Friday Box Office Analysis
By Kim Hollis
December 15, 2018
BoxOfficeProphets.com

I'm Spider-Man, too!
After a couple of weekends of NOTHING, the holiday season gets a light start. We have an amazingly well-reviewed movie in the form of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, along with Clint Eastwood's latest, a movie that was once considered an awards contender but has quickly fallen off after reviews were little more than middling. And then there's Mortal Objects, the steampunk movie about cities that consume other cities, adapted by Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens from a novel by Philip Reeve.

At long last, Ralph Breaks the Internet will not be our top film of the weekend (although The Grinch actually surpassed it during the weekdays). Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse will win it handily, as it took in $12.6 million yesterday. That does include $3.5 million from Thursday sneak previews, so the "true" Friday number is actually $9.1 million. This is right in line with expectations, but you should look for this well-reviewed, beloved film to really have a lot of staying power over the next few weeks. It's a perfect family film choice. The weekend should come in right around $33.5 million.

Second will go to Clint Eastwood's latest film, The Mule. Surely you've seen one of the thousands of commercials for it. Anyway, Clint is always going to have his loyalists, and they showed up to the tune of $5.9 million on Friday, and since it has an older audience as its primary demographic, the weekend looks to come in around $17 million.

That leaves Mortal Engines well down in third place, as the steampunk YA film simply couldn't generate interest. Perhaps if reviews had been good, people would have given it more of a chance, but as it is, it earned $2.8 million yesterday and will likely drop down to fourth or fifth place for the weekend proper. $7.6 seems likely here, and then it will fade away to obscurity.

Yesterday's #10 and #12 films are also noteworthy. The Favourite is tenth and expanded from 91 to 439 screens, resulting in $835,000 yesterday. Let's call it $2.5 million for the weekend, and it may pick up some steam if it gets more awards attention. Also, Once Upon a Deadpool, a PG-13 recut of this year's Deadpool 2 with Princess Bride/Fred Savage bookending, earned $740,000 yesterday, proving that a non-R rated Deadpool misses the point.

Finally, let's alert you to the $200 million watch for A Star Is Born, as it's just $1.6 million away from crossing that milestone. With an awards re-release, it might ultimate catch and pass Venom. It's super close, and the only reason I even bring up Venom is that the two films were released on the same weekend.