This winter has been a slow, semi-depressing one at the box office—Glasshas been our big hit because it cost about $15 and a ham sandwich to make—so leave it to a bunch of dragons to finally add a bit of fire. DreamWorks’How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden Worldgot off to a $17.4 million start on Friday night, trending above expectations for a possible $60+ million debut weekend. This would mark not only the highest opening of aHow to Train Your Dragonmovie, but also the best bow of a 2019 movie to date. I should also note that worldwide,HTTYD 3has snagged $198 million, already making it the fifth highest-grossing film of the year so far.
Written and directed byDean DeBlois,The Hidden Worldputs a cap on an animated trilogy that started in 2010 and has been the face of DreamWorks Animation ever sinceShrekfinally hung up his britches.Jay Baruchelreturns as the voice of Hiccup, a Viking chief struggling to balance the needs of his people with the needs of the increasingly large population of rescued dragons on the island sanctuary of Berk. The voice cast also includesAmerica Ferrera,Jonah Hill,F. Murray Abraham,Craig Ferguson, andCate Blanchett.
Meanwhile, theAlita: Battle Angelconundrum continues, asRobert Rodriguez’s 3D-a-palooza notched another $3 million and brought its domestic total to $51.8 million. As always, this is aperfectly respectableperformance, but the wheels don’t seem to be turning fast enough to bank back the film’s $200 million (before marketing) budget.
But it’s somewhat better news over in the squared circle, where writer/directorStephen Merchant’s pro wrestling biopicFighting With My Familycame in third place on Friday night with $2.5 million. The film, which tells the real-life story of lifelong UK grapplerSaraya “Paige” Bevis(played byFlorence Pugh), is currently rocking a stellar A CinemaScore.
Take a look at Friday’s numbers below and check back tomorrow for full weekend estimates. (Numbers viaBox Office Mojo.)
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
$17,490,000
Alita: Battle Angel
$3,140,000
$51,821,068
Fighting With My Family
$2,550,000
$2,765,021
Isn’t It Romantic
$2,225,000
$28,483,742
The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part
$2,185,000
$75,789,039
