d a modest 33.5% as it earned $18.3 million to bring its domestic total to $135.5 million, and the Day of the Dead-themed animated film did even better overseas adding an additional $55.3 million to bring its worldwide total to $389.5 million. Coco debuted just behind Moana, which had earned $144 million at this point, so it appears quite likely that Coco will end up its run with just slightly less than Moana’s $248.7 million. Would Coco’s domestic total have been higher without Disney’s insertion of a 21-plus minute Frozen-based “Olaf” short to the program? Many parents have complained about the length of the short, which when added to all the ads, previews, and Coco’s substantial running time (109 minutes) makes for a very long sit-down for younger children. The “Olaf” short was originally developed as a Frozen spin-off TV special, and like Frozen, it includes musical numbers—putting this short with Coco looks like “subtraction by addition” in terms of Coco’s box office, which is unfortunate, given that Coco is far and away the best animated offering of 2017 so far.
Warner Bros. Justice League also managed a small decline, dropping 42.4% in its fourth weekend in theaters as it added $9.6 million to bring its domestic total $212 million. That sounds like a good number, and it is dwarfed by the DC team-up film’s overseas earnings of $401.3 million for a global haul of $613.3 million, which sounds even better. The problem is that Justice League cost a reported $300 million to produce, and its worldwide run appears to be just about over. It should finish it domestic run in the $240-250 million range and in the vicinity of $700 million globally. Again this sounds good if you ignore the film’s huge production cost (to break even a film has to make at least 2 times its cost, and the more a film earns overseas the higher that multiplier grows since studios get a smaller share of foreign earnings), or the fact that the big Marvel team-up movie The Avengers made $1.5 billion.
It is counterintuitive to call a film that has earned $613 million a “disappointment,” but the proof is in the studios reaction—and, in the wake of Justice League’s disappointing debut, Warner Bros. has once again shaken up its DC unit (see “Warner Bros. Shaking Up DC Films (Again)”). Don’t feel too bad for Warner Bros., the studio remains #1 for 2017 as its films have now earned over $2 billion in the domestic market, led by Wonder Woman ($409 million), It ($327 million), Justice League ($213 million), Dunkirk ($188 million), and Annabelle: Creation ($102 million). Warner Bros., like the rest of the studios, also had a number of disappointments including King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Geostorm, Blade Runner 2049, and the LEGO Ninjago Movie, as well as the pyrrhic box office victory that is Justice League.
Stephen Chbosky’s heartwarming family drama Wonder continues to impress, declining just 30% in its fourth weekend as it earned $8.5 million to bring its domestic total to $100.3 million. Wonder is the Lionsgate’s biggest hit since La La Land, and may eventually surpass that film’s $151.1 million domestic total, though that would probably require some Oscar nods.
Taking advantage of the lull in new releases, A24 expanded James Franco’s The Disaster Artist from 19 theaters to 840, and the result was a surprising fourth place finish. This comedy/biopic about Tommy Wiseau, who directed the “worst” film ever made (2003’s The Room) has benefited from an innovative advertising campaign, and appears to appeal even to folks who have not chuckled at the glaring ineptitude of The Room. The Disaster Artist is another film that is getting Oscar buzz, and any nominations the film receives should help broaden its audience.
The fifth spot went to Thor: Ragnarok, which dropped just 36.4% in its sixth weekend as it added $6.3 million to bring its domestic total to $301.2 million, the sixth film of 2017 to reach that total (4 of the 6 are superhero films). Ragnarok is the tenth MCU film to top the $300 million mark in the domestic market.
Overseas Thor: Ragnarok has earned $532 million for a current global total of $833.2 million, which is better than Wonder Woman’s worldwide haul ($821.8), in spite of the fact that Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman earned more than $100 million more than Ragnarok here in North America.
The rest of the top ten suffered minor losses from minor totals. Mention should be made once again of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, which earned $3.6 million from 1,557 theaters to bring its domestic total to $22.3 million, a solid showing for film that is almost sure to collect a number of Oscar nods.
This week’s only “new” release was the geezer comedy/adventure Just Getting Started, which in spite of a cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones, and Rene Russo, currently has a critic’s rating of just 9% positive on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, and opening weekend audiences didn’t appear to like the film either, giving the $22 million production a lousy “C” CinemaScore, which equates to poor “word-of-mouth.” It is true that the older viewers that this film targets do take their time in getting to the Cineplex, but they also tend to read reviews more than younger moviegoers, which in this case is not a good thing for Just Getting Started.
Just outside the top ten, Guillermo Del Toro’s Cold War fantasy The Shape of Water expanded from 2 theaters to 41 and netted a solid $26,829 per-venue average. Here’s another film that should net Oscar nominations (it dominated the recent Critics Choice Awards with 14 nominations), as Fox Searchlight gradually expands the movie’s theater count by around 100 next weekend, followed by an expansion to 700-800 venues on December 22. Could this love story/re-imagining of The Creature From the Black Lagoon find success with mainstream audiences? Stay tuned for further developments.
Another film in limited release also bears watching, the Tonya Harding biopic, I, Tonya, which could land Oscar nominations for stars Margot Robbie and Alison Janney. Opening in just four theaters, I, Tonya posted an excellent $61,400 per-theater average.
Be sure to check back here next week as Disney sends Star Wars: The Last Jedi into around 4,100 theaters, hoping it will become the fourth film in history to open in North America with over $200 million. Will The Last Jedi become the highest-grossing film of 2017 as most analysts expect, and will Fox’s animated Ferdinand flourish in the shadow of the latest Star Wars blockbuster?
