Movies gobbled up tickets on Thanksgiving Weekend
Monday, November 26, 2018 at 6:39PM by Nathaniel R
What did you see over the long holiday weekend? Some of the movies got a two day headstart opening on Wednesday, others on Friday but awards season is most definitely upon us; almost everything has now screened for someone and there's only one month of the year left to get through. We've expanded the two charts to include all 14 films in wide release (over 800 screens) and the corresponding top players in limited release. There's a glut of titles out there at the moment.
Here's how the box office went down for the holidays. There is a lot to ponder after the jump...
| Weekend Box Office (ACTUALS) (Nov 23rd-25th) |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide |
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| 1 🔺 Ralph Breaks the Internet $56.2 on 4017 screens (cum. $84.7) *NEW* |
1 🔺 Boy Erased $1.5 on 672 screens (cum. $4.5) Podcast |
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| 2 🔺 Creed 2 $35.5 on 3441 screens (cum. $56) *NEW* Michael B Jordan, Podcast |
2 Can You Ever Forgive Me $598k on 426 screens (cum. $6) Review, Podcast ❤️ |
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| 3 The Grinch $30.3 on 3960 screens (cum. $180.4) Posterized |
3 Free Solo $448k on 146 screens (cum. $9.6) |
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| 4 Fantastic Beasts 2 $29.3 on 4163 screens (cum. $116.5) | 4🔺The Favourite $422k on 4 screens *NEW* Review, Podcast ❤️ |
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| 5 Bohemian Rhapsody $14 on 2927 screens (cum. $152.1) Review, Podcast |
5 Beautiful Boy $313k on 254 screens (cum. $6.9) Podcast |
Regarding the top five... This was the best Thanksgiving (three day) weekend of all time according to box office mojo and it's easy to believe given that the top four movies each made around $30 million on up. Want to see factor was obviously high on a lot of the franchise pictures.
After a lot of Oscar contenders have come up short at the box office we finally have an unqualified winner: The Favourite. The triple-leading-actress Best Picture hopeful had the best per screen average of the past two years (!!!), selling out houses on each of its four screens in LA and NYC. It was actually the best per screen average since La La Land's opening in 2016. That musical went on to gross over $400 million globally...not that The Favourite is likely to do that given it's less family-friendly more queer and esoteric qualities. Over the next two weekends the tragicomedy about Queen Anne and her warring favourite ladies will add 19 more major markets, so take heart. It won't take long to get to you!
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| 6 Instant Family $12.3 on 3286 screens (cum. $35.5) |
6 🔺 At Eternity's Gate $221k on 31 screens (cum. $408k) Review |
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| 7 🔺 Robin Hood $9.1 on 2827 screens (cum. $14.2) *NEW* |
7 🔺Maria By Callas $162k on 55 screens (cum. $685k) |
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| 8 Widows $8.2 on 2803 screens (cum. $25.8) Review, Podcast ❤️ |
8 🔺 Shoplifters $89k on 5 screens *NEW* Interview, Podcast, OSCAR SUBMISSION ❤️ |
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| 9 🔺 Green Book $5.5 on 1063 screens (cum. $7.8) Review, Podcast |
9 🔺 A Cool Fish $84k on 18 screens (cum. $226k) |
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| 10 A Star is Born $3 on 1202 screens (cum. $191) Review, Soundtracking, Podcast ❤️ |
10 🔺 Border $76k on 37 screens (cum. $457k) Review, Podcast, OSCAR SUBMISSION ❤️ |
The rest of the top ten did not perform as spectacularly but there's a couple of things worth noting straightaway. Robin Hood is a flop. Widows didn't drop as badly as expected given the lukewarm response on opening weekend. Green Book is, contrary to internet belief, not tanking. It had a better per screen average than all the rest of the top ten (outside of the four juggernauts) which bodes well for a solid if not a spectacular run (unless awards season boosts it)
It's also worth noting that this is the last top ten weekend for A Star is Born. But the weekend comes with great news for it: it's now the tenth biggest grosser of 2018, and what's more it's the most profitable among them since it only costs $38 million (the rest of the current top ten had budgets in the $100+ million range).
It's the only non-CGI, non-action, non-superpower related film to make the year's top ten. Sadly it's journey up-top will end very quickly since The Grinch will boot it out shortly, returning to the normalcy that is annual top tens in which only animated films, sequels, and superpowered stuff are allowed. Still it's exciting to see a live-action movie made for adults in there, however briefly!
