Box Office: ‘Hotel Transylvania 3’ Climbs Past ‘Skyscraper’ on Thursday Night
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Sony’s “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” checked in with $2.6 million on Thursday night, easily topping Dwayne Johnson’s action-thriller “Skyscraper,” which climbed to $2 million.
The two newcomers are competing for the top spot with the second weekend of Disney-Marvel’s “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” with all three heading for respectable $30 million-plus outings. Recent forecasts have placed “Hotel Transylvania 3” at $38 million to $48 million when it opens at 4,267 locations.
“ ” has a voice cast featuring Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg, Selena Gomez, Kevin James, David Spade, Steve Buscemi, Keegan-Michael Key, Molly Shannon, Fran Drescher, Kathryn Hahn, Jim Gaffigan, and Mel Brooks.
The first “Hotel Transylvania” opened with $42.5 million in North America in 2012 on its way to $358.4 million at the worldwide box office. In 2015, “Hotel Transylvania 2” launched with $48.5 million domestically and wound up with $473.2 million worldwide.
Showings of “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation” began at 5 p.m. Thursday while “” screenings started at 7 p.m.
The film is directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, and written by Tartakovsky and Michael McCullers. It focuses on Dracula, Mavis, Johnny, and the rest of the family taking a vacation on the Monster Cruise Ship, where Dracula becomes attracted to the ship’s mysterious captain. “Hotel Transylvania 3” has the highest Rotten Tomatoes score of the trio, averaging 60%. The first film landed a 44% rating, and the second fared slightly better with 55%.
“Skyscraper,” opening at 3,782 North American locations, stars Johnson as a former FBI agent and amputee who is head of security at Hong Kong’s tallest skyscraper. When the 240-story building comes under attack by terrorists and Johnson’s character finds himself framed — with his family trapped above the fire line — he responds by climbing 100-story tower cranes. “Central Intelligence” helmer Rawson Marshall Thurber directs “Skyscraper.”
Johnson’s comedy-adventure “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” was a major hit early this year, earning $961.8 million at the worldwide box office for Sony. His action-adventure “Rampage” performed respectably during the spring with $425.7 million worldwide for Warner Bros.
“Skyscraper” opens day-and-date in 56 international markets and launches in China on July 20. It carries a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 52%. Johnson’s longtime collaborator, Beau Flynn, produced the pic alongside Seven Bucks partners Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, Wendy Jacobson, Eric McLeod, and Eric Hedayat. Legendary Pictures, Flynn Pictures and Seven Bucks are the production companies.
“,” which debuted with $75.8 million last weekend, should bring in another $30 million in its second outing. The sequel, starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, has pocketed $184 million globally, including $98.7 million in North America through July 11.
Disney’s fifth weekend of “Incredibles 2” and Universal’s fourth frame of “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” will be battling for fourth place in the $15 million to $20 million range. “Incredibles 2” has grossed $516.2 million domestically through July 11, making it the 11th-highest domestic-grosser of all time.
The overall U.S. summer box office is up an impressive 12.8% to $2.69 billion through July 11, according to comScore, while the year-to-date box office rose 8% to $6.63 billion.
“A continued box office heatwave will send many into the air-conditioned sanctuary of the multiplex to watch an animated Adam Sandler-voiced Dracula in ‘Hotel Transylvania 3,’ marvel at Dwayne Johnson scaling the box office heights in ‘Skyscraper,’ as well as a notable expansion of Boots Riley’s acclaimed and much talked about ‘Sorry to Bother You,’” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore, said.
Annapurna is expanding the comedy “Sorry to Bother You,” starring Lakeith Stanfield, from 16 locations to 805 this weekend. The well-reviewed film grossed an impressive $996,748 in its first six days.
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