Rampage's Opening Weekend Box Office Should Rival Jumanji

Screen Rant

By Chris Agar

Published Apr 12, 2018

Rampage, the latest action vehicle starring Dwayne Johnson, should have a strong opening weekend that rivals Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.

The opening weekend haul for Rampage should rival (and maybe surpass) that of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. These days, franchises have considerably more box office clout than individual movie stars, but there are a few exceptions to the rule. Chief among them is Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who seamlessly made the transition from professional wrestler to bona fide action movie star. Dating back to his first turn as Hobbs in the Fast & Furious series in 2011, he's been riding a long hot streak with very few bumps along the road. His Jumanji just became Sony's highest-grossing film ever.

Johnson returns to theaters this weekend in video game adaptation Rampage. The movie may not break the dreaded video game curse in terms of its critical reception, but it looks to be in much better shape commercially. Riding Johnson's clout as a massive draw, Rampage is poised to be the box office victor during its opening frame.

Per Box Office Pro, it's estimated Rampage will bring in $36.5 million in its first three days. This would actually be slightly above Jumanji's debut of $36.1 million. Impressively, that figure would rank as one of the largest starts for a video game movie of all-time, coming in behind only The Angry Birds Movie ($38.1 million) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider ($47.7 million). Fortunately for Johnson, Rampage is going to fare considerably better than Doom, his first foray into the realm of video game adaptations. Even The Rock admitted that project didn't go the way he wanted.

This week's other wide release, Truth or Dare, is projected to open in fourth place with $13.5 million. The horror flick is the latest outing from Blumhouse, a studio that's coming off a banner year in 2017. While the choice to release the movie on a Friday the 13th is understandable, Truth or Dare is in the unfortunate position of playing in the shadow of A Quiet Place. John Krasinski's acclaimed horror movie posted a huge opening weekend last week with over $50 million, and there's little reason to think it won't have strong legs. Moviegoers in the mood for a scare are likely to opt for Quiet Place, seeing that its word-of-mouth is considerably better than Truth or Dare.

Elsewhere in the top five, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One should continue to hold well, as it's poised to come in third place during its third weekend. Despite the backlash, the sci-fi film has been one of the more financially successful films of 2018, already nearing the $400 million mark at the worldwide box office. It still has a couple more weeks to rake in as much as it can before Avengers: Infinity War takes over the multiplex.