Just two days after he was announced as the next host of the Academy Awards, comedian Kevin Hart took to social media to inform his fans that he was stepping away amid mounting furor over “homophobic” jokes and tweets from about a decade earlier. After scrambling to find a replacement that wouldn’t somehow prompt more outrage, the Academy has reportedly given up and decided to go host-less. Meanwhile, Hart’s doing quite well. In fact, his new film just won the box office over the weekend, managing to edge out the thus-far unbeatable “Aquaman.”
While the weekend was admittedly a relatively quiet one for Hollywood, Hart’s new STXfilms-produced project “The Upside” surprised analysts by topping the box office over the weekend, taking in $19.6 million, which surpassed the still impressive fourth weekend take of $17.3 million for the Jason Momoa-starring “Aquaman.”
“With an estimated $19.59 million, STXFilms’s The Upside topped the weekend box office, dramatically outperforming expectations heading into the weekend,” Box Office Mojo reports. “The remake of the popular French film The Intouchables, The Upside stars Kevin Hart and Bryan Cranston, and while the reviews were mixed heading into the weekend, opening day audiences seemed to enjoy themselves, giving the film an ‘A’ CinemaScore, which bodes well for the film’s future.”
Deadline notes that this is STX’s first ever No. 1 opening and it’s clearly given them the last laugh after being “often knocked” by rivals for what they’ve characterized as dating missteps — in this case choosing not to open on MLK weekend and dampening chances of an Oscar bid by opening shortly after the new year. Analysts estimated “Upside” would take in $10 to $14 million in its opening weekend, but it bested that by 80-30%. – READ MORE