Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe and Emily Blunt in 'A Quiet Place part II'
ParamountA Quiet Place part II topped the domestic box office on Wednesday with a strong $3.8 million gross. It was followed up by Disney’s Cruella with $1.8 million, bringing their respective totals to $65 million and $30 million in six days of release. The Emma Stone caper dropped just 11% from its $2.1 million Wednesday while the Emily Blunt horror sequel fell just 9% from its $4.2 million Tuesday. A Quiet Place part II’s Tuesday gross made news as the biggest Tuesday gross for any single movie since Sonic The Hedgehog’s $5 million day-five gross (after a $70 million Fri-Mon President’s Day debut) in February 2020. However, its Wednesday gross is even more impressive.
It’s bigger than Sonic’s $2.66 million day-six gross (-46% from Tuesday) and bigger still than even Bad Boys For Life’s $3.673 million day-six gross (following a $73 million Fri-Mon MLK weekend debut and $6.42 million Tuesday in January 2020). So, yeah, we haven’t had a bigger Wednesday gross for any single film since January 1, 2020, when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker earned $17 million on day 13 crossing $400 million domestic. Jumanji: The Next Level earned $10.9 million on day 20 as it crossed $200 million, while both Frozen II and Little Women topped $5 million and Spies in Disguise earned $4.4 million on its eighth day of domestic release.
So, yeah, having double-checked the first Wednesdays for Tenet, Godzilla Vs. Kong and The Croods: A New Age, A Quiet Place part II scored a bigger non-opening-day Wednesday gross (Godzilla Vs. Kong nabbed $9.6 million on its first day) than any movie released thus far in 2021 and any movie released at all in 2020. And needless to say, a 9% drop from Tuesday to Wednesday after Memorial Day is not par for the course. Even Aladdin dropped 38% ($7.4 million) while Men in Black III dropped 29% for a $4 million day-six gross after a $79 million Fri-Mon Memorial Day weekend debut back in 2012. Now does this mean that the $61 million, PG-13 A Quiet Place part II is going to soar to infinity and beyond? Not necessarily. It’ll still deal with direct competition starting tomorrow with Warner Bros. and New Line’s R-rated The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.
Moreover, I’d expect “got to see it in theaters” demand to fall off as its arrival on Paramount+ (45 days after opening) approaches, but that’s speculative. We’re in uncharted waters, while the likes of The Croods: A New Age earned over 50% of their eventual domestic cume while they were already available on PVOD. That said, strong weekday business can sometimes lead to sharper weekend drops, as more of the post-debut demand is made up over the first few weekdays. I will again note at how Wonder Woman 1984 dropped 67% after its $16.4 million debut over Christmas, as the folks who wanted to see it in theaters seemingly did so. But then I’ll remind you how the film stuck around and pulled a decent 2.8x multiplier.
We’ll see if A Quiet Place part II’s current “only in theaters” designation helps it against its “in theaters and on streaming” rivals (Conjuring 3, Cruella, In the Heights, etc.), but the HBO Max factor is partially why Warner Bros. felt comfortable releasing its 2021 slate in theaters at all. This could just be a matter of audiences who really wanted to see A Quiet Place Part II before its March 2020 release was canceled maintaining their interest over the last 14 months and making good on that interest in a conventional fashion. If that’s the case, then, yeah, we could see a final cume closer to $150 million than $100 million but ask me again on Sunday.