OKAY... A FEW MORE TITLES SINCE EVERYONE WAS AT THE MOVIES THIS WEEKEND...
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| 11 The Nutcracker and... $2.7 on 1757 screens (cum. $49.1) Review |
11 Wildlife $66.5k on 73 screens (cum. $837k) Review, Carey Mulligan ❤️ |
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| 12 Overlord $1.1 on 1223 screens (cum. $20.1) |
12 Suspiria $46k on 34 screens (cum. $2.3) |
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| 13 🔺 The Front Runner $632k on 807 screens (cum. 1) Review, Podcast |
13 Burning $45k on 23 screens (cum. $376k) Review, Podcast, OSCAR SUBMISSION ❤️ |
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| 14 Girl in the Spider Web $356k on 983 screens (cum. $14.3) |
14 🔺 The World Before Your Feet $22k on 2 screens (cum. $28k) *NEW* |
| 🔺 = new or expanding theater count / ❤️ = absolute must-sees according to TFE numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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As for the rest, The Front Runner in its first wide weekend grossed less than $1000 per screen, suggesting it will be the biggest wide release flop of Hugh Jackman's otherwise mostly stellar box office career. His previous lowest grosser was the thriller Deception with Ewan McGregor & Michelle Williams which grossed just $4.5 domestic back in 2008.
The next two weeks are kind of "filler weeks" when the studios are mostly letting the big Thanksgiving releases carry on unperturbed by new rivals. So most of the activity will be in the limited release charts as Oscar hopefuls continue to platform and a few new ones arrives (like Mary Queen of Scots, Vox Lux, and Ben is Back). The next big box office weekend isn't until December 14th when Mortal Engines, The Mules, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse arrive in wide release with If Beale Street Could Talk and Capernaum premiere in select markets.
So, what did you see during this big moviegoing weekend? I took five friends to The Favourite and thankfully they all loved it and haven't stopped talking about it for the past three days.
Reader Comments (32)
Fantastic Beasts 2 - Overstuffed and overplotted. I still enjoyed it ultimately, but this was a bit messy.Grade: B-
Can You Ever Forgive Me? - One of my favorite films of the year. A horror story about middle age, loneliness, and the ways we restrain ourselves from happiness. I love the performances from Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant and Jane Curtin. Grade: A
The Favourite - Another winner. It's major category fraud to run Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz as supporting actresses when they are even more of a lead than Olivia Colman. All three are lead actresses, but Oscar campaigns are now as such that multiple leads do not exist. Past the category fraud, this was a darkly funny yet gorgeous depiction of backstabbing. A lot of fun. There are anachronistic elements to it, but of Yorgos Lanthimos's films this is the most accessible by far. I'm glad it doesn't have the remote coolness of "Killing of a Sacred Deer." It's a great balance of a juicy royal story and Lanthimos's warped perspective. Grade: A
I did not go to the movies but did see "Outlaw King" on Netflix-a very well done epic film. Chris Pine is a real movie star and he should have played Robin Hood.
I did not go to the movies but did see "Outlaw King" on Netflix-a very well done epic film. Chris Pine is a real movie star and he should have played Robin Hood.
I saw Boy Erased with a really boisterous audience - maybe they came together who cheered the movie on and really erupted at Nicole Kidman's "Shame on You!". I liked it a lot, the fact that the Lucas Hedges character could have been me if my parents had had the money to afford such a camp is no doubt a factor. The script is ok, just serviceable really. But the outstanding acting - Lucas Hedges isn't going to be a great actor, he already is one - really puts it over. Russell Crowe hasn't been this good in ages, and Flea is a happy surprise in his extended cameo. On the other end of the spectrum was Bohemian Rhapsody, total dreck including Rami Malek. If he's nominated instead of Lucas Hedges, well, what should I expect at this point? I also saw A Private War, which was very disappointing. I kept waiting for it to engage me and it never did, not even Rosamund Pike's performance. Definitely a case of the whole being a whole lot less than the sum of its parts. I also had free access to HBO and saw Jane Fonda in 5 Acts. A definite must-see. She's quite a fascinating person, of course, and some of the commentary is quite illuminating, i.e. her son (My first 13 birthdays were all fundraisers!). And I also saw La familia, Venezuela's Foreign Film Submission (I've now seen 15 of them). Very powerful, but just misses what would be my Top 5 so far which are 1) Cold War 2) I Am Not a Witch 3) Burning 4) Graves Without a Name 5) Roma. Can't wait to see Shoplifters.
