Box Office: 'John Wick: Chapter 3' Topples 'Avengers: Endgame'
John Wick just overthrew "Avengers: Endgame" to become the new box office champ.
"John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum” debuted ahead of projections with $57 million, easily beating out "Endgame"s $29.4 million in its fourth weekend.
"Parabellum," the third installment of the action franchise starring Keanu Reeves as an unstoppable assassin, opened well above the first two film's first weekends: "John Wick" ($14.4 million) and "John Wick: Chapter 2" ($30.4 million). And it's already racked up $92 million overseas.
But don't feel too bad for the Avengers. The monster Marvel hit has now earned $771 million at the domestic box office, passing "Avatar"'s $761 million record. The all-time record holder is still "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" with $937 million. Worldwide, "Endgame" just hit $2.6 billion in ticket sales worldwide, inching up on "Avatar" and its $2.78 billion global record.
Audiences were less enthused for "A Dog's Journey," the follow-up to "A Dog's Purpose." The film, which follows a dog through several reincarnations with several owners, opened in fourth place with $8 million from 3,200 venues. That's less than half of the $18 million "A Dog's Purpose" earned in its first weekend in 2017.
Meanwhile, YA romance "The Sun Is Also a Star" had an unimpressive $2.6 debut. It earned a "B-" CinemaScore, and a 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yara Shahidi ("Grown-ish") stars as a brainy student who falls for charming exchange student (Charles Melton of "Riverdale"), as her family faces deportation.
Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. domestic distribution chief sounded disappointed when he talked to Variety: "YA stories are really challenged theatrically. It feels like in the future, these kinds of movies may only be on streaming services."
Here are the top 10 estimates for May 17-19, 2019
1. "John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum," $57,025,000
2. "Avengers: Endgame," $29,411,000
3. "Pokemon Detective Pikachu," $24,815,000
4. "A Dog's Journey," $8,000,000
5. "The Hustle," $6,080,788
6. "The Intruder" (2019), $4,025,000
7. "Long Shot," $3,400,000
8. "The Sun Is Also a Star," $2,600,000
9. "Poms," $2,090,000
10. "UglyDolls," $1,600,000
[Via Variety]