Friday Box Office: ‘Downtown Abbey’ Elegantly Dominates Opening Night, Headed Toward Record Weekend

The busy summer season at the movies is over, but there are still some big films to come out before the holiday blockbusters arrive. Just as the hot months are starting to wind down, Focus Features and Carnival have a hit in the making that is likely going to do better than anything they’ve ever released. On Friday, the box office had three wide release films open, but it was the elegance of Downton Abbey that dominated them all.

As reported by The Inquisitr a couple of weeks ago, Angel Has Fallen ruled all for continuous weekends as the summer came to a close. There are new films arriving in theaters, but Downton was able to take down some of the biggest movie stars in Sylvester Stallone and Brad Pitt.

On Friday night, Downton Abbey brought in $13.8 million and Box Office Mojo reports that it will likely have an overall opening weekend haul of $31 million. That should be more than enough to snag the No. 1 spot for the full weekend, and that is huge new for Focus Features.

Downton Abbey opened on 3,079 screens which is the widest release for the studio since Atomic Blonde back in 2017. The movie adaptation is expected to easily best the previous opening weekend record for the studio, which was $22.7 million from Insidious: Chapter 3 in 2015.

Fans of Downton Abbey loved it when it was on television for numerous seasons, but no one thought that the movie would do this well. Experts and analysts actually thought the film would bring in around $20 million for its opening weekend, but it almost hit that mark on its first day.

Those who loved the show have been heading to theaters dressed in period costumes to match what they are witnessing on the screen. Many have had so much fun with it, but the elegance of the royal family receiving a visit from the royal family is only just beginning.

Rambo: Last Blood also opened this weekend and pulled in $7.17 million on Friday to land in second place. Sylvester Stallone’s final (?) chapter in his long-running franchise was expected to bring in fans looking for a touch of nostalgia, and it will likely finish with around $17 million for the weekend.

The other new release is Brad Pitt’s outer space epic Ad Astra, which came in third place on Friday with $7.161 million. Jennifer Lopez’s Hustlers ended up in the fourth spot for Friday, and it is continuing to do rather well. Many are heading to theaters this weekend, and the majority of them are enjoying the old-school royal style of Downton Abbey.