“Jumanji” Dominates for a Third Straight Weekend

By Kip Mooney • On • In Featured, Weekend Box Office Report Featured, Weekend Box Office Report 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT

January 19-21, 2018

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

 

TOP 5

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle  $20.4 million
12 Strong $16.5 million
Den of Thieves $15.3 million
The Post  $12.1 million
The Greatest Showman $11.0 million

 

For a third straight weekend, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle defeated all its challengers. The quasi-sequel to the 1996 original has crossed $300 million, and has now out-grossed Thor: Ragnarok. By next weekend, it will have topped It, and even Spider-Man: Homecoming by the following weekend, making it the fifth-biggest movie of 2017. It's performing well beyond Sony's wildest expectations. Even more so, it's held on better than just about any movie from last year. It still hasn't had a single-weekend drop bigger than 30 percent, and I can't even recall a movie continuing to do so well over this long a period in the years I've covered the box office. It's a real phenomenon.

12 Strong didn't have quite as much success. Its $16.5 million is about on par with 2016's similarly themed 13 Hours. But Den of Thieves, which by all estimates shouldn't have done that well, almost beat it out, earning $15.3 million. Since both movies aimed at the same audience, each studio will probably wonder if they could have made $30 million had they opened these films further apart.

The Post didn't hold quite as well as Fox would have hoped, but if it gets several Oscar nominations on Tuesday, it may well see its fortunes change. The Greatest Showman has continued to prove to be the movie of the people. It's now made more than $110 million, making it one of the 10 biggest musicals of all time.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Christian Bale's bleak Western Hostiles. In its fifth weekend of limited release, it averaged $8,000 on each of its 49 screens. It goes wide next weekend.
  • Forever My Girl wasn't even remembered the weekend. The country music romance only managed 10th place with $4.7 million.
  • Several films hit big milestones this weekend: Star Wars: The Last Jedi crossed $600 million, becoming only the sixth film to do so. Coco crossed $200 million, and Pitch Perfect 3 crossed $100 million.

Next weekend: Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle finally gives it up. The long-delayed Maze Runner: The Death Cure will be No. 1. The last two films opened in September 2014 and 2015, and both were No. 1 with around $30 million. I think the delay – plus YA dystopia fatigue – will hurt this entry, so I'm predicting only $25 million. At least Lionsgate was smart enough not to split the final film into two parts.

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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.

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