Box Office Discussion Thread

For whatever reason, even though it should be obvious to all that Dr. Seuss's charming, very short stories should not be blown up into 90-minute extravaganzas, America can't seem to get enough of seeing his works adapted into feature films. The four previous feature-length adaptions of his work have all topped $100 million at the box office (yes, even The Cat in the Hat), and the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas was the highest-grossing film released in 2000. His adaptions have come full circle with the new, animated, The Grinch, and so has the box office, as the new Grinch took in an impressive $67.6 million. That's slightly off the pace of what The Lorax, also from Illumination, opened to back in March of 2012, but with a full six weeks until Christmas, plus most kids being out of school most or all of next week, it seems likely that the Grinch will be able to touch The Lorax's final $214 million gross with a 39-and-a-half foot pole.

Audiences said "No, we will not let you go!" to Bohemian Rhapsody, as the Queen biopic held up strongly with a $31.2 million gross, for a ten-day total of $100.4 million. A final gross of at least $175 million seems assured at this point, and it has a good chance of making a crazy little thing called $200 million.

Allied soldiers fighting zombie Nazis sounds like a good cult film. Alas, Overlord will have to wait for the cult to discover it, as it opened to a disappointing $10.2 million. To be fair, that's not to far off what the dueling WWII movies of two Novembers ago, Hacksaw Ridge and Allied (neither of which contained even one Nazi zombie) opened to. But neither of those films were horror movies, which tend to burn out very quickly, and Overlord is. Unless there's a surprising resurrection over Thanksgiving, expect this to finish under $30 million.

Easily the biggest flop of November, and perhaps one of the biggest of the year, is The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, which falls to fourth with a second weekend gross of $10.1 million, bringing its ten-day total to $35.8 million. Nutcracker is following the track of Disney's last expensive megaflop, The BFG, which finished around $55 million. With two other films directly competing for the kids market by next Wednesday and several others going for families, its difficult to see Nutcracker making any more than that.

A Star is Born just keeps glowing, making $8.1 million in its sixth weekend. Its total stands at $178.1 million. It will be interesting to see if it or Bohemian ends up with the higher gross.

Ten years ago, Steig Larsson's Millennium thrillers were the hottest things in publishing. Now, they've sort of been forgotten, which explains why no one was all that eager to see the much-delayed, completely recast sequel to the English remake of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. The Girl in the Spider's Web, with Claire Foy subbing in for Rooney Mara, only managed $7.8 million its opening weekend. Like Overlord, this seems unlikely to make it to $30 million.

Nobody's Fool may have lost the usual "Tyler Perry's" at the beginning of its title, but its performing like a typical Perry movie, falling to $6.6 million for a ten-day total of $24.4 million. Before the weekend, Venom slipped past the $200 million mark, and added another $4.9 million this weekend, for a total of $206.3 million. With Halloween (the holiday) increasingly in the rearview mirror, Halloween (the movie) continued its fast November fade, earning $4 million for a spooky total of $157 million. The Hate U Give, however, held up surprisingly well, taking in $2.1 million for a total of $26.7 million.

Heading into the pre-Thanksgiving weekend, the big opening is Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the second prequel to the Harry Potter series, even though no one much liked the first prequel, which both opened lower and grossed less than all 8 of the HP films. In addition to giving Johnny Depp a much bigger role as the titular Grindelwald (an idea that seemed like a good one before the domestic abuse allegations against him became well-known), it also is bringing in Jude Law to play The Young Dumbledore. Whether that will juice an opening better than the first film's $74.4 million remains to be seen.

Also opening, though probably going more for a leggy run than a splashy opening, is Widows, a Oscar-buzzed crime thriller starring Viola Davis as one of the titular group, who decide to finish out the heist their husbands died trying to pull. Also going for legs--a la The Blind Side--is Instant Family, a dramady starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne as a childless couple who find themselves the foster parents to three energetic kids. Also going for Blind Side dollars--not to mention Driving Miss Daisy--is Green Book, a drama starring Mahershala Ali, in his first major role since his Oscar win, as a jazz pianist touring the segregated south and Viggo Mortensen as the racist guy hired to be his chauffeur. It opens in limited release ahead of a wide opening Wednesday, but is playing in enough theaters that it could crack the lower rungs of the Top 10.

Ralph Breaks the Internet nearly broke the box office over the long Thanksgiving weekend, as Disney's newest animated feature grossed an outstanding $56.2 million over the three day weekend and $84.8 million since its Wednesday opening. In terms of 5-day Thanksgiving weekend performances, that's the second best opening of all time, behind only Frozen, and 3rd best Thanksgiving 5-day of all time, behind Frozen and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (both of which earned the #1 & #2 spots on the exact same weekend in 2013). If we only include the Friday-Sunday section of the weekend, Ralph's performance isn't quite as impressive, as it ultimately finished behind the first weekend of not only Frozen, but also Toy Story 2 and Moana. Still, all these movies have had solid legs, so even if it's unlikely that Ralph will be able to get close to his co-stars' Anna and Elsa's $400.7 million final total, he should be able to make it to his co-star's Moana's $248.8 final, a solid increase over the original Wreck-It Ralph's $189.4 million.

