411 Box Office Report: Frozen II Reigns For Third Week, Jumanji: The Next Level Opens Overseas

It was a third week atop the charts for Frozen II at the box office, as the film dominated a slate that almost entirely featured holdovers. The animated Disney sequel retained its #1 spot with $34.7 million. That’s down 60% from the second weekend take, much steeper than the 29% hold of the first film in its third weekend. Still, that’s not a hugely worrying sign for Disney, who are already raking it in on this film. The sequel is up to $337.6 million domestically and $919.7 million worldwide, meaning it should cross the $1 billion mark sometime in the next couple of weeks.

That would give Disney its sixth billion dollar film of 2019, and that doesn’t include Spider-Man: Far From Home which it co-produced with Sony. The studio has now become the first in history to gross $10 billion in a single calendar year at the box office, and still has Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker to go later this month. Frozen II’s slower weekend means that it will probably close out in the $425 million domestic range at this point, which is an improvement over the first film’s $400.7 million finish. The budget was $150 million.

Meanwhile, Knives Out had a very solid hold considering its overperformance last weekend. The Rian Johnson-directed mystery film brought in $14.2 million, down 47% from last weekend’s three-day take. The ensemble film is now up to $63.5 million domestically and $99.7 million worldwide on a budget of $40 million, making this a sure hit for Lionsgate. By the time it closes out it should be somewhere north of $100 million in the states.

Ford v Ferrari slowed down a bit, off 50% in its fourth weekend to $6.5 million. The racing drama has tallied up $91.1 million domestically and $167.6 million worldwide, with overseas money starting to come in solidly. The film is not yet profitable due to its $97 million plus marketing, but it should make it there. It will likely end its domestic run at around $115 million or so.

Crime drama Queen & Slim was down a decent 45% in its second weekend with $6.5 million. The Universal film is doing pretty well when you factor in its expectation-exceeding start, with a total of $26.9 million domestically against a $20 million budget and a lower marketing budget thanks to a targeted strategy. The film seems likely to close out in the $40 million range, perhaps more if the holds stay good, which will be enough for a touch of profit.

Mr. Rogers biopic A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood fell off a bit after its stellar hold last weekend. The Tom Hanks and Matthew Rhys-starring film scored $5.2 million, a 56% drop from last weekend. It has a total of $43.1 million, quite good considering the $25 million budget, and should be able to top $55 million in the US. It has yet to roll out internationally and it’s anyone’s guess as to how it might play out in other markets, but if it can pick up some award nominations starting with the Golden Globes tomorrow it could do well.

Mark Ruffalo’s Dark Waters had a quiet wide release start, bringing in $4.1 million. The docudrama about Robert Bilott’s environmental lawsuit against DuPont expanded from just under 100 theaters to 2,012, but despite strong reviews (92% on Rotten Tomatoes) and a good A- CinemaScore. A lot of this has to to with how Focus Films released the film; it didn’t get any fall film festival releases which are often essential for films like this to build buzz. Trailers don’t sell prestige dramas like this as well as word of mouth and media buzz do, and so awareness of the film wasn’t enough to support a wide expansion yet despite a very solid start in its limited run.

All this means that the film will be a box office disappointment, to say the least. It has a total of $5.3 million domestically and $5.4 million worldwide, and while the budget isn’t known there isn’t much chance of this making whatever it was back. The domestic total should end up around $12 million to $15 million depending on how quickly it leaves theaters, well below what it should have done.

21 Bridges was off an okay 48% in its third weekend with $2.9 million. The action-thriller is now at $23.9 million domestically and $30 million worldwide against a $33 million budget. The domestic final still looks to be around $30 million, with overseas maybe pushing it into the black.

The John Cena starrer Playing With Fire fell 53% in its fifth weekend with $2 million. The family comedy now stands at $42 million domestically and $47.5 million worldwide, a good performance against a $29 million budget. It is aiming to close its US run at around $50 million, with overseas numbers finishing the distance to make it profitable.

Midway saw a 51% drop in its fifth weekend with $1.9 million as it continues to sputter out despite a good start. The Roland Emmerich-directed war film now has $53.4 million domestically and $120.7 million worldwide, all against a $100 million budget it won’t make back. Its final US total looks to be about $58 million.

Joker spent a last week in the top ten with $1 million, bringing its domestic total to $332.1 million and its worldwide total to $1.055 billion. The Warner Bros. film will finish off at $335 million domestically, obviously a huge hit against its $55 million budget.

A couple films are notable despite not scoring in the top 10 domestic this weekend. The first off is Jumanji: The Next Level, which nailed down $52.5 million in 18 early international markets before expanding and opening domestically this coming Friday. That’s a start that ranks above Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle in all markets except China, where the film brought in $25.3 million below the expected $40 million start. Dwayne Johnson has a big following in China but it didn’t translate to his usual level of success here. That said, the film’s still looking in good shape; China was only 14% of Welcome to the Jungle’s final worldwide gross which is lower than most blockbusters tend to lean on the country; Avengers: Endgame saw 22% of its total gross in China for example, while Hobbs & Shaw repped 26% of its business there.

The other notable film was PLAYMOBIL, which had a truly abysmal start. The animated film was blasted with poor reviews (19% on RT) and low audience interest to bring in just $670,000 in 2,337 theaters. That is the third-worst start for a film opening over 2,000 theaters ever, behind only The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure in 2012 ($443,901) and 2008’s animated disaster Delgo ($511,920). (Saw’s 10th anniversary re-release did $650,051, but that’s not comparable as it wasn’t a new film). The film is doing okay overseas with $13.1 million worldwide, but with a $40 million budget this is a startlingly bad flop.

Next weekend will see Frozen make way for Jumanji: The Next Level, which is targeting a $45 million to $50 million start. Also opening are the Black Christmas remake, which should score around $10 million to $12 million, and Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell at a similar number.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Frozen II – $34.7 million ($334.6 million total)
2. Knives Out – $14.2 million ($63.5 million total)
3. Ford v Ferrari – $6.5 million ($91.1 million total)
4. Queen & Slim – $6.5 million ($26.9 million total)
5. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – $5.2 million ($43.1 million total)
6. Dark Waters – $4.1 million ($5.3 million total)
7. 21 Bridges – $2.9 million ($23.9 million total)
8. Playing With Fire – $2 million ($42 million total)
9. Midway – $1.7 million ($53.4 million total)
10. Joker – $1 million ($332.1 million total)