The Lego Batman Movie beat Fifty Shades Darker at the box office over the weekend, earning a jaw-dropping $55.6 million to capture box office gold. Fifty Shades Darker, the sequel to 2015’s Fifty Shades of Grey, couldn’t beat its predecessor’s $85.2 million launches. As a result, the sequel had to settle for a $46.8 million debut and second place in the battle of the box office.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 2, a sequel to 2015’s John Wick, earned $30 million at the box office. That is more than double what the first movie made in its debut. As a result, John Wick has illustrated that Keanu Reeves’ new film is worthy of becoming a franchise.
“The first John Wick came out of nowhere theatrically, and we know from the home entertainment team it way over-indexed the norm,” said David Spitz, Lionsgate’s distribution chief. “Consumers loved everything about the world of John Wick.”
The Lego Batman Movie is now the biggest opening of any 2017 feature film release. The film also received high reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 91% score. Meanwhile, Fifty Shades Darker received a 10% rating on the movie review website. The critic’s consensus had this to say about Fifty Shades Darker, “Lacking enough chemistry, heat, or narrative friction to satisfy, the limp Fifty Shades Darker wants to be kinky but only serves as its own form of punishment.”
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