In what some may consider a box office surprise, Sony's
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation is on track to become this weekend's No. 1 movie at the box office, topping Marvel's
Ant-Man and the Wasp as well as Universal's
Skyscraper.
Hotel Transylvania topped Friday's chart with $16.7 million and with the Saturday morning update, it's on track for a $42.2 million debut. Meanwhile, the Dwayne Johnson-led action flick
Skyscraper, which also opened this weekend, only managed $9.1 million on Friday and is only on pace for a $24.2 million opening.
Sandwiched between the two films is Marvel's
Ant-Man and the Wasp. In its second weekend, the sequel to 2015's action-comedy is expected to bring in $28.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $132 million. It's not the record-breaking numbers we're used to seeing from Marvel, but it's in line with what many expected from the movie, which is not nearly the blockbuster spectacle of, say,
Avengers: Infinity War.
For
Hotel Transylvania 3 to top Marvel and Dwayne Johnson is quite a box office feat. But it's not like this is an unknown franchise.
Summer Vacation is actually trailing both of its predecessors.
Hotel Transylvania 2 pulled in $84.4 million while the first film opened to $42.5 million.
As for how it topped this weekend's box office, it can be attributed to a number of reasons. For starters, it's in the middle of summer and there aren't many kid-friendly movies everyone out on summer vacation. It's also starring Selena Gomez and Joe Jonas who are both incredibly powerful on social media.
According to social media tracker RelishMix (via
Deadline):
“The Hotel series has its fans, there’s no question. Some loved the first two installments for the laughs, others like Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez – and others call out that one line or moment from the trailers and clips that made them remember why they liked the first two Hotels so much. There are plenty of fans asking each other when they’re taking the kids, including a fair share of tagging from Hispanic audiences.”
Although
Hotel Transylvania 3 isn't the only animated film out, Pixar's
Incredibles 2 has been out for five weeks already. This week, it's on track to bring in $14.5 million, bringing its domestic total to a whopping $534 million. The sequel starring the Parr family is
already the highest-grossing animated film ever domestically.
What movies have you seen lately or plan on seeing this summer?