This week saw the first closely fought battle for the weekend’s top box office spot in a while, as Disney and Warner Bros fought it out in the shape of “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” and “Joker”, as both films entered their second and fourth weekends respectively.
With another superb hold (dropping only 35%) it was the Joaquin Phoenix starring “Joker” that won the battle with $18.9M domestically. Yet another score for a juggernaut of a film that has not only made over $500M internationally and $849M overall, and may cross a billion even without a Chinese release, but which also (as reported yesterday) is now the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, dethroning Ryan Reynolds “Deadpool 2”.
Therefore Disney’s “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” had to settle for second. Collecting $18.5M for a domestic haul that now stands just shy of $65M, it is no secret that the film has been a major disappointment for Disney. Globally the film sits at $294M and will pass the $300M threshold next week, but that is a far cry from the over $700M life of the original and makes it increasingly unlikely (should they have been planning one) that this pair of films will become a trio.
In third this week is United Artists “The Addams Family” with $11.7M, as it looks to edge closer to the $100M mark globally as Halloween approaches. A target it should meet next weekend, with its total currently at $83M worldwide.
Just edged out of fifth was Sony’s “Zombieland: Double Tap”. Its $11.6M weekend was enough to move its domestic total to $47M, whilst its global standing sits at $63M. This will sit as a slight disappointment for Sony who would no doubt have been hoping the original’s cult film status could push a sequel past the $75M domestic and $103M total haul of its predecessor.
Sneaking into the top five this week is newcomer “Countdown”. STX’s new horror flick scared up $9M from its first weekend, not too bad at all considering the films $6.5M budget, as STX, along with United Artists will be hoping for lift as audiences look for scary features in the coming week.
Elsewhere, nearly sneaking into the top five was Deon Taylor’s “Black and Blue”. The Naomi Harris starring crime thriller managed a solid $8.3M from its opening weekend domestic release. It has yet to be rolled out internationally. Meanwhile, A24’s alternative Oscar hopeful “The Lighthouse” expanded your over 500 locations to the sound of $3.08M, as it continues to gather steam through word of mouth and the studio’s aggressive marketing campaign.
Also, much troubled film “The Current War” had a director’s cut release. The Michael Shannon and Benedict Cumberbatch starring historic piece was originally scheduled to be a Weinstein Oscar contender in 2017 and was subsequently axed following the companies disbandment before being picked up by 101 studios. The film took $2.7M from just over 1000 locations.
Next week will see Paramount gunning for top spot with the domestic release of “Terminator: Dark Fate”, and with critics calling it the best since “T2”, it will be interesting to see how much the objectively dire prior sequels have turned audiences off. Slight award hopefuls including the Cynthia Erivo driven “Harriet” and the Edward Norton directed “Motherless Brooklyn” will also debut in over 2000 and 1000 theatres respectively.