“Hidden Figures” in Dead Heat with “Rogue One” at Box Office

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

BOX OFFICE REPORT

January 6-8, 2017

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story  $21.9 million
Hidden Figures $21.8 million
Sing  $19.5 million
Underworld: Blood Wars  $13.1 million
La La Land $10.0 million

 

In one of the closest weekends in a very long time, we won't truly know the No. 1 film of the weekend until final numbers are released Monday. But preliminary estimates show Rogue One in the top spot for the fourth straight weekend, as it inches closer to overtake Finding Dory as the biggest 2016 release.

But less than $200,000 separate it from Hidden Figures, the inspirational historic drama about the African-American women who helped John Glenn become the first man to circumnavigate the earth. The crowd-pleasing film is a late-surging awards contender. It would be especially impressive if it ends up at No. 1 since it's not even playing on 2,500 screens.

Sing was right behind at No. 3, and it's likely to overtake Moana as the fourth-biggest animated movie of 2016. Underworld: Blood Wars opened at No. 4 with $13.1 million. That's the weakest opening of any of the Underworld films. It's also the only one not to open in first or second place. La La Land kept moving its way up with its biggest weekend yet.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: Patriots Day, Peter Berg's drama about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. The Mark Wahlberg flick averaged $15,000 on each of its seven screens. It goes wide next weekend.
  • A Monster Calls failed to lure an audience. The adaptation of the beloved novel only managed to make $2 million in its wide expansion.
  • Martin Scorsese's Silence is failing to make noise so far. Now playing on 51 screens, it's doing better than some other independent films, but it's not making the huge impact such a long-gestating film from one of the greatest directors of all time should be. It expands wide next week, but it will be a tough sell to the average moviegoer.

Next week: Live by Night, Ben Affleck's 1930s gangster picture, goes wide along with Silence and Patriots Day. It will also have to contend with horror flick The Bye Bye Man and kids' sci-fi adventure Monster Trucks, as well as Jamie Foxx's kidnapping thriller Sleepless. That will cause a lot of gridlock, but my best guess is Patriots Day ekes out a No. 1 victory with $22 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.

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