Opening solidly in second is Creed II, which opened to $35.6 million over the three-day weekend and $56 million over the five day, a solid improvement over the $42.1 million the first Creed pulled in over Thanksgiving 2015. Co-star Sylvester Stallone probably won't be getting an Oscar nomination this time for playing Rocky Balboa (for the 8th time), but the film should be able to top Creed I's $109.7 million final, and could even top Rocky IV's $127.9 million to become the highest grosser in the franchise (though it should be pointed out that Rocky IV made that money in 1985).

It was a close battle for third between holdovers Dr. Seuss's The Grinch and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The wizards won the 5-day, $42.4 million to $42.1 million, but The Grinch prevailed over the weekend, $30.4 million to $29.4 million. The Grinch now has $180.5 million in the bank, and should top $200 million in the next couple of weeks. The Thanksgiving week haul was enough to move past the live action Grinch from 2000, and it now seems possible that the 2018 Grinch will surpass the live action's $260 million by the end of its run. As for Beasts, its 10-day total stands at $116.6 million, a good $40 million behind where the first Fantastic Beasts was at then end of its 10th day. So far, Beasts 2 has yet to top the opening weekend total of either Deathly Hallow movie.

Bohemian Rhapsody continues to pull well, earning $14 million over the weekend and $19.5 million from Wednesday, for a total of $152.2 million. Instant Family looked like an instant flop last weekend, but held up pretty well, taking in $12.3 million over the weekend and $17.2 million over the five-day, for a total of $35.6 million.

Thanksgiving has to have at least one turkey, and this year, that was the umpteenth version of Robin Hood, which made only $9.2 million over the weekend and $14.3 million over the 5-day. By comparison, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which did not open during a major national holiday, opened to $15.4 million 18 months ago. That film finished with $39.2 million, a total that I suspect Robin Hood will be looking up to by the end of its run.

Another movie about thieves, Widows took in $8.2 million over the weekend and $10.9 million over the five-day, to bring its total to $25.9 million. It will probably need to start collecting pre-Oscar awards to have any hope of making it above $40 million. Going wide in 9th is Green Book, which seemed to be destined to be the crowd-pleader of the holidays. It might still become that, but it will have to overcome a disappointing opening of $5.5 million for the weekend and $7.5 million for the five-day. A Star is Born crept closer to $200 million with a $3 million weekend and a $4.1 million 5-day, for $191 million total. That's enough for it to move past A Quiet Place to be the top non-franchise film of 2018...for now.

After the feast comes the famine, as only one movie is scheduled to go wide over the next two weeks, the low-budget horror movie The Possession of Hannah Grace, which will likely make a minor impact on this weekend's box office. Other than wherever Hannah ends up landing, expect this weekend's order to be very close to last weekend's order--expect, as usual for the weekend after the holiday weekend, every film earns only half as much, at most.

The Disney Robin Hood (animated) is pretty fun. Also I do still enjoy Mel Brooks "Men in Tights".

So yeah, I'm going to agree that Robin Hood movies should be fun, damn it.

For the second consecutive weekend, Hollywood by and large took a break, with only one wide release, which wasn't even a new movie. For whatever reason, the second weekend of December has become as much of a terror to studios as the first weekend, i.e. the weekend after the long Thanksgiving weekend. If there are only three weekends between Thanksgiving weekend and Christmas, as there will be next year, studios will use it, but if there are four, Hollywood seems content in piling up numerous movies to open during the last two weekends (such as this year) while all but abanading the first two. Obviously, they are all hoping to position their films to take the best advantage of the incredibly lucrative week between Christmas and New Year's, when every day is like Saturday, but I can't help but think some of those films, or to be specific, every film that doesn't star an animated wall-crawler, a magical English nanny, or the king of the ocean, might have used the boost of opening strongly this weekend rather than risk being lost in the crowd.

At any rate, the Top 6 remained completely unchanged from last weekend, and all of last week's Top 10 films finished somewhere once again in the Top 10. That means Ralph Breaks the Internet threepeats at the top of the chart, with a somewhat unimpressive $16.3 million, the lowest chart-topping amount since Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle won Super Bowl weekend with $10.9 million. More to the point, after its huge Thanksgiving opening, it has now fallen well behind fellow Thanksgiving opener Moana in both weekend and overall gross at the same point in its run ($141 million vs. $144.7 million), and although its overall gross remains ahead, Ralph has now fallen behind Coco in weekend-to-weekend comparison. Ralph should still pass $200 million, but Moana's $248.8 final is looking out of reach.

Neither Moana nor Coco had a significant animated competitor at this point in their runs. Unfortunately for Ralph, the #2 movie might as well be called How the Grinch Stole Ralph's Box Office. The Grinch took in another $15 million, to bring its total to $223.3 million. The Grinch is now up to #6 for 2018, and is the highest-grossing film of the year that's not a sequel, prequel, or spin-off, a title it will likely keep unless Mortal Engines proves to be far more potent than anyone imagines (The Grinch is of course a remake, and it can be argued its part of both the Dr. Seuss cinematic franchise and the Illumination franchise. The highest-grossing completely "original" film of the year remains A Quiet Place). It will certainly outgross Ralph, and is now less than $40 million behind the live-action Grinch. Assuming it can hold on to a decent percentage of its current screens and showtimes, it should be able to cover that amount.

Like fellow Thanksgiving opener Ralph, Creed II is beginning to struggle after it's giant opening. The boxing drama took in $10 million, for a total of $96.1 million. While its overall gross is still well ahead of where the first Creed was at this point, that film outgrossed its sequel over its third weekend. Creed II will still win the overall battle, but the quest to knock out Rocky IV and take the top spot in the franchise is looking much more shaky.

