Weekend Box Office (November 9 - 11, 2018)
THIS WEEKEND The holiday box office mood got a jolt with Universal's potent debut for the animated comedy The Grinch which exceeded expectations to capture an estimated $66M easily putting it at number one. The PG-rated film scored the third largest toon opening ever in November and has set itself up well for the lucrative period ahead leading up to Christmas with the family film having the potential of eventually breaking the quarter-billion-dollar mark in the U.S. Grinch averaged a muscular $15,938 from 4,141 sites.
Reviews were not glowing, but were good enough for this genre and audiences gave an A- CinemaScore grade meaning ticket buyers have been pleased with the experience. Monday will see many schools closed to observe Veterans Day, Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and the film's yuletide story should lead to a resurgence at the box office during the week leading up to December 25th. Many animated films opening in November coast through the holidays and end up with four times their opening weekend grosses while some Christmas-themed movies score even better. With many overseas launches coming up soon, the studio has a major moneymaker on its hands.
Fox enjoyed a robust second weekend hold for its Freddie Mercury pic Bohemian Rhapsody which declined by only 40% following a stellar debut to capture an estimated $30.9M. That shot the cume to the $100M mark after only ten full days of release with plenty more to come. Strong word-of-mouth and the upcoming holidays should keep this one moving ahead, possibly finishing in the $175M neighborhood. Overseas markets have been on fire at $185.3M putting global at $285M right now on its way to $500M and beyond. That's a massive result for this type of movie.
The WWII zombie thriller Overlord opened in third place with an estimated $10.1M from 2,859 locations for a mild $3,533 average. Critics gave strong reviews but paying audiences showed up in only modest numbers for Paramount. Studio data showed that the crowd was 69% male and 69% over 25. The B grade from CinemaScore indicated that ticket buyers were only somewhat pleased with what they got with the R-rated entry.
Following a harsh opening weekend, Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms failed to see any legs as the big-budget fantasy fell by 53% into single-digit territory with an estimated $9.6M. The studio has collected a dismal $35.3M to date and looks headed for a domestic finish of around $60M which is about half of what the production cost was.
Audiences did not come out for the return of Lisbeth Salander as the crime thriller The Girl in the Spider's Web opened to weak results in fifth with an estimated $8M debut from 2,929 locations for a soft $2,736 average. The Sony release earned shaky reviews and consumer demand just did not present itself.
Slipping only 27% in its sixth weekend was A Star is Born with an estimated $8M bumping the new totals for Warner Bros. to $178M domestic along with $144.8M from overseas markets for a global haul of $322.8M. The Paramount comedy Nobody's Fool fell 52% in its second round to an estimated $6.5M putting the Tyler Perry film at only $24.3M. It will finish among the director's lowest grossing movies.
Sony continued to see amazing numbers from its comic flick Venom which now sits in the double century club. The anti-hero pic did an estimated $4.9M, down 38%, for a $206.2M domestic take. The big splash this weekend was in China where Venom enjoyed a monster opening weekend grossing a colossal $111M over three days making it the second largest comic book movie debut of all-time behind only the $199.3M of Avengers: Infinity War. Panned by film critics but embraced by fans, the Tom Hardy film upped its offshore total to $467.3M propelling the worldwide sum to a stunning $673.5M surpassing the final numbers of Logan, Ant Man And The Wasp, and last year's Justice League. Look for a final gross north of $800M now.
Another successful scary flick followed as Halloween placed ninth with an estimated $3.8M, down 65%, for a new cume of $156.8M for Universal. Global is at $245.5M. Rounding out the top five was The Hate U Give with an estimated $2.1M, off 38%, and $26.7M overall for Fox.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $149.8M which was up 9% from last year when Thor: Ragnarok remained at number one with $57.1M; and up 3% from 2016 when Doctor Strange stayed in the top spot with $43M.
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Watch the NEW trailer for The Secret Life of Pets.
Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, Widows, and Instant Family all open.
| # | Title | Nov 9 - 11 | Nov 2 - 4 | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Cumulative | Distributor |
| 1 | The Grinch | $ 67,572,855 | 4,141 | 1 | $ 16,318 | $ 67,572,855 | Universal | ||
| 2 | Bohemian Rhapsody | 31,201,568 | 51,061,119 | -38.9 | 4,000 | 2 | 7,800 | 100,362,116 | Fox |
| 3 | Overlord | 10,202,108 | 2,859 | 1 | 3,568 | 10,202,108 | Paramount | ||
| 4 | The Nutcracker | 10,086,869 | 20,352,491 | -50.4 | 3,766 | 2 | 2,678 | 35,778,403 | Disney |
| 5 | A Star is Born | 8,105,163 | 11,003,083 | -26.3 | 2,848 | 6 | 2,846 | 178,115,551 | Warner Bros. |
| 6 | The Girl in the Spider's Web | 7,810,112 | 2,929 | 1 | 2,666 | 7,810,112 | Sony | ||
| 7 | Nobody's Fool | 6,636,242 | 13,743,111 | -51.7 | 2,468 | 2 | 2,689 | 24,372,350 | Paramount |
| 8 | Venom | 4,915,378 | 7,877,174 | -37.6 | 2,351 | 6 | 2,091 | 206,298,981 | Sony |
| 9 | Halloween | 3,998,885 | 10,830,865 | -63.1 | 2,717 | 4 | 1,472 | 156,968,730 | Universal |
| 10 | The Hate U Give | 2,051,363 | 3,353,422 | -38.8 | 1,108 | 6 | 1,851 | 26,687,246 | Fox |
| 11 | Smallfoot | 1,508,102 | 3,861,672 | -60.9 | 1,318 | 7 | 1,144 | 80,309,655 | Warner Bros. |
| 12 | Beautiful Boy | 1,450,661 | 1,345,727 | 7.8 | 776 | 5 | 1,869 | 5,227,614 | Amazon |
| 13 | Can You Ever Forgive Me? | 1,442,422 | 1,032,318 | 39.7 | 391 | 4 | 3,689 | 3,577,399 | Fox Searchlight |
| 14 | Thugs of Hindostan | 1,185,386 | 377 | 1 | 3,144 | 1,449,848 | Yash Raj | ||
| 15 | Night School | 1,000,260 | 1,990,285 | -49.7 | 717 | 7 | 1,395 | 75,997,005 | Universal |
| 16 | First Man | 918,060 | 2,184,385 | -58.0 | 815 | 5 | 1,126 | 43,730,765 | Universal |
| 17 | Goosebumps 2 | 886,978 | 3,773,720 | -76.5 | 1,519 | 5 | 584 | 45,867,822 | Sony |
| 18 | Free Solo | 774,915 | 1,002,680 | -22.7 | 266 | 7 | 2,913 | 8,121,788 | NatGeo |
| 19 | Boy Erased | 758,173 | 207,057 | 266.2 | 77 | 2 | 9,846 | 1,031,337 | Focus |
| 20 | Hunter Killer | 726,230 | 3,528,129 | -79.4 | 957 | 3 | 759 | 15,202,381 | Lionsgate |
| Top 5 | $ 127,168,563 | $ 106,990,669 | 18.9 | ||||||
| Top 10 | 152,580,543 | 129,384,786 | 17.9 | ||||||
| Top 20 | 163,231,730 | 142,064,563 | 14.9 | ||||||
| Top 20 vs. 2017 | 163,231,730 | 145,087,082 | 12.5 |
This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated: November 11, 2018 at 3:15PM ET
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