February has become fertile ground for horror at the American box office, and this weekend is no exception. Comedian Jordan Peele's directorial debut, Get Out has thrashed expectations to arrive in the top spot, earning $30.5 million according to studio estimates.
The satirical horror, which uses race and society as the driving force behind its particular fears, was produced by the Blumhouse team for Universal, and made for a budget of less than $5 million, which means it's already off to a fantastic start. It was the only newcomer to crack the top 10 this weekend, but more about that later.
The Lego Batman Movie continues to hold on well, dropping just a single place to second on $19 million and more than $133 million in the States alone. The movie has passed $226 million worldwide. John Wick: Chapter 2 was also strong, outperforming Fifty Shades Darker to stay third with $9 million. Fourth was The Great Wall, which has seen success overseas (its global take has passed $130 million), but hasn't really hit with US audiences, as it earned $8.7 million this weekend for a $34.4 million American total. And rounding out the top five was the aforementioned Fifty Shades sequel, which whipped up $7.7 million.
Comedy Fist Fight slipped to sixth with $6.3 million, while Hidden Figures, still the most successful of the Best Picture Nominees purely in Stateside earnings, fell to seventh on $5.8 million. La La Land, which is not too far behind, made $4.6 million at eighth. And the musical is far ahead in terms of international takings – it'll be interesting to see which of the films get an added Oscar bump.
Split was down to ninth and $4.1 million, while Lion made $3.8 million.
There were two entries in the Failure To Launch category this weekend: animated Rock Dog just missed the top 10, opening 11th with $3.7 million and Eran Creevy's long-delayed and critically-eviscerated thriller Collide, which arrived with a disappointing $1.5 million and 13th place.