Even shakier is Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which grossed only $7 million for a total of $145.4 million, far behind any other Wizarding World movie at this point in their runs. Bohemian Rhapsody, which is suddenly looking like a major Oscar contender, took in $6.1 million for $173.7 million. We'll see if Fox (which only has Once Upon a Deadpool right now) will be able to use that buzz to help it get closer to $200 million.

At sixth is Instant Family, with $5.8 million, for a total of $54.3 million. The film isn't a blockbuster, but it could end up doing 5 times its opening, which is impressive legs in this day and age. Another heartwarming would-be blockbuster, Green Book, came in 7th with $3.9 million, to bring its gross to $20 million. Universal is trying an old-fashioned approach, allowing it to have small-but-steady grosses week after week after week (last week, it grossed...$3.9 million). If this was 1983, that strategy might work. Alas, it's 2018, and with an onslaught of new releases about to flood multiplexes, it's hard to see Green Book's grosses not nosediving very soon.

Robin Hood, which has somehow become an even bigger flop than The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, took in $3.5 million for a gross of $27.2 million. Last week's solitary wide opening, The Possession of Hannah Grace, actually held up better than most horror movies, but still could only manage $3.2 million for a 10-day gross of $11.5 million. Widows now seems unlikely to get any award-season boost, as it took in $3.2 million for a gross of $38.2 million.

Outside the Top 10, A Star is Born crept closer to $200 million, Oscar favorite The Favourite had a solid weekend expansion and the aforementioned The Nutcracker and the Four Realms continues to hang around. Opening in 14th is the re-release of Schindler's List. List is a truly magnificent motion picture, but Universal badly misjudged just how many people were eager to revisit a three-hour, black-and-white Holocaust drama that's widely available on DVD and Blu-Ray in the middle of the holidays. Schindler opened to $0.6 million, easily the lowest opening of any film this year that opened on more than a thousand screens. And, given that the studio didn't require theaters to hold onto the film for at least two weekends, it will likely finish with the lowest gross of any film this year that played on at least a thousand screens.

Having happier openings than Schindler's List is this year's possible Oscar contenders Mary Queen of Scots, Vox Lux, and Ben is Back, all of which opened on no more than 6 screens and all of which pulled per-screen averages of at least $20,000.

Wednesday saw the start of the holiday onslaught, with 9 movies total going wide either this weekend or next, with another two scheduled for Christmas Day. Fox released the PG-13 Once Upon a Deadpool, for those who were eager to see what the TBS cut of Deadpool 2 would look like two years early. There was apparently enough curiosity about the sheer weirdness of the project (not to mention the new wraparounds co-starring Fred Savage aping Princess Bride). At least Fox tried to get this out early. I don't know why the studios behind the oddball warring cities-on-wheels actioner Mortal Engines or the oddly buzz-free drama The Mule (why is no one talking about Clint Eastwood's first starring role in 6 years, a role where he co-stars with Bradley Cooper) didn't do the same. Opening either movie last Friday would have resulted in #1. Now, they're going to have to compete for runner-up against Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which is certain to ride the character's popularity and glowing reviews to an easy win this weekend. Venom opened to $80.3 million, while Spider-Man: Homecoming opened to $117 million. Will Spider-Verse be as successful as those two? We shall see.

Every adult woman I know is going to see Mary Poppins Returns rather than the J Lo rom-com.

As expected, the weekend between Christmas and New Year's proved to be a gold mine to a number of movies, and with Christmas parties and shopping and prep out of the way, more people had time to head to the theater during the final weekend of 2018. This meant that 6 of last weekend's Top 10 saw improvements over last weekend's gross, and of the 4 that dropped, two dropped by less than 5%.

Treading water at the top was Aquaman, which took in another $52.1 million for a ten-day total of $189.4 million, almost guaranteeing that it rang in 2019 with over $200 million in the bank. Still, it wasn't all drumming octopuses and sea monsters voiced by legendary actresses. The film was one of the four to decline from last weekend, and one of two that fell more than 5%--23% to be precise. Under normal circumstances, a superhero blockbuster falling that little in its second weekend would be incredible, but given how well nearly everything else did in comparison to the previous weekend, WB has to be a bit disappointed. However, Aquaman has clear sailing through January, as the only movie expected to be a blockbuster this month is Glass. Arthur Curry et. al. should easily top $300 million and might even have a shot at $400 million.

Flying into second for the second weekend in a row is Mary Poppins Returns. Disney's musical sequel took in $28.4 million, a jump of 20% from the previous weekend. It currently has a grossed $99.3 million. That might not be the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious results Disney was hoping for, but like Aquaman, Mary has a clear window through January, with only A Dog's Purpose and The Kid Who Would Be King opening to distract family audiences. Mary should gross over $200 million, and might even approach $300 million.

Buzzing into 3rd is Bumblebee, which fell a very slight 4% to $20.9 million. Ten-day gross is $67.2 million. This is still somewhat of a disappointing performance, given the excellent reviews and good word-of-mouth, but given the poor performance of Transformers: The Last Knight, and the fact this is a spin-off of the main series, a huge gross probably shouldn't have been expected. Bumblebee will still easily gross over $100 million, however.

