Weekend Box Office (November 29 - December 1, 2019)
THIS WEEKEND Anna and Elsa remained rulers of the box office and broke all-time Thanksgiving records too as the animated smash Frozen II stayed at number one for a second time grossing an estimated $85.3M over the weekend and a fabulous $123.7M over the five-day Wednesday-to-Sunday session. Both were new all-time highs beating the old records of $74.2M and $109.9M set in 2013 by The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Both films were in their second weekends. Ironically, when Catching Fire was setting those industry records on Thanksgiving 2013, Disney was opening the first Frozen in second place that same weekend.
The ten-day cume for Frozen II has now soared to $287.6M and the sophomore frame witnessed a respectable decline of 35%. By comparison, Catching Fire had a bigger second weekend drop of 53% but a larger ten-day tally of $296.3M, thanks to a larger opening weekend with more upfront turnout, on its way to a $424.7M final. With a more steady run and substantial kid appeal, the Olaf sequel looks capable of finishing its domestic run ahead of the $400.7M final of its predecessor with a gross in the vicinity of about $450M, or maybe more.
Frozen fever has gripped the whole world with overseas markets kicking in a sensational $163.8M this weekend for an incredible global weekend of $249M. The international cume is now $451M led by China's $90.5M, Korea's $61.2M, Japan's $38.3M, and the UK's $35M for a worldwide haul of $738.6M and climbing fast. It will vault over the billion dollar barrier in no time.
Kicking off what should be a prolonged box office run this holiday season was the acclaimed whodunit Knives Out which debuted to an estimated $27M over the weekend and $41.7M across the five-day holiday span. Lionsgate averaged a stellar $7,808 from 3,461 locations over the three-day period. Reviews were fantastic, word-of-mouth from moviegoers has been exceptional, the cast features multiple big stars, and the PG-13 murder mystery features light humor too giving it very broad appeal and plenty of untapped potential.
Original films have had it tough this year but Knives Out looks to score big in the weeks ahead on its way into the $100M club on a reported production cost of $40M. Studios have struggled to find ways to compete with the juggernaut that is Disney but this hit is carving out a successful run during a holiday corridor sure to be dominated by Frozen and Star Wars tentpole sequels. Knives Out also debuted to $28.3M from international territories led by China's $13.5M leading to a potent $70M start in the first few days.
Other star-driven options for adults also held their own and carved out their slices of the pie over the holiday weekend. The Damon-Bale pic Ford v Ferrari slipped only 16% to an estimated $13.2M for a solid cume to date of $81M for Fox. Tom Hanks was a popular one over the turkey frame as his latest film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood eased a scant 11% from its opening weekend to collect an estimated $11.8M. The Sony title has taken in $34.3M and will try to leg out a prolonged run throughout December with moviegoers old and young.
The new drama Queen & Slim opened in fifth place this weekend with an estimated $11.7M from only 1,690 theaters for a solid $6,923 average. Since its mid-week debut Universal collected $15.8M over five days. Reviews were positive for the R-rated film. The Chadwick Boseman action title 21 Bridges followed with an estimated $5.8M, down 37%, for a cume of $20.5M for STX.
Paramount's family comedy Playing With Fire dipped only 7% collecting an estimated $4.2M pushing the cume to a respectable $39.2M overall. Midway held up very well slipping only 15% to an estimated $4M for Lionsgate upping the sum to $50.3M.
In yet another box office milestone, Joker surpassed Batman v Superman in lifetime domestic grosses which is something nobody expected before its release. The Arthur Fleck saga saw a 26% slide to an estimated $2M in its ninth weekend of play pushing the cume up to an incredible $330.6M passing the $330.4M of BvS which carried a significantly larger production cost plus more well-known comic book characters. The offshore sum is now $717.7M putting global at $1.048 billion. The holiday rom-com Last Christmas dropped 36% to an estimated $2M putting Universal at $31.7M overall.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $167M which was down 18% from last year's Thanksgiving frame when Ralph Breaks the Internet opened at number one with $56.2M; and down 6% from 2017's holiday weekend when Coco debuted on top with $50.8M.
