Lionsgate/Millennium’s “Angel Has Fallen,” the third installment in the Gerard Butler “Fallen” action series, beat all expectations with a $20 million opening this weekend and taking the No. 1 spot.
Prior to the weekend, “Angel” was expected to earn a $13-15 million opening weekend, a sizable drop from the $21.6 million opening earned by “London Has Fallen” in March 2016. Instead, a $20.5 million opening for “Angel” will mark only a 5% decrease from its predecessor.
The film earned $7.9 million from 3,286 screens on opening day, slightly above the $7.5 million earned by “London.” Critics’ reviews were generally negative with a 41% score on Rotten Tomatoes, but fans of the series enjoyed it with an A- on CinemaScore.
“Good Boys” is still doing well after its $20 million opening last weekend, taking second this weekend with an estimated $11.1 million total that would push its 10-day cume to $41 million. In third is “The Lion King,” which is now Disney’s highest grossing remake both domestically and globally with an estimated $8.6 million sixth weekend and a $511 million domestic total, passing the $504 million earned in 2017 by “Beauty and the Beast.”
Behind “The Lion King” is Universal’s “Hobbs and Shaw” with $8 million in its fourth weekend. It, too, is hitting a milestone, as it crosses $500 million worldwide this weekend, with $147 million coming from North America.
Below the “Fast & Furious” spinoff are two newcomers that are opening in the $7 million range this weekend: Sony/Affirm’s inspirational sports film “Overcomer” and Fox Searchlight’s horror satire “Ready or Not.” “Overcomer,” which opened at a targeted range of 1,723 screens, is meeting projections of a $5-9 million opening. Critics were negative with a 33% Rotten Tomatoes score, but audiences, as customary with faith-based films, gave it an A+ on CinemaScore.
Critics were more favorable to “Ready or Not” with an 87% score on Rotten Tomatoes, while audiences gave it a B+ in CinemaScore polls, a grade that’s a good sign for horror films. However, awareness of the film was slow to pick up in the days before its Wednesday release, and current estimates of a $10 million 5-day opening are below projections of a $12-13 million extended start.