Box Office Report For December 20-22

Welcome back one and all to the weekly box office report! As is always the case, each and every Sunday you can expect a look at what made the most money in theaters, as well as just how all of the new releases fared. This week (the second to last one of the year), two very different titles entered the marketplace, though both did with huge expectations and less than stellar buzz. One is legitimately one of the biggest films in history with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, while other one is among the weirdest movies in recent memory. Yes, Cats. How did they both do? Read on to see how the weekend turned out…

There was no surprise that the weekend saw Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker take the top spot. However, with “only” $175.5 million, it is undeniably a disappointing number for Disney. The last two Episodes were able to debut north of $200 million, so could Star Wars fatigue be setting in? Did the reviews and mixed reactions to it really play a part? For whatever reason, the same sort of enthusiasm (the CinemaScore wasn’t an A or A- for the first time, either) just was not there for the franchise.

As for Cats, well, the news was even worse. Only able to cough up a fourth place finish, this musical adaptation landed like a hairball, pouncing on a mere $6.5 million. With a budget near $100 million, this is going to be a huge loser for Universal, financially. Between the apoplectically bad reviews, poor CinemaScore, and terrible buzz for months, this was probably inevitable. Still, it turned out even worse than most expected.

The other title of note was Bombshell expanding, though that too disappointed. Opening in sixth place with a shade over $5 million, audiences just didn’t see it as an essential bit of awards season viewing. Will that hurt its Oscar prospects? Time will tell, but it didn’t help any, at the very least…

Here now is what the (estimated) top ten looked like at the box office for this weekend:

1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – $175,500,000

2. Jumanji: The Next Level – $26,125,000

3. Frozen II – $12,300,000

4. Cats – $6,500,000

5. Knives Out – $6,125,000

6. Bombshell – $5,075,000

7. Richard Jewell – $2,565,000

8. Queen & Slim – $1,850,000

9. Black Christmas – $1,800,000

10. Ford v Ferrari – $1,800,000

Beyond the top ten, here’s some further results at the box office:

11. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – $1,300,000

12. Parasite – $460,000

13. Dark Waters – $312,000

14. A Hidden Life – $250,000

15. Uncut Gems – $232,479

16. 21 Bridges – $230,000

17. Jojo Rabbit – $186,000

18. Midway – $155,000

19. Last Christmas – $155,000

20. Playing with Fire – $150,000

21. Joker – $140,000

22. Harriet – $113,000

23. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil – $107,000

24. Abominable – $61,000

25. Honey Boy – $59,243

26. Terminator: Dark Fate – $46,000

27. Pain and Glory – $40,425

28. 63 Up – $32,945

29. Countdown – $30,000

30. No Safe Spaces – $14,000

Until next weekend!