“Frozen 2” Reigns While “Knives Out” Brings Older Audiences Out

By Kip Mooney • On • In Weekend Box Office Report Weekend Box Office Report Comments Off on “Frozen 2” Reigns While “Knives Out” Brings Older Audiences Out

BOX OFFICE REPORT

November 29-December 1, 2019

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Frozen II $85.2 million
Knives Out $27 million
Ford v Ferrari $13.2 million
A Beautiful Day in
the Neighborhood  		 $11.8 million
Queen & Slim $11.7 million

With the arrival of the Thanksgiving holiday, it was no surprise that Frozen II remained the No. 1 movie. I don't know of a single family with young kids that hasn't seen it at least once already. And its mere 34 percent drop means this will be one of the year's biggest hits, and will likely surpass the original's astonishing $400 million haul. It's already the eighth biggest movie of the year so far, and it will likely give Disney a depressing seven of the top 10 spots come January 1. (We all know The Rise of Skywalker will make it there in just two weeks.)

Knives Out proved the audiences love a good murder mystery. With a very good $27 million weekend opening – and $41.7 million to date – it's right in line with Kenneth Branagh's successful Murder on the Orient Express remake. That's also by far Rian Johnson's biggest non-Star Wars opening. Hopefully this will convince studios to take a chance on movies that aren't based on IP, provided they can still assemble a great cast.

Ford v Ferrari fell to third place, though it's still barreling its way toward $100 million. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood had a very nice second weekend. It's earned $34 million to date, already the biggest movie from director Marielle Heller. Queen & Slim was right behind it, riding its wave of acclaim to an $11.7 million opening. It's made $15.8 million since opening Wednesday.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: 63 Up, the latest in the Seven Up series of documentaries, earned $15,250 on its lone screen. The series checks in on the lives of a group of Brits every seven years.
  • Dark Waters, Todd Haynes' real-life legal thriller, churned up an average of $6,702 on 94 screens. It goes wide next weekend.
  • Somehow, someway, Joker is hanging around the top 10 still. It's earned $330 million to date, having now passed both Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman.

Next week:

As usual, the first weekend of December is a dead zone. The only new wide release is Playmobil: The Movie, an oft-delayed knock-off of The LEGO Movie. It won't even crack the top 5. Frozen II will dominate once again with an estimated $45 million.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.