By Chris Kavan - 10/13/19 at 10:52 PM CT
The Joker followed up its October record opening with a dominating second weekend, taking a light drop and easily retaining its first-place position. The new animated Addams Family opened stronger than expected in second place while Will Smith and Ang Lee stumbled with Gemini Man. Jexi barely made the top 10 while Joon-ho Bong's Parasite enjoyed the biggest limited release of the year - and one of the best all time.
1) JOKER
After a dominating opening weekend, Joker showed no signs of slowing down in its second weekend with an impressive drop of just 42.8% - making for a $55 million weekend and new $192.7 million total. That also represent the best total for a second weekend in October, blowing away Gravity's $43.2 million back in 2013. Among all R-rated films, it's the third-best second weekend behind just It ($60 million) and American Sniper ($64 million). It enjoyed one of the best holds among comic book movies, topping the likes of Wonder Woman (which dipped 43.3%) and Black Panther (down 44%). While not the best, it's certainly can count itself among the best. It will soon be Warner Bros. highest-grossing film of 2019, as it will soon pass the $207 million of It: Chapter 2 (or whatever it ultimately winds up with) by next week. It is already their highest-grossing global film of 2019, with $351.2 overseas - $543.9 million global - topping It: Chapter 2 ($460 million) in the process. It is looking very good for the film to pass Hobbs & Shaw ($760 million) to become the biggest non-Disney/non-MCU film of the year. At this point in time, $300 million domestic seems likely - depending on how it holds against the coming competition of course - but despite all the hand-wringing about the message the film sent, it looks like Joker is going to have the last laugh.
2)
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
While I questioned if audiences were really going to be impressed by another version of The Addams Family, my fears were all for naught, as this animated version came in well over expectations with a $30.2 million opening. It represents the best opening for United Artists Releasing (or second-best if you include Creed II's $35 million when they partnered with MGM) but still, a great opening for the $24 million film. Perhaps people with fond memories of the live-action version were willing to give this new picture a chance, maybe it was curiosity - probably a bit of both, really. Audiences seemed pleased, giving the film a "B+" Cinemascore - with women making up 59% of the audience and 48% coming in under 17. The film should be able to take advantage of the impending Halloween holiday frame and leg it to about $100 million domestic. Now if only Hollywood could figure out what to do about those Munsters.
3)
GEMINI MAN
I though for sure that the combination of Ang Lee and Will Smith would excite audiences, but it turns out Gemini Man, which was a miss with critics, also didn't exactly light up audiences, either. With a $20.5 million opening, the $138 million film is going to have to work hard overseas to break even - and with just $39 million overseas thus far, even that isn't a given. Granted, China might make a difference, but don't count on it as Abominable shows China isn't a guaranteed market for all U.S. films. The fact is, big-budgeted original action films are just a tough sell to audiences these days. Unless, maybe, Dwayne Johnson is involved. In any case, while audiences did award the film a "B+" Cinemascore - much nicer than its current 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes - I don't think it's going to save the film over time. Men made up 56% of said audience with 53% coming in under 30. I expect this to top out around $50 million or so. At least Smith can boast about Aladdin this year.
4)
ABOMINABLE
With a more Halloween-appropriate animated film taking center stage, Abominable took a 48.2% hit, landing in fourth with $6.17 million. The film sits just under $50 million domestic ($47.9 million) and just over $100 million worldwide ($108.1 million). The $75 million film will probably fall just short of that mark on the domestic front (maybe $70 million or so), but should still wind up in the black overall - even if it won't be an impressive win. It won't be able to count on China for much help, with just $13.7 million in the second-biggest market in the world. I have a feeling this is going to continue to fade out fast, perhaps it will find a better life in the home market.
5)
DOWNTON ABBEY
Downton Abbey had a fine hold after four weeks in theaters, dipping just 38.7% and adding another $4.9 million to its total, which now stands at $82.6 million. It is fast approaching the total for X-Files: Fight the Future ($83.9 million) as well as the $83.5 million for Brokeback Mountain - which means Downton Abbey will in short order be the highest-grossing film for Focus Features. It has made over $150 million worldwide - which is nearly 12x its $13 million budget. I would say it's going to be a proper sendoff for such a proper franchise.
Outside the top five: Jexi was a non-started as the Adam Devine comedy about an overly-enthusiastic/controlling phone assistant (voiced by Rose Byrne) landed with a thud in 9th place with just $3.1 million. Critics savaged it and audiences seemed to agree. This one is going to exit theaters as quickly as it appeared, likely with under $10 million.
In much better news, Joon-ho Bong's Parasite debuted in just three theaters but earned $376,264 for a 2019 best $125,421 per-theater average - which also represented the 18th-best limited opening of all time (9th among live-action films) as well as the best limited opening since La La Land in 2016. The film has been a hit worldwide with critics, winning the prestigious Palme d'Or at Cannes and topping The Tree of Life ($372,920) as the fifth-best opening for the Cannes winner. Where it goes from here is anyone's guess, but I'm not sure general audiences are going to embrace this as much as critics.
Nothing in milestone news for the weekend - so the next big films to look forward to include Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Zombieland: Double Tap - two sequels looking to improve upon the originals.
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