Saw three films this holiday weekend...
CREED II - Love that boxing (a useless sport) is almost an afterthought until the actual fights. Very affecting performances from all but was pleasantly surprised by the humanity shown by the villains. Plus Viktor was hot.
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET - Everything to do with the Disney princesses was gold. The rest of the movie was fun enough and really inventive how they presented the Internet. John C/ Reilly and Sarah Silverman are (voice) stars together.
THE FAVOURITE - Absolutely incredible. The three leads are outstanding (as is Nicholas Hoult probably the most diva of them all). I want to see it again immediately, but I agree that Stone/Weisz are co-leads with Colman as supporting. I can BUY Colman as a co-lead, but I cannot buy the other two as supporting in any shape or form. Bunnies!
I saw Creed II and Green Book. I really enjoyed both of them. I have to tip my hat to Sylvester Stallone ... he is great in both Creed and Creed II. Michael B. Jordon and Tessa Thompson have officially reached big star status ... this makes me very happy, since they both deserve it. I loved Green Book. It's really funny and poignant, and I think the movie is getting a bad rap for being a savior film. I would be totally fine if Viggo won the Oscar. He and Mahershala Ali are great in it. The audience I saw it with loved it.
I saw WIDOWS, and the further I get away from it, the more I am disliking it. A tighter edit would have helped it I feel, even thought that would have meant cutting Jacki Weaver. She is wasted in the film, which is a crime!
Greek and Cine Latino film festivals in Canberra over the weekend, with a couple of new(-ish) releases thrown in.
Latino: EL ANGEL (Argentina Oscar submission - not bad, but I don't think it's going anywhere this season) and HOW TO BREAK UP WITH YOUR DOUCHEBAG (utterly awful! Yet another supposedly "new rom-com" where they start to make you believe they're taking an alternative viewpoint on the "how to live happily ever after" tale, but resort to the usual "falling in love with the one" shite.)
Greek: POLYXENI (Greece Oscar submission - good and, in any other year I'd be happy to see it slip in the noms, but this year, if it takes the place of any of BORDER, CAPERNAUM, I AM NOT A WITCH, ROMA or SHOPLIFTERS, I'd be a little sad), THE LAST NOTE (not bad) and the classic LOAFING AND CAMOUFLAGE (horrible, too dated with it's attitude towards women to be enjoyable).
Also caught CHRISTOPHER ROBIN (not bad ) and documentary contender QUINCY (good).
Also saw Green Book. The audience ate it up. Ending on the Christmas scene was perfect.
A Star is Born is VERY profitable, but not the most profitable on domestic alone, unless you're using percentage. What the earnings of that top 10 would be based on domestic alone:
1. Black Panther: $150 million
2. Incredibles 2: $104 million
3. A Star is Born: $57 million, and counting. Probably around $60-62 million all told.
4. Deadpool 2: $49 million, but with a Christmas Re-Issue Compilation with new jokes. Might well jump back up to third, if Once Upon a Deadpool's take is counted as part of Deadpool 2's gross.
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: $38 million
6. Avengers: Infinity War: $21 million
7. Venom: $6 million
8. Ant-Man and The Wasp: $-54 million
9. Mission: Impossible - Fallout: $-68 million
10. Solo: A Star Wars Story: -$168 million
BlacKkKlansman - loved it, I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.
[safe], for the first time - wonderful, Todd Haynes is superb.
Lost River - Ryan Gosling trying to be David Lynch, enjoyed it.
Maria by Callas, Ralph Breaks the Internet, Border, Green Book, Creed 2. I enjoyed all of them for very different reasons. Border is among my favorites of the year.
I didn't go to the movies, but I watched Soapdish at home with my partner. I hadn't seen it since its release--I really liked it. Some great lines ... especially when Kevin Kline says, "Dr. Rod Randall has been to Europe. He's seen things in Europe...European things." LOL.
Ralph Breaks the Internet - a lot of fun and kinda brilliant in its hyper-visual depiction of the internet, but also a little basic in terms of plot and messaging
Boy Erased - far too muted which limits emotional impact; Crowe and Kidman are the best they've been in years and Hedges continues to prove himself. Edgerton is good with actors.
