By Chris Kavan - 12/29/19 at 09:50 PM CT
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker came out swinging on Christmas Eve and Christmas day - and was pacing ahead of Last Jedi until the weekend. As it stands, while the final film in the new trilogy may still be lagging, it's still going to be a monster hit. Newcomers showed strength as well, with Little Women the big winner, Uncut Gems showed a healthy expansion and Spies in Disguise performed in line with expectations. Even limited release held good news as Sam Mendes 1917 looked very strong in just 11 theaters. One more week of vacation means all these films have a good chance to repeat.
1) STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER
After having the second best Christmas Eve ($20.2 million) and Christmas Day ($32.1 million) - both behind The Force Awakens - Rise of Skywalker couldn't quite keep up the pace and had to settle for
just a $72 million weekend, off 59.4% and a new $361.8 million total. That is a better hold than Last Jedi (which fell 67.5% in its second weekend) though it becomes one of just 13 films to drop over $100 million compared to its opening. While it is still pacing behind Last Jedi, it has caught up a bit and we'll see if the extra holiday next week does it any favors. It is less than $8 million behind at this point. Even if it falls short of the $620 million of Last Jedi, it will still be the second-highest grossing film of the year behind Avengers: Endgame. Globally, it has hit $363 million overseas for a worldwide total of $725 million and is still on pace to top $1 billion. That is a win no matter if it's the lowest-grossing in the series and though I, as a Star Wars fan, might have hoped for better, it's still going to join an exclusive club and make a ton of money.
2)
JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL
The well-received sequel took a nice 33.2% increase over last weekend, adding $35.3 million over the weekend and bringing its total up to $175.4 million. It zips past that $175 million mark with relative ease, and while it may not get to the $404 million total of Welcome to the Jungle, $250 million seems very likely. It added $296 million overseas for a global total of $472 million. It has passed Hobbs & Shaw ($175 million) to become the biggest non-MCU/non-Star Wars film of 2019 - and remains behind just that film's $759 million global total for the same title. It is a given at this point that, provided everyone involved is still, uh, game - Jumanji is going to live on for another film.
3)
LITTLE WOMEN
Top among the newcomers for the weekend was Greta Gerwig's take on the classic story Little Women. With a knockout cast featuring Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, Eliza Scanlen, Laura Dern, Timothée Chalamet and Meryl Streep among others, this proved a very good adaptation indeed with a $16.5 million weekend and $29 million including the holiday. It earned an "A-" Cinemascore from audiences that was, unsurprisingly, mostly female - 70% with 71% coming in age 25 or older. The studio was very conservative in its estimate of $16-$17 million for its five-day opening, a total it matched over the weekend only - and I have a feeling this is going to play well through the winter months. This is the kind of feel-good film, and empowering as well, that will drive in audiences and maybe could even sneak into some nominations come awards time. It's going to roll out slower internationally, and counts $6.3 million from the UK and Spain as it adds markets slowly over the next month.
4)
FROZEN II
Also improving compared to last weekend, Frozen II enjoyed a 27% increase, adding $16.5 million to its total, which has now increased to $421.3 million following the holiday. With an additional $58 million overseas, the cumulative worldwide total has now hit $1.218 billion is very close to surpassing Frozen's $1.276 billion total, which it should accomplish by this time next week. It is already the third-largest animated film of all time - soon to become the second. With this and Star Wars at the end of the year, I don't think anyone is going to come close to Disney's performance this year in terms of total box office (probably not even Disney themselves) for a long, long time.
5)
SPIES IN DISGUISE
Speaking of Disney, Frozen II wasn't the only animated offering this weekend as Spies in Disguise (technically a Disney offering now - though Blue Sky was the company behind it) opened to $13.2 million for the weekend and $22 million including the Christmas holiday. That is very similar to the opening for Blue Sky's Ferdinand ($13.6 million), which went on to score $84 million. Given that this is a fun, spy caper with Will Smith and Tom Holland on board, I have to think this will have better legs. Much like Little Women, this also received an "A-" Cinemascore with females making up 54% of the audience and 40% coming in 25 or older - meaning families probably make up a good chunk of said audience. It added another $16 million on the international front for a $38.1 million global total with just 51% of the international market accounted for.
Outside the top five: Uncut Gems expanded by 2,343 and enjoyed a hefty 3,856.7% increase, landing in seventh place with $9.55 million and delivering the best five-day opening in A24 history with $18.86 million ($20 million total including its limited opening). While A24 doesn't have a huge sample size, it's an impressive feat none-the-less. More concerning is that while it earned an "A-" in limited release, general audiences weren't as favorable, giving it a mere "C+". Granted, the film looks to be both intense and kind of dark, and, Adam Sandler's brilliant performance aside, doesn't exactly scream crowd-pleasing holiday flick. It will still do just fine and hopefully Sandler earns some accolades or, at the least, some nominations.
Speaking of limited release, Sam Mendes one-take war film 1917 looked impressive in 11 theaters with a $570,000 and a $51,818 per-theater average. It has earned $1 million with Christmas factored in. It earned a solid "A" Cinemascore and goes wide on January 10th.
Next week, the New Years holiday weekend brings a single new wide release, the horror offering The Grudge (not a remake, but a sequel of sorts), which is not likely to make much of an impact on the box office. I expect things will look very similar to this weekend.
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