Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle finally fell out of the top spot this weekend, a position it held for the last three weeks as it slowly worked its way up to the fifth biggest film of 2017 with an impressive $337 million, surpassing both It and Spider-Man: Homecoming this week. Counting international grosses, it’s up to $800 million at the worldwide box office, good for 10th place for 2017, a hair behind Wonder Woman‘s $821 million.
But that’s not the weekend’s surprise.
The number one movie this weekend was Maze Runner: Death Cure, the final installment of the Maze Runner series, itself the last of The Hunger Games knock-offs (for now). Unlike The Divergent or Beautiful Creatures series (or several other YA adaptations), The Maze Runner actually got to finish out its run thanks to relatively modest budgets and solid international grosses. The Death Cure racked up $23 million this weekend, which is less than the $30 million of the second installment, but these movies earn 75 percent of their grosses overseas, so profitability is well within reach The Death Cure, which was produced for $60 million.
That’s not the weekend’s surprise, either.
The surprise belongs to Hostiles, which expanded this weekend after a limited run over the past few weeks. Despite being ignored by the Academy Awards, despite little in the way of promotion, and despite little hype from critics (who liked the movie but did not love it), the Christian Bale Western still managed a very respectable $9.8 million, good for third place this weekend. The film was largely carried by older audiences (65 percent of moviegoers were over the age of 50 and 96 percent were over the age of 25). The $10 million number is particularly impressive because tracking had it in the single digits and Entertainment Studios only paid $4 million for it out of the Toronto International Film Festival. The studio was trying to position Hostiles as its big Oscar film, but profitability is nice, too.
The other surprise this weekend is just how well The Greatest Showman continues to do. It, too, was largely snubbed by the Academy (it received a nom for Best Song), but in its sixth week, it put up another $12 million to bring its total to $126 million. As Scott Mendelson over on Forbes notes, The Greatest Showman is now the fifth leggiest film of the last two decades, and once it crosses $143 million, it will be the third leggiest film behind only Chicago and Titanic. Who needs Oscars, huh?
The weekend after the Oscar nominations, a few films did get a boost. The Post continues to lead the Oscar field at the box office coming in fifth place with $8.7 million, bringing its overall total to $58 million (with the Oscars not airing until March, the Spielberg film still has several weeks of hype to keep it going). The Shape of Water added 1000 theaters and jumped 170 percent this weekend, earning $5.7 million. It’s now earned $37 million. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri also got a 88 percent boost this weekend, adding $3.6 million to bring its total to $37 million.
In films unrelated to the Oscars, 12 Strong continued to do well, adding $7.9 million to bring its total to $29 million on a $35 million budget. Gerard Butler’s Den of Thieves is running even with 12 Strong, also adding $7.9 million. It’s earned $28 million so far on a $30 million budget. Both of those films merely need to break even at the box office because they are designed to make a profit in the digital market and television licensing deals.
In 9th place this weekend, Paddington 2 — the best reviewed move ever on Rotten Tomatoes — is hanging in there, earning $5.5 million and $32 million overall (but $180 million worldwide). Finally, in 10th place was Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which earned $4 million to bring its total to $610 million.
Next weekend sees only one wide release, the Helen Mirren horror flick, Winchester, which opens in 2300 theaters. That leaves plenty of room for Oscar holdovers to continue piling up cash at the box office, at least until Black Panther arrives on February 16th.
Source: Box Office Mojo, Deadline