Recovering somewhat from a disappointing second weekend is Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which caught $18.8 million in its web. That brings its gross to $104.2 million. This is under-performing, but still has a shot at $200 million. Performing better than expected is The Mule, which jumped to $12.2 million this weekend, for a gross of $61.1 million. The drama is now looking like a strong shot to get to over $100 million.

Opening in 6th is the Dick Chaney biopic Vice. The blackly comic film made $7.8 million over the weekend and has taken in $17.7 million since its Christmas Day opening. Where it goes from here depends on award season. It has 6 Golden Globe nominations, but got decidedly mixed reviews, so it might not do too well when Oscar nominations come out in a couple of weeks.

In 7th is Holmes and Watson, from the same production team as Vice. It won't be getting any Oscar nominations. It did decent business on Christmas Day, but then the reviews and word of mouth kicked in, and it's been dropping ever since. For the weekend, it took in $7.4 million and has grossed $19.8 million since Tuesday. In terms of mainstream Ferrell comedy vehicles, it will outgross The House, and might be able to beat out Semi-Pro, but it will probably end up looking up at Land of the Lost.

In 8th is Second Act, whose second weekend took in $7.4 million for a total of $21.9 million. It seems to be heading for an OK final total between $30 and $40 million. Ralph Breaks the Internet, strangely enough, had the biggest gain from last weekend, jumping 43% to $6.7 million. So far, its taken in $175.9 million, which puts it behind Coco's gross at the same point in its run. It will be touch and go through January to see if Ralph can make it to $200 million. In 10th is The Grinch, which was the only film in the Top 10 to drop significantly from last weekend, falling 51% to $4.2 million. With Christmas over, expect it to drop even faster in the coming weeks. Still, it has now grossed $265.5 million, enough to officially pull past the live-action Grinch to be the highest-grossing Seuss adaption ever.

Outside the Top 10, most mainstream releases that were out last weekend improved, with the exceptions of December's two mega-flops, Welcome to Marwen and Mortal Engines, whose combined gross is barely over $20 million and who both fell from last weekend. Engines will finish short of $20 million, and Marwen might not make it to $10 million. Potential Oscar films On the Basis of Sex, Stan & Ollie, and Destroyer opened well, if not spectacularly, in limited release.

For the 11th year in a row, one of the first new releases of the year will be a low-budget horror movie, and for the 8th year in a row, said low-budget horror movie will be the only brand new release opening during the first weekend of the year (though some films that had an Oscar-qualifying run in December have gone wide on this weekend). This year's entry is Escape Room. The last time a non-franchise, PG-13 horror flick opened at the very beginning of the year was in 2016, when The Forest grossed $12.7 million. That seems to be a good guess as to what Escape Room will take in this weekend. Meanwhile, expect most holdovers to drop between 40% and 60%. Welcome to 2019!

At the box office, 2019 started much the way 2018 ended. With only one new wide release over the weekend, most films in the Top 10 fell only one slot, or not at all, as the final fates of the films from the Christmas release slate became clear.

Once again, Aquaman swam to the top of the heap, making another $31 million to bring its total of liquid assets to $260 million. Within a couple of days, it should steal past The Grinch to become the highest-grossing film of the second half of 2018. It probably has at least another $100 million left in its tank, which would make it the second-highest grosser of the DCU. It's not out of the question, though unlikely, that it could end up outgrossing Wonder Woman, though that would likely require strong grosses into February. Still, Warners should be pleased. After the disappointment of Justice League, Aquaman gets the franchise back on track.

Surprising in second is the highest grossing film of 2019 (for now), Escape Room, which opened to an impressive $18.2 million. The title played like a typical horror film, with a strong Friday and a drop on Saturday, which suggests that Room will be lucky to escape January still in the Top 10, or to gross more than $50 million. Still, given that its already doubled its production costs, I don't think Sony will be too upset if Escape Room ends up slipping away relatively quickly.

Floating down to third is Mary Poppins Returns, which conjured up another $18.9 million to bring its total to $138.8 million. That's not a bad haul, but given the hype and promotion that Disney put into this title, the studio undoubtedly was hoping to be making Aquaman money, not A Star is Born money. Poppins should still easily top $200 million, but probably not fly much higher than that, making the latest disappointment for its studio, which made over $2 billion domestic from its four superhero movies last year, but saw every single other title it released underperform to one extent or another.

Driving into 4th is Bumblebee, which took in another $13.2 million for a total of $97.6 million. At this point, it looks probably that it will outgross Transformers: The Last Knight, which, given that this was a spinoff of a fading franchise released in a very competitive time of the year, is probably about the best everyone involved could have hoped for.

In fifth is another underperformer, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which made $13.1 million to bring its haul to $134 million. Like Mary Poppins, this seems like it should be making Aquaman money, not X-Men: Apocalypse money, especially with the stellar reviews. Perhaps there's been a bit too much Spidey lately--after all, in the last 18 months, we've had Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and even Venom, so Spider-Verse might just be overkill. If true, that might not be good news for this summer's Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Definitely not underperforming in 6th is The Mule, which brought in $9.1 million for a total of $81.2 million so far. At this point, it is almost certain to hit $100 million, and in fact seems destined to become his second-hugest earner ever, behind only Gran Torino.

In seventh is Vice, which earned $5.7 million to bank $29.7 million. How well it will do from here on out probably depends on Oscar nominations in a couple of weeks. While Christian Bale and Amy Adams are shoo-ins, everything else, including the film's Best Picture chances, is up in the air.