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| # | Title | Nov 29 - Dec 1 | Nov 22 - 24 | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Cumulative | Distributor |
| 1 | Frozen II | $ 85,977,773 | $ 130,263,358 | -34.0 | 4,440 | 2 | $ 19,364 | $ 288,845,131 | Disney |
| 2 | Knives Out | 26,769,548 | 3,461 | 1 | 7,735 | 41,414,093 | Lionsgate | ||
| 3 | Ford v Ferrari | 13,168,305 | 15,730,678 | -16.3 | 3,585 | 3 | 3,673 | 81,031,327 | Fox |
| 4 | Queen & Slim | 11,890,490 | 1,690 | 1 | 7,036 | 16,000,790 | Universal | ||
| 5 | A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | 11,776,422 | 13,251,238 | -11.1 | 3,235 | 2 | 3,640 | 34,291,766 | Sony |
| 6 | 21 Bridges | 5,587,111 | 9,250,117 | -39.6 | 2,665 | 2 | 2,096 | 19,220,781 | STX |
| 7 | Playing With Fire | 4,221,014 | 4,515,388 | -6.5 | 2,679 | 4 | 1,576 | 39,236,057 | Paramount |
| 8 | Midway | 3,919,935 | 4,640,673 | -15.5 | 2,377 | 4 | 1,649 | 50,214,308 | Lionsgate |
| 9 | Last Christmas | 2,008,275 | 3,099,535 | -35.2 | 1,852 | 4 | 1,084 | 31,686,250 | Universal |
| 10 | Joker | 1,950,478 | 2,746,029 | -29.0 | 1,146 | 9 | 1,702 | 330,523,625 | Warner Bros. |
| 11 | Harriet | 1,846,885 | 2,330,100 | -20.7 | 1,084 | 5 | 1,704 | 39,457,320 | Focus |
| 12 | The Good Liar | 1,559,223 | 3,401,194 | -54.2 | 2,003 | 3 | 778 | 14,879,284 | Warner Bros. |
| 13 | Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | 1,328,959 | 2,051,520 | -35.2 | 1,090 | 7 | 1,219 | 111,549,934 | Disney |
| 14 | Charlie's Angels | 1,257,568 | 3,236,460 | -61.1 | 3,156 | 3 | 398 | 16,838,503 | Sony |
| 15 | Jojo Rabbit | 1,209,479 | 1,588,234 | -23.8 | 730 | 7 | 1,657 | 18,357,373 | Fox Searchlight |
| 16 | Parasite | 1,010,170 | 1,255,325 | -19.5 | 382 | 8 | 2,644 | 18,274,215 | Neon |
| 17 | Doctor Sleep | 900,991 | 1,834,377 | -50.9 | 877 | 4 | 1,027 | 30,561,106 | Warner Bros. |
| 18 | Terminator: Dark Fate | 871,806 | 1,250,589 | -30.3 | 782 | 5 | 1,115 | 61,181,385 | Paramount |
| 19 | Dark Waters | 621,020 | 102,606 | 505.2 | 94 | 2 | 6,607 | 964,809 | Focus |
| 20 | The Addams Family | 469,521 | 474,425 | -1.0 | 775 | 8 | 606 | 96,385,131 | UA |
| Top 5 | $ 149,582,538 | $ 173,136,064 | -13.6 | ||||||
| Top 10 | 167,269,351 | 190,134,670 | -12.0 | ||||||
| Top 20 | 178,344,973 | 202,074,192 | -11.7 | ||||||
| Top 20 vs. Thanksgiving 2018 | 178,344,973 | 213,029,080 | -16.3 |
Last Updated: December 1, 2019 at 12:50PM ET
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