'A Quiet Place' Made A Lot of Noise at the Box Office

Thanks to word-of-mouth and strong reviews, "A Quiet Place" is a hit.

In its opening weekend, the John Krasinski-directed horror movie -- starring Emily Blunt -- smashed expectations with an estimated $50 million for a first-place finish, reports Deadline.

The Paramount Pictures/Platinum Dunes production, which centers on a family struggling not to make a sound or else they will be attacked by noise-seeking monsters, reportedly cost only $17 million -- putting "Quiet" on the fast track to profitability.

"A Quiet Place" is very good news for distributor Paramount, which has struggled at the box office in recent years. It's the studio's highest opening weekend since "Star Trek Beyond" in July 2016, which opened at No. 1 with $59.2 million.

Steven Spielberg's "Ready Player One" came in at No. 2 with $25.1 million, dropping a very respectable (for a big-budget blockbuster) 40 percent in its second weekend. The nostalgia-fueled trip into the VR world of the Oasis has banked almost $97 million to date at the domestic box office, with an impressive global box office take of $391.3 million. It's Spielberg's best showing at the worldwide box office since 2011's "The Adventures of Tin Tin."
"Blockers," the R-rated comedy starring Leslie Mann and John Cena, came in third with an impressive $21.4 million. The directorial debut of "Pitch Perfect" and "30 Rock" writer Kay Cannon, "Blockers" is another successful R-rated outing for Universal, who has released hit funny movie "Bridesmaids" and "Girls Trip."

After a very positive early screening at SXSW this year, Universal was able to translate the solid buzz from the festival into an opening weekend that performed slightly above expectations.

"While the one-sheets for this movie looked as blah as New Line's for "Game Night," Deadline reports, "the difference here was that Universal spurred a hot word-of-mouth out of SXSW with great reviews which distinguished this raunchy comedy as an 'American Pie' from the parents' POV. And that's what set this raunch apart from the rest of the fray, plus -- it has a lot of heart."

The other new release of note this weekend, "Chappaquiddick," came in seventh place with $6.2 million. The film, based on a key event from Ted Kennedy's life, hails from Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios. According to Deadline, Entertainment Studios says that the film "will make money after its ancillary output deals off a $25M final domestic box office."

Other film finance sources, Deadline reports, are struggling to believe that the film will ever post a profit, as pundits believe it won't earn much more than $17 million domestic.

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