Terminator: Dark Fate Wins the Box Office; Considered a Flop

The Top 5 movies this weekend:

1. Terminator: Dark Fate – $29 million
2. Joker– $13.9 million
3. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil – $12.2 million
4. Harriet – $12 million
5. The Addams Family – $8.5 million

Although it still topped the weekend box office, a weak opening for Dark Fate, the sixth film in Arnold Schwarzenegger‘s Terminator franchise, may mean the series won’t be back. The movie cost $185 million to make and didn’t even do a sixth of that in tickets sales in what is sure to be its biggest weekend. With the return of original co-star Linda Hamilton, it did a little better than the prior sequel, 2015’s Terminator Genisys, but that picture only made back 60% of its budget.

Joker held on to second place, with a strong fifth-week gross just shy of $14 million. The controversial Joaquin Phoenix film will pass $300 million in total revenue any day now.

Dropping from the top spot in its third week of release, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil came in third, adding another $12.2 mil to its coffers.

Harriet, the bio-pic about Harriet Tubman, the escaped slave who freed others using the Underground Railway, had a strong opening for a serious drama, selling $12 million worth of tickets. (A more dramatic title might have let it do even better.)

The Addams Family dropped from number-three to five.