Second Act came in 8th, taking in $4.8 million to bring its total to $32.8 million. It seems destined to finish above $40 million. In 9th is Ralph Breaks the Internet, which earned $4.7 million for a total of $187.2 million. It's still likely to hit $200 million, but its not a guarantee. Collapsing to tenth is Holmes & Watson, which detected another $3.3 million for a total of $28.3 million. It's likely to outgross Semi-Pro, but will stop well short of Land of the Lost.

#11-16 were all possible Oscar contenders, each earning over $1 million on the weekend. Bohemian Rhapsody continues to plug toward $200 million, Mary Queen of Scots and The Favourite strive toward $20 million, and If Beale Street Could Talk, Green Book and On the Basis of Sex hope for Best Picture nominations. And to mark the end of the season, in #17, is The Grinch, which has tumbled well out of the Top 10 now that the holidays are over, but not without taking in $269.6 million first.

This week's biggest opening will probably be A Dog's Way Home, which despite its title, its release date, its premise, and its basis from a book by W. Bruce Cameron, is not the sequel to A Dog's Purpose (that will be A Dog's Journey, out in May). Still, it could challenge Aquaman for the top spot. Also out is the long-delayed The Upside, where Oscar nominee Bryan Cranston is a paraplegic and Oscar non-host Kevin Hart is his caretaker. Given its coming out in January, expect zero Oscar nominations, both this year and next. Another long-delayed flick, Replicas, starring Keanu Reeves as a scientist whose family doesn't realize they're robot doppelgangers of Reeves's dead human family, and the wide release of On the Basis of Sex. We'll see if any of them can swim past Aquaman for #1.

For the past few weeks, Glass seemed destined to be the first mega-blockbuster of 2019. Other studios avoided scheduling anything against it, even though it was opening MLK weekend. Predictions that the film would open to $50 million, $60 million, $70 million, even $80 million abounded. Then, last week, the (mostly poor) reviews came out, and suddenly, Glass seemed to have the wind knocked out of its sails.

M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable/Split sequel finally arrived and ended up opening $40.3 million over the three-day weekend and $46.5 million over the four-day. Relatively speaking, that's not a bad number at all, and given how low the budget was, Glass will prove to be immensely profitable for Universal and Disney. Still, this isn't an opening that should have caused other studios to flee in terror, and indeed, the three-day total is barely above what the considerably less-hyped Split opened to two years ago (that film opened a week after MLK weekend). If Glass can follow Split's trajectory, it could end up doing quite well, but like many over-hyped films, there's a decent chance it blew its wad opening weekend.

Holding strong in second is the new (temporary) #1 film of 2019, The Upside, which took in $15 million over the three day and $18.4 over the four-day. It's 11-day total stands at $46.7 million. That's only about $2 million below where Night School was after its 11th day of release, and with no comedies aimed at adults coming out until What Men Want on February 8, The Upside should have the legs (no pun intended) to get to at least $80 million, and even has an outside shot at $100 million.

Aquaman's reign as King of the Ocean of Holiday Movies continues, as it took in $10.2 million over the three-day holiday and $12.8 million over the 4-day. That brings its total to $306.8 million. At this point passing Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice's $330.4 million seems assured.

Coming seemingly out of nowhere (but, in reality, Japan) for 4th was Dragon Ball Super: Broly, the latest spin-off of the absurdly long-running anime series (it has been running in one form or another since 1986). While feature film spin-offs of anime series is nothing new, in the US, these films usually skip cinemas to head straight for DVD or streaming. The small number that do get theatrical release usually do so via Fathom Events or something similar, where the screened only a couple of times. A number of theaters adapted that approach for Broly, as well, but Funimation also booked the film to play with a normal, 4-or-5 show daily schedule at many theaters as well. The result was astounding. The film was the #1 film in America when it opened last Wednesday with $7 million, and it racked up $9.8 million over the three-day weekend and $12 million over the four-day weekend, ending Monday with $22.4 million. That's enough to already make it the 3rd-highest grossing anime title ever in the US. It will be interesting to see if this approach can work with any other anime franchises, since Dragon Ball is more popular than any other anime tile outside of Pokemon, but it will be interesting to find out.

Now that the holidays are over, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse has found a nice, steady groove, as it made $7.8 million over the three-day and $10.2 million over the four-day, the only movie in the top ten whose four-day total this weekend was higher than its three-day total last weekend. The film has now snagged $161.2 million, and still had an outside shot at $200 million.

A Dog's Way Home made $7.2 million over the three-day and $9.9 million over the four-day. After 11 days, the film has dug up $24.1 million. Escape Room relinquished its position as the top-grossing film of 2019, but still took in $5.6 million over the three-day and $6.8 million over the four-day. Escape is now up to $42.2 million and looks to be heading north of $50 million.

Mary Poppins Returns finished 8th over the three-day, with $5.2 million, but passed Escape Room for 7th over the four-day, with $7.2 million. Its total stands at $160.7 million, and like Spider-Man (which edged past Mary this weekend), it still has an outside shot at $200 million.

Rounding out the Top 10, Bumblebee buzzed into 9th with $4.8 million over the three-day and $6.1 million over the four-day. Its total stands at $117.3 million. On the Basis of Sex took in $3.9 million and $4.8 million over the three and four-day respectively. It is up to $17.7 million.

