Weekend Wrap-Up
By Tim Briody
November 26, 2017
Thor: Ragnarok drops to fourth with $16.7 million and $24.2 million in five days, a weekend drop of just 23%, impressive after the larger declines in the first two weekends. Thor has $277.4 million in the bank and will inch closer to the $300 million mark next weekend, but it probably needs one more to get there. Another big win for Marvel, who are pointing and laughing at DC right about now.
Daddy’s Home 2 adds another $13.2 million, off just 9% from last weekend, giving it $72.6 million in the bank after three weekends. Being the top comedic option (depending on your view of Thor) for the weekend is the best explanation for the solid hold. I don’t know if there’s enough left in the tank to get it to $100 million, but $90-95 million is looking pretty likely. Remember that the first one opened over Christmas Day and rode that train to $150 million. Daddy’s Home had $116.3 million at this point, as we had just finished the first post New Year’s weekend.
Murder on the Orient Express continues to run neck and neck with Daddy’s Home 2, as it takes sixth place with $13 million (and $18.5 million in five days) and brings its total to $74.2 million. It's down just a scant 6% from last weekend, the lowest decline in the top ten (of the films not expanding). Kenneth Branagh may have a budding franchise on his hands here as both star and director, as it was announced this week that an adaptation of Death on the Nile, another Poirot novel by Agatha Christie, is in the works, with Branagh exceedingly likely to return in both roles.
With main competition from Coco, The Star drops 31% from last weekend to $6.8 million. The second tier animated film now has $21.9 million after two weekends, so it managed its budget back. Next weekend will be less kind as everything takes a post-Thanksgiving hit, and you can expect The Star to end up with about $40 million by the time it’s done.
A Bad Moms Christmas barely makes it to Thanksgiving with another $5 million the weekend and $59.7 million after four weekends in theaters. The 28% drop from last weekend is high considering it’s generally favorable to holdovers, but it did drop some screens and is one of the older films in the top ten at this point. The disappointing sequel is going to top out with about $75 million, well off the $113 million earned by last year’s first film.
Things get interesting again in ninth as an expansion by Roman J. Israel, Esq. A legal drama starring Denzel Washington, written and directed by Dan Gilroy (2014’s Nightcrawler), the film went with the platform release, ostensibly to get Washington some awards attention. The film itself got middling reviews but many praise Washington’s performance, and he’s in the mix for a nomination even though everyone else is competing for second place at this point (Gary Oldman’s got Best Actor on lock, if you haven’t been paying attention). After a mediocre NY/LA release last weekend, Roman J. Israel, Esq. expanded to 1,648 theaters and earned $4.5 million, and $6.2 million in five days. That’s fine, but it doesn’t make the prospects of further expansion very likely.
Tenth goes to another expansion, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Going to 614 theaters, the black dramedy earns $4.4 million and gives it $7.6 million to date. Fox Searchlight will continue to expand it over the next few weeks as it will certainly make many end of year top ten lists.
Outside the top ten, Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird expands to 791 theaters and earns $4 million on the weekend but gets bumped out of the top ten. New release from Bleecker Street, The Man Who Invented Christmas, earned $1.3 million in 626 theaters and likely Best Picture contender Call Me By Your Name earns $400,400 in its four theater NY/LA release, which makes it one to watch as it will expand over the month of December.
The most miserable weekend of box office of the year is next week, as we’ve got no new releases and everything takes a post holiday dive, as it’s the quiet before the storm and we get Star Wars in a few more weeks.
|
Top Ten for Weekend of November 24-26, 2017
|
Rank |
Film |
Distributor |
Estimated
Gross ($) |
Weekly Change |
Cumulative
Gross ($) |
|
1
|
Coco
|
Walt Disney
|
49.0
|
New
|
71.1
|
|
2
|
Justice League
|
Warner Bros.
|
40.7
|
-57%
|
171.4
|
|
3
|
Wonder
|
Lionsgate
|
22.3
|
-19%
|
69.3
|
|
4
|
Thor: Ragnarok
|
Walt Disney
|
16.7
|
-23%
|
277.4
|
|
5
|
Daddy's Home 2
|
Paramount
|
13.2
|
-9%
|
72.6
|
|
6
|
Murder on the Orient Express
|
20th Century Fox
|
13.0
|
-6%
|
74.2
|
|
7
|
The Star
|
Sony
|
6.8
|
-31%
|
21.9
|
|
8
|
A Bad Moms Christmas
|
STX Entertainment
|
5.0
|
-28%
|
59.7
|
|
9
|
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
|
Sony
|
4.5
|
+7,158%
|
6.2
|
|
10
|
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
|
Fox Searchlight
|
4.4
|
+299%
|
7.6
|
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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Continued:
1
2
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