Lionsgate action comedy heads for $15 million 5-day opening as “In the Heights” falls out of top 5

David Appleby/Lionsgate

Lionsgate’s “The Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife” will take No. 1 on a quiet box office weekend before the release of “F9,” grossing $3 million from 3,331 theaters to earn an estimated $10 million this weekend and an extended opening of $15 million, meeting studio expectations.

The film is a sequel to “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” starring Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson, which earned a $21 million opening in August 2017 and went on to gross $75 million domestically and $176 million globally against a $69 million budget. This new film, which was produced on a $50 million budget, has received poor reviews with a 24% Rotten Tomatoes rating but did somewhat better with audiences with a B on CinemaScore and a 79% RT audience score.

The opening for “Hitman’s Bodyguard’s Wife” just edges out the fourth weekend of Paramount’s “A Quiet Place — Part II,” which continues to leg out well with an estimated $8.7 million total as it approaches $125 million in domestic grosses.

The same cannot be said for Warner Bros.’ “In the Heights,” which is seeing its hopes for strong legs from critical and audience acclaim fade away after grossing $1.37 million on its second Friday. Estimates currently have the film grossing $4.3 million this weekend for a 10-day total of $19.8 million. It would be a drop of 62% from its disappointing $11.5 million opening and see it fall out of the weekend’s top 5 charts.

Last weekend’s other new release, Sony’s “Peter Rabbit 2,” was able to stay in the top 5 with $1.8 million grossed on its second Friday, giving it an $6.2 million second weekend total, the No. 3 spot on the charts, and a 10-day total of $20.4 million.

Still, the film has yet to reach even the $25 million that the first “Peter Rabbit” earned in its opening weekend. While studio sources say that Sony’s decision on Friday to move its other big summer family film, “Hotel Transylvania: Transformania” from late July to October 1 was to return the franchise to its roots as a Halloween offering, the move also could lead to substantially stronger numbers than “Peter Rabbit” if COVID-19 continues to be contained and families become more comfortable with returning to theaters by autumn.

Rounding out the top 5 are Disney’s “Cruella” and Warner Bros.’ “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” each with an estimated $4.8 million. “Cruella” has an estimated $64 million in its fourth weekend while “Conjuring” has $53 million after three weekends.

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