Kevin Hart, Ice Cube comedy had biggest MLK weekend opening in history.
Audiences were certainly along for the ride with Ride Along this weekend. The comedy, starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, grossed a whopping $48.1 million over the long weekend, making it the biggest release of Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend history.
The film, directed by Tim Story and produced by Will Packer, was also the top earner over a three-day weekend in January and one of the best-performing Black films of all time. The film was fueled by Black and Latino audiences, which made up a combined 80 percent of ticket sales.
Lone Survivor placed second over the holiday weekend with $26.4 million for a domestic total of $77.2 million. The Afghanistan war drama, a hit in red states because of its patriotic themes, stars Mark Wahlberg.
Male-oriented films like Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit and horror flick Devil's Due underperformed, thanks in part to pre-Super Bowl football fever. But awards contenders like American Hustle and Gravity continued to go strong in anticipation of the Academy Awards in March.
Ride Along should have a clear path to a second weekend in first place with no big releases scheduled this week. Gimme Shelter, starring Rosario Dawson and James Earl Jones, will attempt to take a piece of the art-house pie.
