John Krasinski’s ‘IF’ probably imagined a bigger opening weekend than this

Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of May 17-19, 2024.

1. IF

Weekend gross: $35M
Total domestic gross: $35M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA

The marketing push for IF has been a big one. It feels like there have been a ton of commercials for the movie in addition to a premiere that featured a giant, purple imaginary friend. (Which disappointingly was not Steve Carell in costume.) All of that work got director/writer John Krasinski and star Ryan Reynolds a $35 million opening weekend.

If you’re imaginary a great opening weekend, you’d probably imagine a bit higher.

IF’s $35 million debut ranks behind both A Quiet Place ($50.2 million) and A Quiet Place: Part II ($47.5 million) when looking at Krasinski’s young directorial career. The man knows how to craft inexpensive movies that do well in theaters. IF, a movie that isn’t based on a preexisting property or franchise but still had a $110 million budget, didn’t keep that streak going.

2. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Weekend gross: $26M
Total domestic gross: $101.2M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 55

When it comes to the recent Planet of the Apes films, there’s a lot of consistency in how they perform. After having a $58.4 debut last weekend that looked a lot like the first weekends for Rise of the Planet of the Apes ($54.8 million) and War for the Planet of the Apes ($56.3 million), Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes notched a $26 million second weekend. Rise’s second weekend? $27.8 million. War’s second weekend? $20.9 million.

Kingdom also cracked the $100 million mark thanks to its performance this weekend.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes has been the outlier when it comes to the four movies in the rebooted franchise. After a $72.6 million opening weekend, the second film in this era of the franchise turned in a $36.3 million second weekend.