Weekend Box Office: Still Sailing

With ‘Moana’ topping the charts for a third consecutive week and ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ opening this weekend, it’s likely that Disney’s record year will include reigning the box office for the last six weeks of 2016. One of this weekend’s new movies came close to dethroning the island princess, but the other really missed the mark.

Disney Animation’s ‘Moana‘ added another $18.8 million to its North American total, which now sits at $145 million. While the film’s second week suffered a steeper drop-off than expected, the third had only a light 33% decline. The slow international roll-out continued with this weekend bringing in $23.5 million overseas. With $93.8 million in international sales, the worldwide tally is up to $238.8 million. Considering that the movie was produced on a budget of $150 million, there’s still a lot of ground to make up.

Grossing about $1 million less than ‘Moana’, ‘Office Christmas Party‘ debuted in second place. From 3,210 screens, the R-rated holiday comedy made $17.5 million, which is more than Paramount expected. Overseas results were also surprising. From 49 markets, it scored $16.4 million, for a worldwide opening of $33.9 million. With a price tag of $45 million, Paramount isn’t throwing a celebratory party quite yet.

Declining 41% over its fourth week, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them‘ dropped into third place. The ‘Harry Potter’ spinoff added $10.7 million to its domestic run, which is now up to $199.3 million. In addition, the $180 million picture has drawn $480.7 million overseas, giving it a magical worldwide total of $680 million.

Speaking of making magic, now in its fifth week, ‘Arrival‘ is back in the #4 spot. Dropping just 23%, it pulled in $5.6 million, which brings its domestic run up to $81.4 million. The $47 million sci-fi drama has also earned $48.4 million internationally, placing its worldwide total at $129.8 million.

With a very mild 31% dip in attendance, ‘Doctor Strange‘ stayed in fifth place. The additional $4.6 million brings its domestic total up to $222.3 million. The $165 million Marvel movie is now up to $423.4 million in international ticket sales, which raises its worldwide total up to $645.7 million.

Two Oscar hopefuls expanded this weekend and, in the process, managed to crack into the Top 10. Focus Features’ ‘Nocturnal Animals‘ made a massive jump up to 1,262 screens. The first week of wide release brought in $3.1 million, just enough to land at #7. Coming in just behind it with $3.1 million was ‘Manchester by the Sea‘, which expanded to 366 screens. As the buzz continues, you can expect to see these two sticking around.

Jessica Chastain’s new high-tension political drama ‘Miss Sloane‘ was unable to crack the Top 10. Playing on 1,648 screens, it finished in the #11 spot with just $1.9 million, for a dismal $1,153 per-screen average.

Another Oscar hopeful made some huge waves. The musical ‘La La Land‘ collected a whopping $855,000 from just five screens. That $171,000 per-screen average is the best of year, beating the previous record holder (‘Moonlight’) by more than $70,000 per screen. The Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone picture will expand slightly this week, then widely on Christmas Day.

Box office estimates for the crowd-funded rom-com ‘The Bounce Back’ have yet to be announced.

Top 10:

1. ‘Moana’ (Buena Vista) – $18,842,000

2. ‘Office Christmas Party’ (Paramount) – $17,500,000

3. ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ (Warner Bros.) – $10,785,000

4. ‘Arrival’ (Paramount) – $5,600,000

5. ‘Doctor Strange’ (Buena Vista) – $4,631,000

6. ‘Allied’ (Paramount) – $4,000,000

7. ‘Nocturnal Animals’ (Focus) – $3,193,000

8. ‘Manchester by the Sea’ (Roadside) – $3,155,330

9. ‘Trolls’ (Fox) – $3,110,000

10. ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ (Lionsgate) – $2,300,000

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *