Giving Stephen Spielberg his biggest opening since Kingdom of the Crystal Skull‘s CGI monkeys unconvincingly swung onto screens, Ready Player One topped the weekend box office. The story of a teenager virtually slogging his way through pandering geek references, the adaptation opened with an estimated $41.2 million debut ($53.2 million if you count its Thursday and Wednesday night preview numbers).
That meant the second spot went to fellow newcomer Tyler Perry’s Acrimony, Perry’s dramatic, Madea-free entry making $17.1 million. Black Panther was bumped down to third with $11.3 million, with I Can Only Imagine slipping to fourth ($10.8 million) and Pacific Rim: Uprising plummeting from first to fifth with just a $9.2 million second weekend.
Meanwhile, while God may or may not be dead, it seems one of His franchises must certainly be. Following the respective $9.2 million and $7.6 million openings of God’s Not Dead and God’s Not Dead 2, God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness this weekend debuted to only $2.6 million. It came in twelfth, trailing behind Isle of Dogs despite playing in 1,528 fewer theaters. Time to call off the Christian Cinematic Universe Heaven Is for Real crossover event.