Outside the Top 10, soon-to-be Best Picture nominee Bohemian Rhapsody passed $200 million, and Green Book, Vice, and The Favourite all finished in the Top 20. We'll see next week if their Oscar nods juice their grosses.

This week sees two films arriving to challenge Glass for the top spot. The Kid Who Would Be King is a modern-day set, kid-friendly redo of the Arthur legend, with a group of British schoolkids having to fight demons summoned by Arthur's evil sister (Rebecca Ferguson). Meanwhile, Serenity is a sun-drenched neo-noir with Matthew McConaughey as a boat captain whose femme fatale ex-wife (Anne Hathaway) tries to convince him to kill her violent new husband (Jason Clarke), but, of course, Nothing Is As It Seems. While I expect Glass to win the weekend, if it ends up falling hard, either of the new titles could break through.

Befitting a weekend containing the worst Super Bowl ever, the box office had one of its most dismal weekends in years. Threepeating, pretty mcuh by default, is Glass, which took in $9.6 million over the weekend. The thriller is the first film to win the weekend with less than $10 million since War Room achieved that dubious achievement Labor Day weekend 2015. The film's total stands at $88.7 million. It should pass $100 million in the couple of weeks, but probably won't get much father than that.

Threepeating at second is The Upside, which grossed $8.7 million for a total of $75.4 million. It still has a slim chance at $100 million, but will almost certainly make it above $90 million, roughly where previous Kevin Hart vehicles Get Hard, Ride Along 2, and Think Like a Man finished. Upside's accomplishment is more impresive, though, since it had a much lower opening weekend than any of those three titles.

Shooting itself in the foot at third is Miss Bala. Hispanic audiences largely avoided the English language remake of the 2011 Spanish languate original, particulary since that version is widely available. Non-Hispanic audiences didn't take up the slack, as Bala'19 only opened to $6.9 million. There's a pretty good chance it won't even recoup its $15 million production budget via its domestic release.

Two Christmas leftovers continue to hold court at 4th and 5th. Aquaman took in another $4.9 million to bring its total to $323.6 million, while Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse added $4.6 million, for a gross of $175.4 million. Another late 2018 release, Green Book, held up in 6th, earning $4.4 million for a total of $55.6 million.

The reign of The Kid Who Would Be King is proving shorter than expected, as it taxed moviegoers another $4.2 million, for a ten-day total of $13.2 million. Another, more successful family film, A Dog's Way Home, dug up $3.6 million, for a gross of $36 million. In 9th, Escape Room hasn't quite gotten away yet, as it brought in another $2.9 million, for a total of $52.1 million.

In tenth is the World War I documentary They Shall Not Grow Old, directed by Peter Jackson. The doc had a few screenings in late December and early January, but is now in a standard release. The decision paid off, as the doc took in $2.4 million to bring its total, including the special screenings, to $10.8 million. That's enough to make it the 4th highest-grossing documentary released in 2018, only a couple of million behind #3 Three Identical Strangers.

After a couple weeks of doldrums, the box office will roar back to life this weekend with 4 wide-release titles, at least three of which are going to finish at the top of the office. Almost certainly heading to #1 is The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, where Emmet has to save Wyldstyle from an intergalactic kidnapper. Most reviews have indicated the movie is good, if a step down from the first one. That first one opened five years ago to $69.1 million. It is probably too optimistic for Part 2 to hit that total, but an opening over $50 million should be doable.

Competing for second will be two remakes. Cold Pursuit is an English language remake of the 2014 Swedish thriller In Order of Disappearance, with Liam Neeson subbing in for Stellan Skarsgard as a snowplow driver who sets out to kill off the drug dealers he blames for his son's death. The trailers promise there will be a lot of dark comedy in this one, which marks a change of pace from Neeson's generally humorless thrillers. Assuming that his recent comments don't derail the film, we should expect an opening better than The Commuter's $13.7 million last year. Meanwhile, What Men Want is a gender-flipped redo of the Mel Gibson vehicle What Women Want, which was a huge hit back in 2000, but has been largely forgotten today. Taraji P. Henson plays a sports management executive who is passed over for a deserved promotion exclusively because of her gender. After bumping her head, she suddenly can hear the thoughts of all males, which she takes advantage of for professional and personal reasons. What Women Want opened to $33.6 million, which was enough to be the 11th-highest opening of 2000. Even though times have changed, its still highly unlikely that Men will be able to hit that amount, though an opening over $20 million seems likely.

Also opening is the low-budget horror film The Prodigy, where Taylor Schilling has to decide if her son is possessed or just plain evil. That it will be the lowest-opening of this weekend's newcomers is a given. The question is if it can still outgross The Upside and Glass. If it can, there's a chance that Glass could go from threepeating at #1 all the way down to #6. Come back next week to see if Glass shatters like that.

Over Presidents Day weekend, the box office may not have been quite as bad as the current president's poll numbers, but it wasn't great. A total of $147.3 million was spent on movie tickets in North America this weekend--roughly $95 million less than Black Panther earned all by itself over this weekend last year. You have to go back to 2004 for a Presidents Day weekend that earned less, and that weekend's #1 movie, 50 First Dates of Grey.

