411 Box Office Report: Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Rules For Third Week, The Grudge Starts at #4

Star Wars spent a third straight week atop the box office, as Rise of Skywalker ruled with a $33.7 million take. The last film in the saga series slipped an even 50% from last week’s numbers, and brought its totals up to $450.8 million domestically and $918.8 million worldwide. It goes without saying that the film is a hit for Disney and is bringing in big money for them, though it must also be said that it’s currently lagging behind both previous episodes in the sequel trilogy at this point. That’s not any sign of trouble; it’s still tracking well ahead of Rogue One and will be the fourth highest domestic-grossing Star Wars film by next weekend. At this point, the film is likely to finish off at around $575 million, with an outside shot still at $600 million. The budget was $275 million.

Much like Star Wars, Jumanji: The Next Level is tracking a bit behind its predecessor in terms of domestic box office. The ensemble sequel brought in $26.5 million, down just 25% from last weekend. While the domestic total ($236.2 million) is less than Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle had at this point ($284.2 million), it’s important to note that the previous film opened a week later in its respective year and so it has the benefit of the strong holiday weekend holds being the entirety of its run at this point. The Next Level actually has the better holds; impressively, this weekend’s gross is actually the same as its second weekend take.

Right now, The Next Level has a worldwide total of $610.2 million and that number will continue to climb. If the good holds continue — and there’s no reason to believe they shouldn’t — the film is still on course for over $300 million domestically. Another film in this franchise is pretty well assured. The budget for the film was $130 million.

Greta Gerwig’s Little Women was down an impressive 19% in its second weekend, bringing in $13.6 million. THe updated take on the literary classic is riding the wave of the holidays and its strong reviews plus word of mouth to the tune of $60 million domestically to date and $80.4 million worldwide. It’s already Gerwig’s best performer to date, with its totals eclipsing Lady Bird’s $49 million domestic and $78.9 million worldwide. Little Women may be boosted further if it can pull off some Golden Globe upsets tonight and earns some Oscar nods when they’re announced next week. As of now, it looks like it’s aiming for a good $85 million or more domestically by the end of its run, a nice hit for Columbia against a $42 million budget.

Screen Gems’ revival of The Grudge got off to an okay but worrying start, tallying $11.3 million over its three day period. That’s within where most projected it going into the weekend, but on the low end. The start is the lowest for a theatrical release of the US version of the franchise to date; the first film brought in $39.1 million in its October 2004 opening, while the second started with $20.8 million in 2006. The start is also well below the $18.2 million start of Sony’s Escape Room in the same weekend last year.

Those numbers would be vaguely disappointing but acceptable if viewed on their own. However, there’s something important to point out and that’s how the reaction has been to the film. The lousy grades from critics can be ignored; even its 17% aggregate score on Rotten Tomatoes is passable for most horror. However, the audience reaction has been absolutely abysmal. The film has become the first since Darren Aronofsky’s mother! to earn the dreaded F CinemaScore. That’s a low reaction on par with the likes of Uwe Boll’s Alone in the Dark, the legendarily bad Lindsay Lohan vehicle I Know Who Killed Me, Nic Cage’s Wicker Man and the famously-hated The Devil Inside. Yeesh.

What’s more, that audience word of mouth showed in the numbers, as The Grudge started out okay and then completely collapsed. It fell 29% on Saturday — a high number, if not unprecedented — and then is falling apart today with an estimated 45% drop from Saturday. Those are horrible holds, even for horror. All this means that The Grudge is likely to come up at maybe a $30 million ceiling in final domestic numbers. The overseas numbers aren’t great either with $5.8 million for $17.1 million worldwide in its first weekend. The low $10 million budget means this will likely not be a money loser for Screen Gems, but it won’t be a hit either.

We turn to Disney for better news, as Frozen II was off 33% in its sixth weekend with $11.3 million. The animated sequel is now up to $449.9 million domestically and $1.325 billion worldwide. Frozen II has now topped the original’s worldwide gross to become the best-grossing animated film worldwide ever. It should be on course now for up to $485 million, which gives it a shot at passing Finding Dory to be the #2 domestic-grossing animated film ever. The budget was $150 million.

Spies in Disguise is also performing well, though obviously in a much more modest fashion. The animated action-comedy took in $10.1 million, down a mere 24% in its second weekend. With the holiday boost, the film is performing well and has $46.7 million domestically and $88.8 million worldwide. The budget was, as is typical for animated films, high at $100 million. But if it continues to hold on well — and it’s two weeks until the next family film — it should be all right. A final domestic gross of $75 million seems likely, with foreign numbers making up the difference.

Knives Out remains the biggest sleeper hit of the season, edging down just 9% in its sixth weekend to $9 million. The Rian Johnson-directed ensemble mystery is an unmitigated cash cow now, turning up a total of $130.3 million domestically and $234.9 million worldwide against a budget of just $40 million. The film continues to beat expectations and should be able to top $160 million by the end of its run.

Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems was down a very good 18% in its second weekend of wide release, raking in another $7.8 million. The crime thriller is proving to be a successful return to the big screen for Sandler, scoring $37.8 million to date. The budget isn’t known, but this looks to be a solid hit for A24, ranking as its third-highest grosser domestically to date behind the aforementioned Lady Bird ($49 million) and Hereditary ($44.1 million). It will surpass both of those and could top $60 million if it continues to hold well.

Bombshell is holding on well, albeit at the lower end of the box office, as it nudged down 15% to $4.1 million in its second week. The film is now at $24.6 million domestically and $25.1 million with international numbers just barely rolling in. The docudrama is doing just fine, and if it manages to pick up a Golden Globe or two plus Oscar nods it will be in even better shape. $40 million seems likely, with international numbers making the difference against the $32 million budget.

Cats continues to slide down the charts, off 46% in its third weekend with $2.6 million. The already-notorious disaster has $24.7 million domestically and $57.1 million worldwide against a massive $90 million budget. At this point, $30 million is its likely upside which means a $70 million-plus loss for Universal.

Star Wars will finally be knocked out of the top spot next weekend as Sam Mendes’ 1917 goes wide. The lauded war film is targeting $25 million to $30 million. Meanwhile, R-rated comedy Like a Boss should take in $13 million to $15 million and legal docudrama Just Mercy will be slightly below that. The Kristen Stewart-led thriller Underwater should be in the mid-high single digits.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – $33.7 million ($450.7 million total)
2. Jumanji: The Next Level – $26.5 million ($236.2 million total)
3. Little Women – $13.6 million ($60 million total)
4. The Grudge – $11.3 million ($11.3 million total)
5. Frozen II – $11.3 million ($449.9 million total)
6. Spies in Disguise – $10.1 million ($46.7 million total)
7. Knives Out – $9 million ($130.3 million total)
8. Uncut Gems – $7.8 million ($37.8 million total)
9. Bombshell – $4.1 million ($24.6 million total)
10. Cats – $2.6 million ($24.7 million total)