Tavern Talk: Video Review - READY OR NOT

Color me surprised as I genuinely expected this past weekend in box office news to turn out the opposite of what it actually did. Who knew people wanted more of Gerard Butler's Mike Banning rescuing the President than they did another indie horror flick? To be fair, the odds for both headliners going into the weekend seemed about even, but given the quality and good time Ready or Not turned out to be, not to mention the fact it's an original movie with a cast featuring no marquee names, I was rooting for the little horror movie that could. In the end, Angel Has Fallen-the third film in the "fallen" franchise (is that what we're calling it?) was able to garner $21.4 million outperforming expectations despite it being the smallest opening in the franchise as it was just shy of London Has Fallen's $21.6 million debut. That said, Angel is the first in the series to debut at #1 after both of the previous installments landed in the runner-up position (Olympus opening against The Croods in 2013 and London opening against Zootopia in 2016). The release dates for these previous installments were both in earlier frames of the year though, and given Angel opened in the doldrums of August, after the summer movie season has expired, it had no such competition to deal with. What's even more baffling is the fact Angel joined its predecessors in earning an "A-" CinemaScore while scoring 94% RottenTomatoes audience score. What?!?! Olympus was fine (White House Down was better) and London was next to awful while Angel at least looked to be like little more than your run of the mill, mid-budget action flick, but you guys are going to make me make time for this aren't you? Anywho, we're here to talk about Ready or Not, which debuted last Tuesday night and entered the weekend with just over $3 million after its first two days of release. Once we hit the weekend though, the likes of Good Boys, Sony and AFFIRM's Overcomer, The Lion King and Hobbs & Shaw were too much for the little Fox Searchlight film that could. Of note, the film played in 2,855 locations and brought in just over $8 million for a five day performance just over $11 million. While that number is slightly below expectations, the film received great reviews and received a "B+" CinemaScore as well as having an opening weekend audience that consisted of 53% female with 79% of coming in under the age of 35-which should bode well for the film this coming weekend where no other major releases are slated. As always, be sure to follow the official TAVERN TALK by Initial Reaction YouTube channel as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where you can find a new review (or reviews) each week!