WIDOWS is such an immaculate piece of direction and acting, my heart bleeds for the low box office. Though on a positive note, it sold out at least one Melbourne arthouse theatre on a Monday.
I loved ROMA too, even if far less than other people seem to.
And for what it's worth McQueen's less showy ingenuity impressed me far more than did Cuaron's. I'm so sad only one of them is likely to remain in the awards conversation.
Saw A Simple Favor with a friend. There are a lot of tones being juggled in the movie but Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively were great. I cannot imagine anyone else playing those roles. Plus Blake looks great in her tux.
Saw Ralph Breaks the Internet, Overlord, and A Wrinkle in Time.
This is off subject, and I'm sure Nathaniel will have a separate thread for it but I can't contain myself! THE RIDER WINS BEST PICTURE AT THE GOTHAM AWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!
Ducked the moviehouse for the second week (what's wrong with me?).
But completed all the episodes of Matthew Weiner's highly unwatched, much-maligned, probably terrible, not-fully-understood-yet, and wonderful The Romanoffs. I know I am one of the very few who watched each episode each week. Not sure if 'love' is the correct word to describe my response to all 8 episodes of The Romanoffs. But as each episode work its way towards telling a story -- whether effectively or not -- I am drawn to the characters and situations created by Weiner. The characters may not be people I've met but they are deeply strangely human and unpredictable and sometimes not following logical reasons why they do what they do in the context of the specific story they are in.
The last episode -- "The One That Holds Everything" -- relies on both characterisation and a twist that is part Hitchcock, part Agatha Christie with a Roald Dahl helping. Sure it may seem like much ado about nothing but Candace's recovery of the heirloom connects her to her mother, the Romanoff lineage, and also the transgressive possibility that transpeople have as much right to claim a royal ancestry if only to prove that heterosexuality and cisgender identities are no longer the only themes to tell a compelling story in the current era.
And sure my heart goes to Jack -- an unwilling victim to a decades-old revenge towards another person, but it is also proof that the one who has everything: looks, success, lineage, entitlement, privilege -- can be wiped out of the race just as much as an aging transwoman can also win the game she is preordained to lose.
Time may be kind(er) to The Romanoffs but I am happy that Weiner still managed to mount this elaborate and truly global enterprise to tell the story of people whose connections and claims to fame may not even be relevant anymore for today's generation. I liken this series to guitarist Pat Metheny's album called "Zero Tolerance Towards Silence" -- the album is self-indulgent yet I am glad he had the resources and the single-mindedness to get it done as a passion project. Maybe Weiner will not be given another chance by Amazon, so The Romanoffs will remain as one of those TV oddities that either deserve its fate or will be rediscovered years later on with a kinder more accommodating audience, but really I don't know.
FWIW, here's my top three episodes:
House of Special Purpose
End of the Line
The One That Holds Everything
Best performances (male)
Hugh Skinner
Corey Stoll
Jay Ferguson
(Female)
Kathryn Hahn
Isabelle Huppert
Diane Lane
Widows - Very absobing but I'm not sure McQueen and Flynn are familiar enough with local American politics to pull some of the sociopolitical commentary. I also now understand why Nathaniel was so reluctant to predict Viola for Best Actress as she takes a backseat to Debecki and even Erivo at times.
Green Book - Wow, I liked this a lot more than I expected. Viggo and Mahershala have a lot of chemistry and it is broadly entertaining. If it weren't based on a true story I would say that the last 30 minutes were unbelievable.
Free Solo - Easily my least favorite of the popular documentaries this year. It focused too much on the mundane (refridgerator shopping, really?). It was interesting enough when it addressed rock climbing, but I had trouble letting go of my own biases - I didn't understand why we should care that much about Alex, and the movie didn't explain why his adventures should be viewed as such an accomplishment.
Ballad of Buster Scruggs - I love the Coens and often adore even the movies that others consider lesser achievements, but this left me cold. About half the segments felt barely developed.
Are other people watching My Brilliant Friend and Escape at Dannemora? I am enjoying both very much. The three leads are brilliant in Dannemora (Arquette!), and I love how My Brilliant Friend is taking its time in developing the plot.
Loved all the Gotham winners.