That #1 movie was the long-delayed Alita: Battle Angel, which was able to slice and dice its way to the top with a Friday-Sunday gross of $28.5 million and another $5 million on Monday.  Since its Thursday opening, Alita has taken in $42.3 million.  That's better than expectations, and might be enough to propel the film over the $100 million mark, but when a film costs $170 million to make, keeping your fingers crossed for $100 million total is not exactly a positive outcome.  To break even, Alita will have to do very well overseas.

Slipping to second is The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which took in $20.8 million from Friday-Sunday, and took advantage of kids being out of school on Monday to surge past Alita with $7 million.  That brings its 11-day total to $69.2, or about $200,000 more than the first film made its opening weekend.  Lego 2 will end up well behind both it and The Lego Batman Movie, but at least it has already outgrossed The Lego Ninjago Movie.

Opening in third is Isn't It Romantic, the romcom-parody-that's-secretly-an-actual-romcom.  It grossed $14.3 million from Friday-Sunday, and another $2.4 million on Monday.  Since its Wednesday opening, it has grossed $22.9 million.  This one looks like it's heading toward $50 million, though good word-of-mouth could propel it a bit higher than that.

Speaking of romantic comedies, What Men Want came in 4th, earning $10.7 million from Friday to Sunday, and another $1.5 million on Monday, for a gross of $37.4 million.  A final gross of $55-60 million still appears to be in the cards.

It was not a particularly happy day for Happy Death Day 2U, which finished far off the pace of the first one with a Friday-Sunday gross of $9.5 million and a Monday gross of $1.5 million.  Since Wednesday, the time-loop-comedy-horror-thriller has earned a mere $14.8 million.  At this point, anything above $30 million is probably out of reach, though, unlike, say, Alita: Battle Angel, a $9 million production cost will likely mean this will actually turn a profit off of North American theatrical alone.

Cold Pursuit held up better than expected in 6th, taking in $6 million over Friday-Sunday and $1 million on Monday for an 11-day gross of $22.1 million.  That means it should be able to get past Run All Night and A Walk Among the Tombstones, which are currently the lowest-grossing of Liam Neeson's Old Man Action movies.  The Upside is all but guaranteed to pass $100 million at this point, with a $5.5 million weekend and a $1 million Monday to bring its total to $95.1 million. 

Rounding out the Top 10 is Glass, which earned $4.6 million over the four-day weekend for $105.3 million, horror flop The Prodigy, which took in $3.6 million for a total of $11.5 million, and Oscar nominee Green Book, which made $3.5 million for a total of $66.5 million.

Outside the Top 10, Aquaman passed Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice to become the second-highest grosser of the DCU, while the WWE-produced Fighting With My Family, starring Florence Pugh as WWE wrestler Paige and not starting Dwayne Johnson (despite his appearance on the poster and in the commercials, he's only in a couple of scenes) took in $163,000 on just 4 screens.

Fighting goes wide this weekend, and seems likely to land around $10 million, though the presence of Johnson could add a couple more million to that total.  The (much) bigger release, however, is How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, the third installment in DWA's critically-beloved franchise.  The first two entries each opened to over $40 million, and there's no reason to think this one won't do the same, though the underperformance of Lego 2 gives one pause.  Still, even it it doesn't clear the $40 million mark, it seems clear that Dragon will easily rule this coming weekend.

As expected, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World held onto the box office crown this weekend, but thanks to a bigger-than-expected drop and a bigger-than-expected opening, the margin of victory was much smaller than predicted. Dragon took in $30 million, to roar to a ten-day total of $97.7 million. Of the three films in the franchise, that's the highest 10-day total and the highest second weekend total, but Hidden World just barely topped the first film's $29 million second weekend. Granted, the first film's second weekend was Easter weekend, but Dragon 1 made $24.9 million its third weekend--a total Hidden World will be hard-pressed to match. It's beginning to look like Dragon 1's $217.6 million is out of reach, but World is still on track to top $200 million.

After eleven(!??!) movies playing Tyler Perry's Madea, Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry is finally supposed to hang up the dress and wig for good. However, after the vigorous $27.1 million opening of Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral, don't be shocked if Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry reconsiders Tyler Perry's decision. As Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry movies tend to burn out fast, Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral is unlikely to make it much above $70 million. But after a disappointing 2018, where neither Tyler Perry's Acrimony nor Nobody's Fool (somehow coming out without Tyler Perry's name) did much business, a final gross above $60 million will likely be enough to satisfy Tyler Perry's Tyler Perry.

Finishing well back in third is Alita: Battle Angel, which grossed $7.2 million for a total gross of $72.5 million. Any more big drops, and it could end up short of $100 million. In fourth is The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, which took in $6.6 million for a total of $91.7 million. It will pass $100 million, but not by much. Rounding out the top 5, Fighting With My Family wrestled down another $4.7 million, bringing the film's gross to $14.9 million.

After its surprising and controversial Best Picture win, Green Book leaped back into the Top 10, taking in $4.6 million for a total of $75.8 million. $100 million still seems way out of reach (especially as the film is now available for home streaming purchase, and will be on DVD and Blu-Ray next week), but it could still get close to $90 million.

In 7th, Isn't It Romantic has proven to have some decent legs, picking up another $4.5 million to bring its gross to $40.2 million. It looks to be heading north of $50 million.

Opening in 8th is Greta, the new thriller from Crying Game director Neil Jordan, which made $4.5 million. Not a great start, though given how little advertising and promotion the title got, not a surprising start. The film will likely struggle to make it past $10 million.

