John M. Chu’s adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda-created musical In the Heights is on track to top the box office this weekend, but at a lower number than anticipated. The film opened with $5 million on Friday, which puts it on track for a $15 million weekend at most, which is a bit of a disappointment after the huge marketing campaign by Warner Bros., as well as the huge resurgence in strong box office debuts the last month.
In more encouragement for an industry that’s been in the doldrums for the better part of a year and a half, though, A Quiet Place Part II became the first film of the pandemic era to breach the $100 million barrier domestically on Thursday, and is set to nab second in its third frame with a $3.75 million Friday, heading towards $12.5 million over the three-day frame. Then again, it might well threepeat the weekend, should interest towards In the Heights dwindle between now and then.
The good news for Warner Bros. at least is that it’s set to be the seventh of the studio’s ten hybrid releases to debut at number one, but it’s a step down from the recent big weekends posted by the likes of Godzilla vs. Kong, Mortal Kombat and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
Speaking of the latter, the third outing for Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s Ed and Lorraine Warren is set to spend a second weekend behind John Krasinski’s horror sequel, with a $3.6 million Friday expected to lead to a total of $11.3 million.
The fourth spot will go to Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, which is currently tracking to wind up with just over $10 million by Sunday, but the live-action/CGI hybrid sequel has been rolling out internationally since the end of March, where it’s brought in over $45 million to date.
In the Heights has faced several delays since first being pegged to hit the big screen in June of last year, and despite winning hugely enthusiastic reviews from critics and audiences, it hasn’t taken off at the box office the way everyone would have surely hoped.