The John Krasinski-directed film IF debuted with an estimated $35 million this weekend, taking the top spot at the domestic box office.
The family comedy starring Ryan Reynolds and Cailey Fleming opened in 4,041 locations across the U.S. and Canada for an iffy per theater average of $8,661, box office tracking company Comscore reported.
IF centers on a girl who discovers she can see everyone’s imaginary friends — and what she does with that superpower — as she embarks on a magical adventure to reconnect forgotten IFs with their kids. The film also stars Krasinski, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carell, the late Louis Gossett Jr., and features the voices of several other stars.
The Paramount Pictures release had a reported production budget of $110 million, plus marketing costs.
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Analysts had expected the film to debut with at least $40 million, but it fell slightly below those expectations.
Audiences loved the movie, giving it an “A” CinemaScore. Film critics were less impressed, and handed the movie a 49 percent rating out of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes.
The consensus from reviewers was the movie “largely works as old-fashioned family entertainment despite an occasionally unfocused and unnecessarily complicated plot.”
IF defeated last weekend’s box office champ, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which rang up $26 million Friday through Sunday in its second weekend of release.
Third place went to the horror film The Strangers: Chapter 1, which opened with $12 million.
The Fall Guy was fourth with $8.4 million in its third week, followed by Challengers with $2.9 million in its fourth weekend of release.
Year to date, the box office currently stands at $2.4 billion. That’s down 21 percent compared to this time in 2023, according to Comscore.
According to @Comscore, this weekend’s overall total estimated 3-day Domestic box office is $99.0M and YTD 2024 (estimated at $2.425B through Sunday) is down 21% vs. 2023 – @csMoviesUS @IFmovie @ApesMovies @strangers_film @BacktoBlackFilm & @BlueAngels movie in the Top 10! pic.twitter.com/h5SIM4m9ds
— Paul Dergarabedian (@PDergarabedian) May 19, 2024
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