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!
