Universal’s M. Night Shyamalan-directed superhero movie earned about $19 million during its second weekend in theaters, comfortably topping the North American box office against two relatively weak newcomers and a slew of holdovers.
In fact, none of the top three films shifted at all.
STX’s “The Upside,” starring Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston, maintained its second-place position with $12.2 million in domestic sales this weekend, its third in theaters.
And a trident-wielding Jason Momoa defended his territory, with “Aquaman” again landing in third place with about $7.4 million in domestic ticket sales. Overseas, the film made around $7.8 million, bringing its global tally to $1.09 billion, according to Warner Bros. The movie has been in theaters for six weeks.
The weekend’s highest-placing newcomer was 20th Century Fox’s “The Kid Who Would Be King” in fourth. The latest movie from cult British writer-comedian Joe Cornish, “The Kid Who Would Be King” opened this weekend to about $7.3 million in sales, according to Comscore, which compiles box-office data. The PG-rated movie is a contemporary retelling of the King Arthur legend, in which a 12-year-old boy (Louis Ashbourne Serkis) finds the sword Excalibur jutting out of a lump of stone at a construction site.
Even with some serious star power, Aviron’s “Serenity,” with Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway as exes reunited under difficult circumstances, failed to break into the top five. It sold just $4.8 million in tickets during its opening weekend, landing in eighth place, after being panned by most critics (its Rotten Tomatoes score is currently 21 percent). Moviegoers were no kinder, with ticket buyers giving the film a D+ grade in CinemaScore exit polls.
Perhaps the most notable sign of life during this ho-hum January weekend came courtesy of Tuesday’s announcement of this year’s Oscar nominees. Universal’s “Green Book,” nominated for five Academy Awards including best picture, expanded by about 1,500 screens around the country, bringing in $5.4 million this weekend (its 11th in theaters). It landed in sixth place.
And Fox Searchlight’s “The Favourite,” which tied “Roma” for most nominations with 10, added about 1,000 locations, selling about $2.6 million in tickets. Netflix has not released box-office figures for “Roma,” which is in limited release in theaters and is available on the streaming platform.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.