Rounding out the Top 10, What Men Want took in $2.8 million for a total of $49.7 million, and Happy Death Day 2U made another $2.5 million for a total of $25.2 million.

Outside the Top 10, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse rode its own win for Animated Feature to another $2.2 million, for a total of $187.4 million. It's still likely to fall short of $200 million, though. Oscar wins also helped propel Bohemian Rhapsody, starring Best Actor winner Rami Malek, The Favourite, starring Best Actress winner Olivia Colman, and Best Documentary Free Solo to upticks from last week. Free Solo, has now grossed $17 million, helping to wrap up a stellar 2018 for docs, which also saw Won't You Be My Neighbor, They Shall Not Grow Old, RBG, and Three Identical Strangers pass the $10 million mark, an amount that only 24 other non-IMAX docs have passed throughout history. Getting a good launch for next year's Documentary race is Apollo 11, which grossed $1.6 million on only 120 screens.

Disney, which has won the domestic crown as highest-grossing studio for the last three years, has yet to release a film this year. That changes tomorrow with the arrival of Captain Marvel, the year's first MCU movie. Mavel is the first MCU movie with a solo female lead (Brie Larson) and the first MCU film since Doctor Strange not to have its lead appear in a prior MCU movie. Estimates are that Marvel will debut to over $100 million. We'll see next week if this idea of having a woman superhero will be a wonder at the box office.

RIP the Alita sequel.

Shattering even the most optimistic of expectations, Us, Jordan Peele's new horror thriller, cut its way into theaters with an incredible $71.1 million opening. To wit, that's the highest opening ever for an original horror film, the third-highest ever for any horror film (behind only Halloween and It), and the second-highest ever for a live-action original film (behind Avatar). Those numbers will ensure that Lupita Nyong'o will remain in the Oscar conversation, even though we're still ten months away from the nomination announcement.

The question is how big Us will ultimately get. If it follows the trajectory of Halloween, which burned out fast last fall, that would mean a final gross of only around $150 million, which seems awfully low. If it follows in the incredibly leggy path of Peele's Get Out, that would suggest a final gross of around $375 million, which seems incredibly high. It will end up somewhere around $200 million if it follows closely the legs of fellow scary pronoun It. Us doesn't have completely smooth sailing ahead, which a couple of blockbusters over the next two weeks, as well as Pet Sematary and The Curse of La Llorona coming up in April. However, strong word of mouth should help it navigate the turbulence.

Us was responsible for nearly half of last weekend's ticket sales.  Meanwhile, Captain Marvel was responsible for nearly a quarter of those sales, as the studio-referencing blockbuster took in $34.3 million in its third weekend. That brings its total to $320.8 million. Captain is still very likely to end up north of $400 million, but while the horror movies probably won't make much of an impact, the other would-be blockbusters, especially Captain Marvel Shazam! in two weeks, will.

The animated, undirected Wonder Park came in in a distant third, taking in $8.8 million.  The ten-day total for the Nickelodeon title is $29.2 million, and is looking for a final gross of between $40 and $50 million.  Sick-kid romance Five Feet Apart actually held up pretty well for fourth, taking in $8.5 million for a ten-day of $26.3 million.  How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World is now pretty much guaranteed to be the lowest-grosser of the franchise, earning $6.5 million in its 5th weekend for a total of $145.7 million.  It looks likely to burn out shy of $165 million.

Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral has quietly become the third-highest-grossing Madea film, and should soon move to second.  This weekend, it earned $4.4 million, bringing its total to a heavenly $65.8 million.  While it's not going to reach Madea Goes to Jail's $90.5 million, it should be able to push past Boo! A Madea Halloween's $73.2 million in the next few weeks.  In 7th, Spanish-language comedy No Manches Frida 2 took in $1.7 million for a ten-day total of $6.6 million.  

After two weekends of limited release, the comedy-drama Gloria Bell, starring Julianne Moore as an older woman who discovers love on the dance floor, had an OK expansion, taking in $1.7 million.  The film how now waltzed away with $2.4 million.  While individual weekend grosses will never be sensational, this feels like the type of film that can linger for weeks, only dropping modestly each weekend.  If it can find some legs, it could make it to $10 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 are two February disappointments.  The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part took in $1.2 million for a gross of $103.4 million, while Alita: Battle Angel made $1.1 million for a gross of $83.8 million.  

Outside the Top 10, Sony's 20th anniversary re-release of Cruel Intentions, the remake of Dangerous Liaisons set at a contemporary high school, did marginal business, making less than $0.3 million despite playing at over 700 theaters.  Hotel Mumbai, a dramatization of the 2008 terrorist attacks on numerous locations in the Indian city, had a per-screen of $22,000 ahead of its wide release this weekend.

This week's big opening is Dumbo, Disney's latest live-action remake of one of its animated properties.  This one, directed by Tim Burton, has been getting decent reviews, but the title isn't nearly as iconic as Beauty and the Beast, or even The Jungle Book, so a considerably smaller opening than either of those two is expected.  Still, if it can make $50 million, that will likely be enough to outdraw Us for #1.  Also opening is the anti-abortion drama Unplanned, from the writers of the God's Not Dead movies, and The Beach Bum, a comedy starring Matthew McConaughey as a stoner drifting through life.  No, it's not a documentary.  We'll find out next week if we choose Us, or if the smart money is on Dumbo.