grossing movie ever domestically at $557.7 million. That outpaces the original’s gross through its 38th day of release by 139.8%. The movie has grossed $941.4 million when factoring in foreign markets, which is good enough for the 45th highest-grossing movie in history.
Frozen ($1.2b), Minions ($1.1b), Toy Story 3 ($1.06b), Despicable Me 3 ($1.03b), Finding Dory ($1.028b), Zootopia ($1.023b), Despicable Me 2 ($970.8m) and The Lion King ($968.5m) are what remains of the animated movies.
Dwayne Johnson’s third movie within the past year took in $11.3 million in its second weekend. Skyscraper is down a dreadful 54.4% and now carries a domestic gross of $47.1 million. Other territories add in a hearty $135.7 million for a $182.8 million gross. The movie carries a $125 million pricetag.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom grossed $11.2 million to bring its domestic total to $384.1 million. That may be down 35.9% from the original movie through this time, but its global haul stands at $1.1 billion. Jurassic Park 5 is now the 16th highest-grossing movie of all time.
Finally, The First Purge is still trailing its last two installments domestically and is just barely topping the original. But, the fourth Purge has now grossed $96.9 million on a $13 million budget.
Next week sees the release of Mission: Impossible – Fallout and Teen Titans Go! to the Movies.
Box office information from Box Office Mojo.