'The Invisible Man' Debuts With $29 Million Opening Weekend

Universal and Blumhouse Productions' The Invisible Man opened in theaters on Friday, and it's already off to a strong start at the box office. Deadline reports the Elisabeth Moss-starring horror film opened to $9.9 million, and it's currently on track to gross somewhere between $26 to $27 million over the weekend.

After the weekend, Reuters reports that the film took the top spot at the box office after a $29 million debut in North America. The film also opened overseas, grossing $20.2 million across 47 international territories.

Directed and co-written by Leigh Whannel, who helmed 2018's acclaimed sci-fi thriller Upgrade, the movie has already garnered high praise from critics and audiences alike. With a 90 percent rating with critics and 89 percent with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, significant praise went to Moss' performance and Whannel's direction. Considering the project was in development hell for over a decade and was produced on a relatively small budget of $7 million, The Invisible Man appears to be outdoing expectations.

The long-gestating reboot, which offers a fresh take on the 1933 original adapted from H. G. Wells' sci-fi novel of the same name, first started its life in 2007 with David S. Goyer attached to write. Universal later announced the shared cinematic universe consisting of its roster of classic monster movies, and Johnny Depp was on board to star in the titular role. Those plans all fell apart once The Mummy underperformed at the box office and critically bombed. It was once again revived in 2019 when Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions got involved, with Moss and the rest of the cast joining shortly after.

As for the second spot at the box office, Sonic the Hedgehog and Call of the Wild are currently battling it out, bringing in $3.4 million and $3.3 million respectively on Friday.