by Nathaniel R
| Weekend Box Office (Nov 17-19) UPDATED WITH ACTUALS |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
L I M I T E D excluding prev. wide |
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| 1.🔺 Justice League $94 REVIEW |
1.🔺 Lady Bird $2.5 on 238 screens (cum. $4.6) REVIEW |
| 2.🔺 Wonder $27.5 | 2.🔺 Three Billboards... $1.1 on 53 screens (cum. $1.5) REVIEW |
| 3. Thor Ragnarok $21.6 (cum. $247.2) REVIEW, YOUR QUEEN |
3. Loving Vincent $403k on 212 screens (cum. $4.6) REVIEW |
| 4. Daddy's Home 2 $14.4 (cum. $50.2) | 4. Let There Be Light $362k on 554 screens (cum. $6.7) |
| 5. Murder on the Orient Express $13.8 (cum. $51.7) REVIEW |
5. The Florida Project $299k on 217 screens (cum. $4.3) REVIEW |
Surprise! The feel good facial-differences movie Wonder in which Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson parent little Jacob Tremblay, was a big hit at the box office. It's Julia's best opening in 7 years, or her best opening in 16 years if you don't count the pictures that were sold largely on their all-star ensembles (like the Oceans pictures or Valentine's Day). Did any of you see it?
About the actual chart topper...
'tis utter madness that we now live in a world where a nearly $100 million gross on opening weekend indicates a "flop" but that's what people are calling Justice League which didn't quite hit that 100 number domestically putting it behind all four previous "DC Extended Universe" in terms of its opening weekend. These things are technically supposed to build until the "team" is assembled and then it peaks (see Marvel leading up to Avengers) but that didn't happen with DC's "universe" where the second feature (Batman v Superman) was both the opening weekend peak (by a significant margin) and the largest overall grosser globally (just barely beating Wonder Woman in that regard). They need another film as well liked as Wonder Woman quickly if they're going to keep doing this or the audience will disintegrate even quicker.
Given the reviews (40% on Rotten Tomatoes which hid the score until opening) its unlikely to have Wonder Woman's repeat business.
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| 6.🔺 The Star $9.8 | 6. The Killing of a Sacred Deer $188k on 190 screens (cum. $1.9) REVIEW |
| 7. A Bad Mom's Christmas $7 (cum. $51) | 7. 🔺 My Friend Dahmer $162k on 75 screens (cum. $483k) REVIEW |
| 8. Jigsaw $1 (cum. $36.4) |
8. 🔺 Last Flag Flying $122k on 59 screens (cum. $411k) REVIEW |
| 9. Blade Runner 2049 $600k (cum. $89.2) REVIEW | SHORTS | "BESTS" | 9. Jane $119k on 84 screens (cum. $1.0) CRITICS CHOICE WINNER |
| 10. Boo 2! A Madea Halloween $471k (cum. $46.6) | 10.🔺 The Square $109k on 63 screens (cum. $632k) |
🔺 = new or significant expansion numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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Though Thor Ragnarok took a significant hit under direct competition from other superheroes this weekend, it's already the top grossing Thor movie (globally) by nearly $100 million.
Further down the chart Murder on the Orient Express has delivered for Fox. While not a huge hit, per se, by its third weekend it's already grossed $148 million globally on a $55 million budget suggesting that Branagh might get that Poirot franchise he so clearly wants and willfully teased at the end of his remake... provided he can keep costs down.
In happy news, Lady Bird and Three Billboards have been greeted with intense interest from moviegoers, and neither were ever sure things given their subject matter/genres, stars, and directors. They both made the actual top ten box office charts if you smoosh limited releases in with the wide ones which is quite a feat since they're they've got a couple thousand less screens then most of the big titles.
Finally, it seems awfully strange to open a Denzel Washington movie on just 4 screens but that's the way Roman J Israel Esq opted to go. Denzel is arguably the most consistent box office commodity in Hollywood, his films nearly always grossing in the $50-$100 million range domestically whether they're dramas or action/thrillers (his two modes). Unless people just weren't aware that this one was opening, it's in trouble. We're willing to guess that people just weren't aware this one was out since he's not a "limited release" kind of star. It's the danger of the "glut" months of November and December at the movies when 6-12 movies are opening every week.
WHAT DID YOU SEE THIS WEEKEND?