Happy New Year and welcome to 2018! As we move into the new year, let’s take a look at the last week at the box office to see who came out ahead and who came up short over the holidays.
The big winner, not just of the holiday season but of the year, is Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which earned $52 million over the three-day weekend, which was enough to lift it past Beauty and the Beast to take the top spot at the box office for all of 2017 with $533 million (and counting). Double that with international box office, and despite some divisiveness, the film will close out 2017 with more than $1 billion worldwide. Congratulations to Lucasfilm and Rian Johnson, who now hold the 24th highest grossing film of all time and it still has a lot of life left in it.
That said, for the four-day New Year’s weekend, The Last Jedi had some major competition in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. It looks as though The Last Jedi will pull out a victory for the four-day weekend, but just barely: $69 million to $67 million. Regardless, Jumanji put up a huge weekend on top of a huge holiday week and finishes out the year with around $185 million at the box office on only a $90 million production budget. It’s also performing just as well internationally, so it looks like the kind of performance that could easily lead to another sequel if Sony decides to go in that direction.
Meanwhile, for the four-day weekend, Pitch Perfect 3 looks like it will close out the franchise modestly. On a $45 million production budget, the film managed $22 million over the four-day weekend and after a week of decent sales, it’s going to end the year with a little less than $70 million, which is more than the original made over its entire run ($65 million). However, the third film will fall well short of the first sequel, Pitch Perfect 2, which earned $184 million at the box office in 2015.
The movie that has seen the greatest improvement over the course of the week has been Hugh Jackman’s crowd pleaser, The Greatest Showman. The $14 million opening weekend didn’t impress, but the musical managed to improve on that this weekend with a four-day $20 million haul. It has now crossed the $50 million mark domestically, and worldwide it’s surpassed its $84 million budget. With international grosses, the film has a chance to ultimately eke out a profit, which is great news for Hugh Jackman passion project. Though critics have been dismissive of the film (in large part because of the way it papers over P.T. Barnum’s real-life past), word of mouth has given the movie strong legs.
Another film that actually improved week-to-week is Ferdinand, which leaped back over Coco after falling behind the Pixar feature last weekend. Ferdinand will finish the four-day weekend with $15 million and around $57 million overall. The animated film, which cost $111 million to make, is going to need a lot of help from international audiences to break even. In that regard, it’s doing modestly, racking up $70 million, so far, to bring its worldwide total to $125 million. Meanwhile, Coco continued to perform well over the holidays, adding nearly $9 million over the four-day weekend to bring its domestic total to $181 million. It has nearly doubled that number internationally, however, so the Pixar flick has earned a whopping $550 million worldwide. It deserves every penny.
Meanwhile, in at number seven for the four day weekend is the Winston Churchill biopic, The Darkest Hour, which earned $7 million over the four-day frame despite being in less than 1,000 theaters. It’s earned $20 million, so far, which puts the film — or at least its star, Gary Oldman — in fairly good position to compete during awards season (Oldman already has a Golden Globe nomination). Despite being in 1600 more theaters, Matt Damon’s Downsizing didn’t make much noise over the holiday week. It earned $6 million over the four-day weekend and only $18 million since its wide release on Christmas weekend. The film, which cost $70 million to make, is going to be another disappointment for Damon, who also struck out with Suburbicon and The Great Wall in 2017.
Elsewhere, All The Money in the World, which had a mid-week release, isn’t impressing at the box office. It’s gotten a lot of press for reshooting Kevin Spacey’s scenes with Christopher Plummer, but that hasn’t translated into box-office dollars. It earned around $7 million for the four-day weekend and about $14 million since its limited release. It still has a long way to go if it expects to match or exceed its $40 million price tag.
In at 10th place for the weekend is Guillermo del Toro’s Shape of Water, which earned a very respectable $4.8 million over four days despite screening in 756 theaters. It’s now earned $17 million and it still has some expanding to do nationwide and awards buzz should keep it relevant through much of January.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that Owen Wilson and Ed Helms’ Father Figures finished at number 11 with $4.8 million over the holiday frame. It’s not doing well, but the crowded holiday week at least allowed it to approach $15 million since its release on December 22nd. That’s not great for a $25 million film, but had it been released any other time during the year, it probably would have completely disappeared after a unimpressive opening weekend.
We will also note that Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, Molly’s Game opened in 273 theaters as it is prepping for an awards run. It’s looking at a decent $6 million since its release, which is more than the $2.4 million that Pawn Sacrifice made in its entire run. That’s the last film that Tobey Maguire — a subject of Molly’s Game, as played by Michael Cera — appeared in. I have no idea what happened to Maguire’s career post-Spider-Man, but he’s only made four films in the last decade and only one, The Great Gatsby, was a hit.
Next weekend sees only one new release. Insidious: The Last Key will take the slot on the first weekend of January that is often reserved for low-budget horror films (Underworld: Blood Wars took that spot in 2017, The Forest in 2016, and The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death in 2015). If the past three years are any indication, Insidious will open in the $10-$15 million range.
Sources: Box Office Mojo, Deadline
