'Terminator: Dark Fate' tops the box office with weak $29 million debut

rambo

6 years ago

©2018 Skydance Productions, LLC and Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved.(NEW YORK) — Terminator: Dark Fate grabbed the top spot at the weekend box office, despite only being able to generate an estimated $29 million — far below the nearly $40 million Paramount had hoped to make. Dark Fate, which marked the return of Arnold Shwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton to the franchise for the first time together since Terminator: Judgement Day 28 years ago, along with newcomers Gabriel Luna, Natalia Reyes, Diego Boneta, and Mackenzie Davis, didn’t come close to the $31.8 million Judgement Day opened with in 1991, although it did slightly better than the previous film, Terminator Genisys, which debuted with $27 million.

The film didn’t fare any better overseas, where it delivered an estimated $28 million.

As for the weekend’s other new major releases, Harriet, the biographical film based on the life of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, who escaped slavery and led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom on the Underground Railroad, delivered an estimated $12 million for a fourth place finish. The film, starring Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Joe Alwyn, and Janelle Monáe, beat expectations.

Motherless Brooklyn, the crime drama directed by and starring Edward Norton, finished in eighth place with an estimated $3.7 million, slightly better than predicted. Right behind in 10th place was Arctic Dogs, the CGI-animated feature starring Jeremy Renner, Alec Baldwin, James Franco, Heidi Klum, Omar Sy, John Cleese and Anjelica Huston, collecting $3.1 million.

Second place belonged to Joker, delivering an estimated $14 million in its fifth week of release. The film, spotlighting the classic Batman villain, moved closer to the $1 billion mark globally with an estimated $934 million.

Right behind Joker, in third place, was Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, collecting an estimated $12.2 million in its third week of release.

Rounding out the top five was the animated feature The Addams Family, earning an estimated $8.5 million.

Inside Game, which tells the true story of NBA referee Tim Donaghy and the NBA betting scandal that made headlines in 2007, opened with an estimated $57,608.

Here are the top 10 movies Friday through Sunday, with estimated domestic box office earnings:

1. Terminator: Dark Fate, $29 million
2. Joker, $14 million
3. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, $12.2 million
4. Harriet, $12 million
5. The Addams Family, $8.5 million
6. Zombieland 2: Double Tap, $7.4 million
7. Countdown, $5.9 million
8. Black and Blue, $4.1 million
9. Motherless Brooklyn, $3.7 million
10. Arctic Dogs, $3.1 million