By Alita: Battle Angel may turn out to be the strangest box office story of the year as it has only been exceeding expectations across the board but is also flopping hard thanks to its massive budget. That narrative may change a bit after this weekend, however, as the film opened to a tremendous $62.2 million China, bringing its global cume $275 million. With only $60 million at home after a heft drop weekend-to-weekend, this still isn’t a hit by any means for Fox, the importance of the ever-expanding Chinese market means all hope might not be lost for a sequel.
Meanwhile, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is the first truly bonafide hit of the year, bringing in a well-above-expectations $55.5 million. In a rarity, the series has made more money with each film released, and it’s possible for the movie to reach well above $200 million by the end of its run. While this might be the final film in the trilogy, I’m finding it hard to believe that we won’t be seeing more in the world of Berk with this fantastic return. The Hidden World‘s big box office also did some solid damage to any hopes The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part had of capturing a larger audience by stealing most of that audience away.
1. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – $55,527,000
2. Alita: Battle Angel – $12,000,000
3. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part – $10,015,000
4. Fighting With My Family – $8,012,000
5. Isn’t It Romantic – $7,510,000
6. What Men Want – $$5,200,000
7. Happy Death Day 2U – $4,988,000
8. Cold Pursuit – $3,300,000
9. The Upside – $3,210,000
10. Run the Race – $2,273,050
