Fox’s manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel outperformed low expectations going into the weekend, but still has a long way to go before it can be considered a hit. Meanwhile, Isn’t It Romantic performed as expected, while Happy Death Day 2U came up short.

Carrying a hefty $175 million production budget, Alita opened to an estimated $36.5 million over the four day frame, which is expected to bump up to around $41 million thanks to the holiday tomorrow. Considering predictions had it at $25-30 million going into the weekend, it does initially seem like this is a solid debut. However, that $8.7 million opening day also includes $2.4 million from previews, which also includes the special Premium Format preview screenings earlier in the week. As a result, it may wind up being a bit front loaded as it burned off plenty of fan demand already.

This isn’t to take away from the films results, of course, because a $41 million start for an adaptation of an obscure manga has to be seen as somewhat of a win, especially since myself and many others assumed this would be dead on arrival. Still, it would be irresponsible to call it a win this early; the real story will be how well it holds in the upcoming weeks, as well as how it performs overseas. One problem it may run into is losing all of its IMAX and Premium screens to How to Train Your Dragon next weekend, as the film was largely sold as a big spectacle that had to be seen on the biggest and best screen available. Audiences generally seemed to enjoy what they got, with an A- Cinemascore signifying a good chance at a longer run.

The LEGO Movie 2 had to settle for second place in round two, as it dipped a troubling 38% in its second weekend. With just $62 million in ten days, as well as direct competition coming up next weekend, there’s an increasingly likely chance that LEGO hits the brakes short of $100 million domestic.

Warner saw a solid start for its rom-com parody Isn’t It Romantic, which clocked an estimated $20 million from its five day debut and should add a few million more today. Obviously Valentine’s Day was a big part of its appeal, but it does seem like it may have a better chance at a longer run, as opposed to some Valentine’s Day comedies like About Last Night or Valentine’s Day which burn through more than half their total in their opening weekends alone. Reportedly, the comedy was produced for just $31 million, much of which was likely covered by its distribution deal, as Netflix acquired international rights to the title, which will be released in about two weeks.

The biggest surprise of the weekend was the underperformance of Happy Death Day 2U, which was largely expected to be neck-and-neck with Alita, but instead wound up with an awful $9 million for the three day weekend, less than its predecessor made on opening day. The original Death Day benefitted from its excellent release day – both opening on Friday the 13th and in October. The reason why the sequel failed to recreate this success is a bit of a mystery, but it appears audiences simply weren’t interested in more of what they already got. Even though the title was produced for just $9 million, Universal spends quite a bit marketing these titles, meaning they may very well end up losing money on it.

Several holdover titles hit various milestones this weekend, as Aquaman surpassed the domestic total of Batman V Superman to become the highest grossing film in the DCEU domestically. Additionally, Glass passed $100 million domestic and $234 million worldwide.

Opening in limited release, wrestling comedy Fighting with my Family had a solid start of $131K from 4 locations. It didn’t exactly seem like the kind of arthouse fare that would pull in huge numbers from a small release like this, so its $32K per theater average is respectable. The film is set to expand into 2,500+ locations next weekend.