By Chris Kavan - 12/22/19 at 08:27 PM CT
There was no question that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was going to win the weekend - the big question was if J.J. Abrams saga-ending film would rise to the challenge of pleasing audiences. It certainly didn't please critics, suffering the harshest reviews since The Phantom Menace. And while Rise of Skywalker may have come in on the low end of expectations, it was a still a massive opening and is sure to play well during the holiday period. Not opening so well was Cats, Tom Hooper's film version of the long-running Broadway show, that was ravaged by critics and was lucky to open in the top five, not that its place is cause for celebration. Expanding to wide release, Bombshell, about the women who rose up against Fox News' Roger Aisles and the toxic community he fostered, was met with a collective "meh" and likely torpedoed most awards season chances.
1) STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
Going into the weekend, the reviews were worrying and Disney themselves put a conservative $165 million opening for the last film in the new trilogy - as well as the cap to all nine of the main Star Wars films. Other outlets predicted an opening in the $200 million range - but, in the end, it wasn't to be quite that high. Rise of Skywalker opened to $175.5 million - still the third largest December opening of all time, but well below the $220 million opening of Last Jedi and the $248 million for The Force Awakens. And it is also the only Star Wars film to open under the "A" Cinemascore ranking - earning a "B+" from audiences. Still, it's the 12th-highest opening of all time (between Beauty and the Beast at $174 million and Captain America: Civil War with $179 million) and thus disappointment can only be measure compared to the more recent Star Wars/MCU films. While I agree the film is somewhat disappointing, as a long-time Star Wars fan I didn't find the film bad so much as way too safe in its delivery. As much as a certain vocal segment hated Last Jedi, Rise of Skywalker spent way too much energy trying to placate said audience and I think that is what ultimately hurt this film. But that's an argument for another day. Internationally, Rise of Skywalker opened to $198 million overseas, including a disappointing $12.1 million in China (but Star Wars has never been a big draw in that major market). Looking ahead, if Star Wars plays like Last Jedi, it will get to about $500 million domestic and should hit $1 billion worldwide. A lot is going to be revealed next week, as the Christmas holiday should draw out a bigger crowd who maybe didn't want to deal with the opening weekend madness. If it can recover a bit, it has a better chance long-term, but if it falls flat, if may be a whimper of an ending to the Star Wars saga.
2)
JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL
Holding up quite well in the face of some big competition from a galaxy far, far away, Jumanji: The Next Level dropped 56% and delivered a $26.1 million weekend, giving it a new total of $101.9 million, crossing that $100 million milestone in the process. In fact, in terms of competing against the opening of a Star Wars film, it is only topped by Spider-Man's ($46 million) performance against the opening of Attack of the Clones. It has also topped $300 million worldwide ($312 million and counting) and looks to be in very good position for the holiday time frame, as families should continue to support this, especially if Star Wars is sold out. This one has a long ways to go through the coming weeks and doesn't look to lose much ground.
3)
FROZEN II
Also holding up well was Disney's Frozen II, which, if Star Wars does indeed fall short, this sequel is more than happy to pick up the slack. Dipping just 36%, Frozen II added another $12.3 million, bringing its domestic total to $386.5 million, blasting past that $375 million mark. In addition, it continues to dominate the global market as well, hitting $1.1037 billion - coming ever close to the original film's $1.276 billion mark. Once again the biggest competition for Disney is going to be... Disney as Spies in Disguise (with Will Smith and Tom Holland) looks to eat into its audience when it opens on Christmas. That said, there is plenty of room to share in the box office bonanza, so I don't think Frozen II is going to give up any time soon. It's already proven a box-office hit, the only question is how big it's going to wind up.
4)
CATS
After freaking people out with its human/cat hybrid look several months ago, it turns out people still weren't willing to forgive Cats, no matter how many changes were made. Tom Hooper's musical adaptation of the Broadway show could only muster a $6.5 million opening - the equivalent of a hairball on the opening weekend. It ranks among the top 20 worst opening for a film in 3000 or more theaters and critics ravaged it with audiences serving up a likewise disappointed "C+" Cinemascore. It doesn't matter than the film boasted a pretty impressive cast (Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Idris Elba, Taylor Swift, James Corden and Rebel Wilson among them) - this musical doesn't have the appeal of Les Miserables or the crowd-pleasing songs of The Greatest Showman. Plus, it just looks really, really weird. I still think the film drew an audience that was more morbidly curious than anything else and this $100 million film is going to drop off hard. It will be lucky to hit $30 million domestic. It may recover somewhat internationally, but with $4.4 million thus far (it has opened in just the UK so far), I don't think it's going to be enough to save this from being a money-losing proposition.
5)
KNIVES OUT
Rounding out the top five for the weekend, Rian Johnson's Knives Out dipped a light 33%, adding $6.12 million to its total, which now stands at $89.5 million. It also sits at $186.5 million oversea. When all is said and done $100 million domestic and $200 million worldwide seems like a safe bet and it could even pick up a little awards steam. Considering how smart and fun this film is, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Daniel Craig's southern-fried detective Benoit Blanc didn't spawn at least one sequel - and that is a position I completely support. This seems to be the best purely adult choice out there right now and while that audience is maybe no as important over Christmas - it is one that keeps things going long-term.
Outside the top five: Bombshell expanded to from 4 to 1480 theaters, and while it jumped from 19th to sixth place (a 1,490.1% increase) its $5.07 million weekend was a bit of a letdown all things considered. Despite some power-house performances from Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman and Margot Robbie - the awards hopes for this one are going dim.
In milestone news, Ford v. Ferrari crossed the $100 million mark with a $1.8 million weekend (10th place) and a new $101.9 million total. Down one spot below, another biopic, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, hit the $50 million mark with a $1.3 million weekend (11th place) and a new $52.4 million total.
Next week as the Christmas holiday looms, the animated Spies in Disguise opens as well as the latest adaptation of Little Women and the expansion of Uncut Gems.
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