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Box office: John Wick 3 fetches $57M debut, mauls Avengers: Endgame and Detective Pikachu
Even with the Avengers still playing in theaters, a different vengeful force took the top spot at this weekend's domestic box office: John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. The threequel from director Chad Stahelski (he directed the first two installments as well) took in a cool $57 million from 3,850 theaters during its domestic debut.
When placed next to the last two movies, one can see that the John Wick franchise has steadily been building in its box office success. The initial film made just $14.4 million domestically in 2014, going on to net $88.7 million at the end of its global run. Chapter Two raked in $30.4 million during its 2017 domestic weekend debut, polishing off its global run with $171.5 million. Chapter 3 has, obviously, outdone its predecessors in terms of its opening figure in North America and will most likely become the highest-grossing entry in the entire series once it's finished playing in theaters.
It all goes to show that you should never mess with a dude's dog...like ever, because his franchise-spawning quest for revenge will even eclipse the MCU's yearning to go all "eye-for-an-eye" with the Mad Titan himself.
Keanu Reeves returns to the titular role with an all-star supporting cast of Halle Berry, Mark Dacascos, Ian McShane, Saïd Taghmaoui, Lance Reddick, Anjelica Huston, Jerome Flynn, Robin Lord Taylor, and Reeve's fellow Matrix vet, Laurence Fishburne.
Now in its fourth weekend in theaters, Avengers: Endgame was not, for the first time since it opened, the No. 1 movie, a telltale sign of a slowdown, albeit only slightly. The major Marvel Studios blockbuster managed just $29.4 million for second place and while that may not be a huge showing for such a major movie, you should keep in mind that it is still the second-highest grossing feature in global box office history after James Cameron's Avatar ($2.78 billion) with $2.4 billion worldwide.
In terms of North American grosses, though, it has surpassed Avatar's $761 million with $771 million. Nevertheless, it's still second fiddle to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which holds the all-time domestic record with $937 million.
After taking the second spot during its theatrical debut last weekend with $58 million, Pokémon Detective Pikachu fell to third place domestically with $22 million. However, it will most likely surpass $200 million worldwide by weekend's end after a total of $69 million from its first week in theaters in North America and $112 million from theaters abroad.
Things will get a little more spicy next weekend when Disney's Aladdin remake and the James Gunn-produced Brightburn both hit theaters on Friday, May 24.
The following week (Friday, May 31), we'll have a veritable clash of the titans as Universal's Ma, Warner Bros./Legendary's Godzilla: King of the Monsters, and Paramount's Rocketman all open and battle for box office supremacy around the globe.
(via Variety, Forbes, Box Office Mojo)
