‘John Wick’ knocks down ‘Avengers’ from top of box office

Earth’s Mightiest Heroes put up a good fight, but John Wick put at end to the three-week box office reign of ‘Avengers: Endgame’. Propelled by positive reviews, ‘John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum’ beat expectations with a debut of $57 million (Dh209.34 million) from 3,850 North American locations. That was enough to nab the box office crown from ‘Avengers: Endgame’, Marvel’s latest juggernaut that collected $29.4 million during its fourth weekend of release.

‘Parabellum’, the third instalment of the action franchise, opened well above its predecessors 2014’s ‘John Wick’ ($14.4 million) and 2017’s ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’ ($30.4 million).

‘John Wick 3’ also hit a franchise record overseas, bowing with $35 million from 66 international markets for a global start of $92 million.

In ‘Parabellum’, Keanu Reeves returns as the titular ex-hit man who finds himself on the run from assassins.

Stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski helmed the movie, written by series-creator Derek Kolstad. Halle Berry and Laurence Fisburne also star. Males accounted for 63% of opening weekend moviegoers, with 45 per cent of that crowd over the age of 25.

‘John Wick 3’ was a much-needed win for Lionsgate. Despite the modest successes of ‘A Madea Family Funeral’ and ‘Five Feet Apart’, the studio suffered a string of disappointments with its big-budget reboot of ‘Robin Hood’ with Taron Egerton, a ‘Hellboy’ remake, and most recently, Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron’s comedy ‘Long Shot’. ‘Avengers: Endgame’, which slid to second place on domestic box office charts, has now earned $771 million in North America.

‘John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum’ is scheduled to release in the UAE on June 6.