Jake Kasdan’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle dropped just 27.4% as it earned $27 million over the 3-day weekend, bringing its domestic cumulative to $283.2 million. By this time next weekend (or shortly thereafter) this action comedy should surpass Skyfall ($304 million) to become Sony’s biggest release ever (not adjusting for inflation) that didn’t feature Peter Parker. Welcome to the Jungle is also on track to become the highest-grossing Christmas week release ever (again not accounting for inflation). The simultaneous success of The Last Jedi, Welcome to the Jungle, and The Greatest Showman demonstrates that there is a huge market for “family” films—if they are well done and deliver what their target audience wants.
Welcome to the Jungle is a sequel of sorts to the 1995 Jumanji film that was based on a picture book by Chris Van Allsburg about kids trapped in a board game. Welcome to the Jungle updates the concept to the world of video games, and will undoubtedly become the most successful example of the “trapped in a video game” genre, which has mostly been known for expensive failures like the two Tron movies.
Second place went to Steven Spielberg’s The Post, the story of the publication of the Pentagon Papers, which turned out to be one of the watershed moments for the Vietnam War. The Post, which had been doing well in a limited release that made it eligible for the upcoming Academy Awards, earned $18.6 million for the 3-day weekend. Somewhat ironically Spielberg, who rose to prominence by creating the first “summer blockbuster” Jaws, is now one of Hollywood’s elder statesmen, making movies like Lincoln and The Post that target older audiences.
By the end of Monday The Post, which earned over $4 million in limited release, should have earned about $26 million here in North America. With a $50 million production tab, The Post has a long way to go, but its older target audience takes its time to get to theaters, and it would appear unlikely that the film, which stars Oscar heavyweights Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, won’t snag any Oscar nominations. The Post received a solid “A” CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences that skewed female (55%) and older (66% over 35).
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Weekend Box Office (Studio Estimates): January 12-14, 2018 |
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|
Film |
Weekend Gross |
Screens |
Avg./Screen |
Total Gross |
Wk# |
|
|
1 |
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle |
$27,035,000 |
3,849 |
$7,024 |
$283,170,909 |
4 |
|
2 |
The Post |
$18,600,000 |
2,819 |
$6,598 |
$23,089,237 |
4 |
|
3 |
The Commuter |
$13,450,000 |
2,892 |
$4,651 |
$13,450,000 |
1 |
|
4 |
Insidious: The Last Key |
$12,135,000 |
3,150 |
$3,852 |
$48,375,140 |
2 |
|
5 |
The Greatest Showman |
$11,800,000 |
2,938 |
$4,016 |
$94,553,868 |
4 |
|
6 |
Star Wars: The Last Jedi |
$11,275,000 |
3,090 |
$3,649 |
$591,549,584 |
5 |
|
7 |
Paddington 2 |
$10,620,000 |
3,702 |
$2,869 |
$10,620,000 |
1 |
|
8 |
Proud Mary |
$10,000,000 |
2,125 |
$4,706 |
$10,000,000 |
1 |
|
9 |
Pitch Perfect 3 |
$5,655,000 |
2,505 |
$2,257 |
$94,651,225 |
4 |
|
10 |
Darkest Hour |
$4,525,000 |
1,693 |
$2,673 |
$35,737,552 |
8 |
Liam Neeson continues his extraordinary run as a sexagenarian action hero in Jaume Collet-Serra’s The Commuter, which debuted with a 3-day total of $13.45 million, not a bad showing for a Neeson action film that isn’t part of the Taken franchise. The Commuter faces a lot of competition for its older target audience, so its fate remains uncertain. The film received a so-so “B” CinemaScore from its debut weekend audience that skewed male (54%) and older (83% over 25).
Fourth place this weekend went to the horror movie Insidious: The Last Key, the fourth film in the horror franchise that has now earned over $460 million worldwide. The Last Key brought in $12.1 million over the 3-day weekend, and will likely finish MLK day with around $50 million in domestic earnings to go along with $42 million earned overseas. With little direct competition for the underserved (at this point) horror film audience, The Last Key should continue its extended run in the black—it has already made more than 9 times its $10 million production cost.
While The Last Key is showing excellent “legs” for a horror film, Fox’s musical The Greatest Showman is in a whole different category. Earning $11.8 million over the 3-day weekend, The Greatest Showman has now made $94.6 million here in North America, which is already more than ten times its opening weekend gross (a disappointing $8.8 million).
Falling out of the top five for the first time in its fifth weekend, Star Wars: The Last Jedi earned $11.3 million for the 3-day weekend and will finish the MLK weekend with $595 million here in North America. The Last Jedi is fading—it dropped 1,142 theaters—but Episode VIII has now earned $1.265 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film released in 2017, both in the U.S. and worldwide.
The live-action/animated hybrid Paddington 2 has a 100% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, but it was able to debut with only $10.6 million. Hopefully Paddington 2 will eventually find the audience it deserves here in North America. It’s not just critics that liked the film, Paddington 2 received an excellent “A+” CinemaScore from audience members under 35, which bodes well for the movie’s future prospects. Audiences skewed female (57%), and a bit older for this sort of hybrid animated fare with 55% over the age of 25.
Also underperforming a bit was Proud Mary, which stars Taraji P. Henson as an assassin in one of the higher “body count” action films of recent times. Critics hated the film giving it just a 22% positive rating on RT, while debut weekend audiences, which skewed female (58%) and older (77% over 35), liked it better giving the film a “B+” CinemaScore.
Golden Globe winners Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and Lady Bird both added theaters and posted increases, though the totals the two films earned ($2.3 million for 3 Billboards, and $1.7 million for Lady Bird) were modest.
Be sure to check back here next week to see if Welcome to the Jungle will be able to maintain its top spot in spite of a number of new challengers including the Afghan War saga 12 Strong, the gritty heist movie Den of Thieves, the country music-themed romance Forever My Girl, and the western saga Hostiles, which expands to over 3,000 locations.
