Box Office: ‘Final Destination Bloodlines’ Opens to Record-Shattering $51M in U.S., $102M Globally

Warner Bros is calling Final Destination: Bloodlines at $51M, far and away, a franchise record opening for the New Line horror franchise. This comes after a robust estimated $18M Saturday, just 14% off from Friday’s number/previews of $21M.

via: THR

The supernatural horror-thriller pic topped the weekend with a franchise-best domestic opening of $51 million, ahead of expectations. Overseas, it likewise earned $51 million for a global start of $102 million. That’s more than enough to successfully revive a long-dormant franchise that was first introduced to audiences a quarter of a century ago. The last installment, Final Destination 5, was released in 2011 and opened to $18 million, not adjusted for inflation. (On Saturday, the pic was only expected to do $46 million to $47 million.)

Embraced by critics and audiences, Bloodlines is directed by Adam Stein and Zach Lipovsky. The R-rated title stars Kaitlyn Santa Juana as a young woman who discovers that her grandmother was able to cheat death and save numerous lives, albeit with frightening consequences. Teo Briones, Richard Harmon, Owen Patrick Joyner, Anna Lore, Tony Todd, Gabrielle Rose, Brec Bassinger and Max Lloyd-Jones also star.

Warners is dominating the upper reaches of the box office chart beyond just Bloodlines.

Ryan Coogler‘s water-cooler sensation Sinners, now in its fifth weekend, isn’t far behind Disney and Marvel’s Thunderbolts*, placed second in its third weekend with $16.5 million. Tha put the superhero pic’s domestic total north of $155 million through Sunday as it cleared the $300 million mark globally with $325.7 million in worldwide ticket sales.

Sinners earned $15.4 million for an eye-popping North American tally of $240 million as it too raced past the $300 million mark to finish the weekend with a global haul of $316.8 million.

A Minecraft Movie also enjoyed an enviable hold and claimed fourth-place finish with $5.9 million in its seventh weekend. The video game adaptation is the top-grossing pic of the year to date with more than $928 million in global ticket sales, including $416.6 million domestically.

Rounding out the top five is Amazon MGM Studios’ The Accountant, starring Ben Affleck. The pic is earned $4.9 million in its fourth outing for a solid domestic total of nearly $60 million.

The outlook for Lionsgate and Live Nation’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, a musical psychological thriller about a tormented pop star played by Abel Tesfaye — also known as The Weeknd — isn’t so good. The film, a companion piece to his studio album of the same name, opene in sixth place with a forgettable $3.3. million.

Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan co-star in Hurry Up Tomorrow, which has been panned by critics. Audiences aren’t so enamored, either (the pic was slapped with a C- CinemaScore). Directed by Trey Edward Shults, the film sees Tesfaye play a fictionalized version of himself, or rather, a musician on the verge of a mental breakdown who is pulled into an existential odyssey by a mysterious stranger.

At the specialty box office, A24’s Friendship expanded into 62 locations. It’s on course to earn $2.5 million for a per-theater average of $23,333, the best of the weekend.

May 18, 9:00 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.

This story was originally published May 17, 9:34 am.

Updated: Coming in ahead of projections, New Line/Warner Bros’ Final Destination Bloodlines has arrived with a $102M global start this weekend. In a rare feat, that number is made up of an even split of $51M each from domestic and the international box office for the well-reviewed title.

Overseas, the Zach Lipovsky- and Adam B. Stein-directed installment is by far the best debut of the long-running franchise. It ranked No. 1 in 53 offshore markets this session, and in like-for-likes is tracking above Smile (+232%), Happy Death Day (+194%), Saw X (+173%), Final Destination 5 (+133%) and The Final Destination (+96%), among others.

Warners has been packing in movies in this first half of the year, and kudos to them and the success of A Minecraft Movie, Sinners and now the latest Final Destination, which comes ahead of what’s expected to be a mega-weekend with Disney’s Lilo & Stitch and Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning on deck. All boats rise.

With regard to Bloodlines, it came in No. 1 in all of Latin America, topping the lifetime grosses of Smile 2, Halloween Ends, Scream VI and The Final Destination. In Europe, it was No. 1 for the region, notably in the UK and France.

Overall, the Top 5 starts were Mexico ($5.5M), UK ($5.3M), Philippines ($3.4M), India ($3M) and France ($3M).