‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ struck the top box office target.
The Lionsgate’s film starring Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson and Salma Hayek has reached number one at the UAE box office according to Vox Cinemas, while also bringing in $11.6 million in the US to claim the No. 1 spot in its debut.
The action-comedy is the follow up the 2017 breakout hit ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’.
The ‘Hitman’ sequel notched ‘A Quiet Place Part II’, which took hold of the second spot in its fourth weekend of release. The Paramount horror-thriller, which stars Emily Blunt and was directed by John Krasinski, earned $9.4 million in the US. The film became the first of the pandemic era to reach $100 million in the US.
In the UAE, ‘A Quiet Place: Part II’ also took second place, followed by the animated film ‘Luca’.
Meanwhile, the Jon M. Chu-directed ‘In the Heights’ continued to struggle. The adaption of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical dropped a few slots to sixth this weekend in the US and doesn’t feature in the top 10 list for the UAE.
The Warner Bros. film earned more than $4.2 million in the US, a 63 per cent drop from the previous week. The critically-acclaimed musical film has recently been called out for its lack of dark-skinned, Black Latinos in leading roles.
However, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, believes the movie fell victim to lofty expectations. He said musicals often take a while to develop an audience.
“There were so many things going on with this film,” Dergarabedian said. “There were very high expectations when it opened last weekend. And because of the strong reviews, I think there were some overblown expectations. With the big projections, people were emotionally tied to the movie. The box office projections were overblown. That set unrealistic expectations.”
‘Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway’ placed third in the US box office with $6.1 million, while ‘The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It’ claimed the fourth spot with $5.15 million. It barely edged the Emma Stone-led ‘Cruella’, which came in fifth with $5.1 million.
While ‘Fast and Furious 9’ only opened this weekend in the US, in the UAE, the film has been revving up box office tally since May. The movie takes the number five spot in the UAE, earning nearly $300 million internationally, and parks itself just behind ‘Cruella’.
