In its second weekend of release, the charmingly opulent Crazy Rich Asians made $25 million at the box office. That’s only a six percent drop from weekend one’s $26.5 million, which is nearly unheard of (as our box office guru Dustin Rowles pointed out, even Black Panther, the biggest movie of 2018 so far, fell by 44 percent between weekends one and two). The Constance Wu-starring film now has a domestic total of over $76 million, and with little competition on the schedule next weekend (Kin, anyone?), Crazy Rich should become the first comedy, romantic or otherwise, to cross the $100 million barrier this summer.
That’s not an insignificant feat: according to the Los Angeles Times, 2018 could be the first time in over 20 years that no summer comedy grosses more than $100 million at the domestic box office. Last year, it was Girls Trip; in 2016, Ghostbusters (it should have been Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, too, but alas); in 2015, Pitch Perfect 2, and Trainwreck, and Spy, and Ted 2; and so on. Meanwhile, here are the highest-grossing summer comedies in 2018.
1. Crazy Rich Asians ($76.8 million)
2. Tag ($54.3 million)
3. Uncle Drew ($42.3 million)
4. The Spy Who Dumped Me ($32.3 million)
And even Tag is kind of a cheat, considering it came out a week before summer officially started. The only “traditional” comedies (i.e. not superheroes, like Deadpool 2, and animation, like The Incredibles 2) released at ANY point this year to hit $50 million are Game Night ($69 million), Book Club ($68.5 million), Blockers ($59.8 million), and Life of the Party ($52.8 million). (The Happytime Murders will not be joining them.) Comedies have only made up eight percent of the box office market share this year, when a decade ago, it was 21 percent.
For the sake of comedies in 2018, Crazy Rich Asians can’t get rich enough.
(Via the Los Angeles Times)
