Here's a nice surprise. STX/Lantern Entertainment’s “The Upside,” starring Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart, surprised pundits this weekend and is projected to finish atop the North American box-office with an impressive. $19.5 million opening, dethroning "Aquaman" to take the top spot on the charts.
This will be the first STX movie to ever to open at No. 1 ("Bad Moms" opened at No. 3 in 2016 with a $23.8 million opening).
STX picked up "The Upside" only five months ago, from Lantern Entertainment a subsidiary company which was created after The Weinstein Company declared bankruptcy and folded. TWC had originally picked up the film at the Toronto International Film Festival back in September 2017, which is where it had its world premiere.
STX's decision to cut the film from an R to PG-13 rating has proved fruitful for them as Kevin Hart fans and adult-drama moviegoers seemed to have gone to movie theaters this weekend in droves. It helps that the film has received solid word of mouth, with A on CinemaScore, despite its 39 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.