‘A Quiet Place’ makes noise at the box office

A Quiet Place: Day One is making noise at the box office. The prequel earned an estimated $53 million in its first weekend in North American theatres, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It’s both a franchise best and significantly more than expected. Going into the weekend, pre-release tracking had Day One pegged for a $40-million début, but audiences were clearly more enthusiastic to see the action-horror starring Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn and released by Paramount. The same could not be said for Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga—Chapter 1, which opened to $11 million.

The Quiet Place victory wasn’t quite enough to snag the coveted first place spot on the charts, though. That honour again went to Disney and Pixar’s juggernaut Inside Out 2, which added an estimated $57.4 million in its third weekend in theatres.

Inside Out 2 continues to be a box office phenomenon, the likes of which the industry hasn’t seen since Barbie almost a year ago. The sequel is the only 2024 release to cross the billion dollar mark and it did it in just 19 days, a record for an animated film.

“The film’s stunning global success once again illustrates that audiences the world over will respond to compelling, entertaining movies, and that they want to enjoy them on the big screen,” said Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, in a statement.

A Quiet Place: Day One, directed by Michael Sarnoski and rated PG-13, entered the marketplace with mostly positive reviews (84 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes); Audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore and four out of five stars on PostTrak.

The start for Horizon, meanwhile, was sluggish. Reviews have not been great and it got an underwhelming B- CinemaScore.

A quick glance at the top 10 shows that audiences are largely favouring franchises and “known commodities” over originals. Bad Boys: Ride or Die was right behind Horizon on the charts, and it’s been in theatres for four weeks already.

“Audiences in the summer want the tried and true, they want the familiar,” Dergarabedian said.

He was also struck by the diversity of genres in the top 10, including two Indian films: The Telugu language sci-fi Kalki 2898 AD in fifth place with $5.4 million and the Punjabi language Jatt & Juliet 3 in ninth place with $1.5 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.