I saw GREEN BOOK on Thanksgiving Day with my husband and parents and really enjoyed it. I didn't take it as a great sign for box office that the theater was half-empty, but I can still see the movie becoming a sleeper hit through word of mouth...although the field is only going to get more crowded between now and the end of the year...
Chomping at the bit to see THE FAVOURITE and still want to see WIDOWS. Kind of want to see RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET but not quite enough to see it by myself (which I'd have to). Need to catch FREE SOLO before it leaves theaters. Can't wait for IF BEALE STREET and can someone tell me if ROMA is going to play in any U.S. theaters outside NY and LA and if not, fuck you very much, Netflix!
So many movies, so little time...
First-timers in Orson Welles: The One-Man Band, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead, Alice in the Cities, and Widows and a re-watch in Monsters University.
Creed 2 - While it felt more like a Rocky IV rewind, it's still an entertaining film. And seeing it in a packed theater, you can't help but get caught up.
Green Book - Ugh. I found the narrative laughable (not in a funny way) and absurd. I get the feeling that many of the white critics and moviegoers who love it don't see it as a white savior flick because the white man is in the driver's seat. However, given when and where this story unfolds, Tony is exactly that. He literally saves Dr. Shirley when he is arrested (something the Shirley family says never happened) and attacked.
Most cringeworthy: the film wants us to believe that Dr. Shirley wasn’t a “regular” Black person (after all, he was a classical pianist and that certainly makes him an aberration, right?) so it is up to the white guy to teach him how to be … "blacker" (i.e., eating KFC the right way and listening to soul music). Talk about your white hipster nonsense...
And it is ahistorical, disingenuous and insulting to call a movie Green Book and the lead character is a white racist thug (men like him are the reason why the Green Books had to be created). The film centers a bigoted jerk and uses this brilliant, accomplished artist's life as a prop. Epic fail.
Goddamn you purity progressives make me sick. It's a movie with good intentions about people coming together. Stop judging movies based on some puritan delusion of morality.
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Green Book - I went in thinking this was going to be drivel. And there is no doubt that it was super schmaltzy and corny in places. But I was pleasantly surprised. It won me over in the end. And now I can't decide if I am going to marry Viggo or Mahershala. I love them both.
At Eternity's Gate - Wow. I thought it was going to be good, and it is just a pile of junk. Who starts a movie with nearly 20 minutes of your lead just walking around, throwing dirt on his face, etc.? Best thing about the movie is the poster.
Widows - I love a heist movie. And this is a really fun film. I'm not sure some of the nuances got through. But that's okay. I love what McQueen did here. And Debicki is the real deal here.
Nat are you gonna talk about the Gotham awards?
Can You Ever Forgive Me - surprised how much I loved it. Assured direction. Hope Grant and McCarthy gets Oscar nominations though Melissa's looking less likely. So real and sad and funny too. The depiction of gay loneliness was really well done even though it wasn't the main point of the movie.
Saw Boy Erased. Subdued like people said and that's fine. Acting was fantastic - Russell, Nicole, Joel, Lucas, Joe....
I really enjoyed Green Book and would watch it again. Loved Viggo in it.
I had no idea all these movies had gay characters in them except for Boy Erased obvs.
I saw SAUVAGE (Vidal-Naquet) in the French Film Festival here...a brutal, unflinching portrayal of the degrading experience of a male prostitute, brimming with graphic imagery yet also tenderness and beauty
Also saw WIDOWS and was hugely disappointed. Felt unnecessarily violent just for the sake of shock value, characters underdeveloped despite hefty running time, it was tense until a point then all the air went out of it, the integrity collapsed and left a really bad aftertaste. Liam Neeson's characterisation was bizarre. Also the supposed heist? What heist? The more I think about it the more appalled I feel.
I am see THE FAVOURITE on Thursday and positively gagging for it.
@Suzanne SO disappointed in Ballad of Buster Scruggs, one of the Coen Bros' misfires. LOVE the Ferrante adaptation. Those young actresses are amazing. This slower-paced mini is not for everyone, but I liked the book(s) so hope they continue with the trilogy.
Then my husband made me watch Mile 22. Gawd. Why do these movies get made? Oh, yes, funded almost entirely by foreign money. Two hours I will never get back.
But the weekend was saved with rewatches of Much Ado About Nothing (Branagh version) with one kid for a school project, and Edward Scissorhands with the other kid for another school project. I guess current HS English teachers are branching out by choosing different media for "compare and contrast". Yay for film.