I watched The Grinch this weekend in a theater with my kids and about midway through I felt a pang of anxiety about not yet being ready for the holiday season — gifts have not been purchased and travel plans have not been made — so it was a relief to remind myself that it’s not yet mid-November. I’m not late; The Grinch is early, although it’s a smart play for the film from Illumination studios since it will undoubtedly run in multiplexes until New Year’s. Based on its opening weekend returns, it’s going to mean a lot of stuffed stockings for the folks behind the film.
The Grinch, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, is huge hit, opening with $66 million, and that doesn’t yet include the money it will bring in on Veteran’s Day when most kids around America are out of school. Holiday movies also tend to have long box office legs, too, so this one will likely continue picking up receipts for the next six weeks. Take, for instance, the forgettable Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn film, Four Christmases, which opened with an OK $31 million on Thanksgiving weekend back in 2008. That film, despite its mediocrity, legged it out to $120 million. Ron Howard’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas opened a week later than The Grinch in 2000 with $55 million and did nearly a 4.5x multiple, ending with $260 million and that movie was fairly awful. The Grinch will get a lot of box-office competition from holiday tentpoles between now and New Year’s, but it’s the only holiday movie in the game this year (aside from the nearly already forgotten Nutcracker movie), so I expect it will eventually parlay that $66 million opening into potentially upwards of $200 million, domestically.
Reviews haven’t been particularly kind — 54 percent on Rotten Tomatoes — but kids don’t read reviews, and having seen the film, I doubt kids will come away unhappy (while parents can spend 90 minutes mildly amused). It is receiving an A- from Cinemascore, and I expect all that held it back from an ‘A’ were older folks who are unwilling to accept anything except the original television special. This Grinch, after all, is far less Grinchy here — he’s downright adorable, at times — but the movie capably blends Illumination-style animation with Dr. Seuss for a nice update.
The Grinch, however, didn’t put much of a dent in last week’s number one film, Bohemian Rhapsody. It fell 55 percent, but still put up a very nice $28 million and after 10 days, it’s just short of the $100 million mark with $97.8 million. Meanwhile, as expected, Nutcracker and the Four Realms didn’t rebound from its lousy opening weekend, earning a middling $9.8 million with stiff competition from The Grinch. It’s earned $35 million after two weekends, and it’s going to need a Christmas miracle to put it in the red. At a $120 million cost before marketing expenses, it’s only earned $67 million worldwide and is shaping up to be one of the bigger misfires of the year.
Meanwhile, Bad Robot’s Overlord isn’t exactly celebrating its middling $10 million opening (on a $38 million budget), either. However, the World War II zombie movie is tracking well with critics (81 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and at least one person will benefit hugely from that: Director Julius Avery. He will follow it up with a big-screen version of Flash Gordon. With no other horror entries in the marketplace (besides Halloween), the movie may also stick around for a few weeks based on good word of mouth and close the gap between its box office and its budget.
The real loser this weekend, however, is The Girl in the Spider’s Web: A New Dragon Tattoo Story, which made little impression with critics (44 percent) or ticket buyers, as it debuted with a paltry $8 million on a $43 million budget. I expect it will do better internationally, but moviegoers stateside are not connecting with it at all (it received a B Cinemascore) and many are confused as to why the American movie series not only skipped two entries but returned without Rooney Mara (I think Claire Foy is a tremendous actress, but she seems woefully miscast here).
The bottom five this weekend were all holdovers. A Star is Born is still putting up impressive numbers, now in its sixth weekend, earning another $7.7 million to bring its total to $177 million. Tyler Perry’s Nobody’s Fool, which opened poorly, continues to falter, earning only $6 million in its second weekend to bring its total to $23.7 million. Venom is at $206 million after a $4.7 million weekend. With another $3.7 million, Halloween has now earned $156 million (on a $10 million budget), and The Hate U Give arrives at $26.7 million after a $2.1 million weekend.
Next weekend, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald will see if it can shake off tepid reviews and the lackluster box-office performance of the original and rebound with Johnny Depp in the cast. Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne will bring Instant Family to multiplexes in the hopes of capitalizing on the family crowds over Thanksgiving, and Steve McQueen opens the tremendously well reviewed heist film Widows.
Source: Deadline, Box Office Mojo
