Box-Office: ‘Frozen II' Continues Its Massive Success; ‘Knives Out' Scores Big With $41 Million Debut

The box office crown belongs to Disney again this week as “Frozen 2” fought off a challenge from Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” to remain in the top spot.

Disney’s “Frozen 2” yet again found itself atop this week’s box-office. The animated sequel delivered another $123.7M over the five day Thanksgiving period, pushing its domestic total to a whopping $287M. Whilst internationally, and arguably more impressively (thanks to another $163.8M) the films total has reached $451M, combining overall for a huge $738.6M after less than two weeks in cinemas.

In second place this week is another triumph for original cinema. Rian Johnson and Lionsgate’s super-sharp ‘whodunnit’ “Knives Out” opened to a very impressive $41.7M over the period, and expect the film to keep making money as its audience scores continue to grow. Internationally the film took home $28.3M, so it’s $70M first weekend is gear reruns for a film in which most of its budget was probably to pay its all-star cast, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans, Don Johnson, and Ana De Armas.

In third this week and really grinding its gears for all it’s worth is Fox’s “Ford V Ferrari”. Over performing ever since its debut, this week the film gathered another $19 domestically, no doubt boosted by the holiday, lifting its domestic tally to $81M. Overseas the film raced to just over $10M putting its global standing at $143M. Expect it to zoom past the $150M barrier next week.

In fourth is Sony’s own Oscar contender, Marielle Heller’s “A Beautiful Day In the Neighbourhood”. Taking $17.3M this week, the Mr. Rogers biopic, starring Tom Hanks as the famous children’s television presenter has now taken $34.3M in the US, extremely respectable given the stiff competition it’s faced in its two weeks of release.

Rounding out the top five is newcomer “Queen and Slim”. Starring Daniel Kaluuya and directed by Melina Matsoukas, Universal’s hard-hitting drama brought in an estimated $15.8M over the five day period, another solid opening and haul in this week of many major and minor accomplishments for studios.

Next week sees no major releases bar STX’s animated children’s flick “Playmobil”, as we gear up for the near Christmas releases of Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level” and Disney’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”.

1. Frozen II – $123.7M ($288M Overall)
2. Knives Out – $41.7M (Debut)
3. Ford v Ferrari – $19M ($81M)
4. A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood – $17.2M ($34M)
5. Queen & Slim – $15.8M (Debut)
6. 21 Bridges – $8M ($20M)
7. Playing with FIre – $6M ($39M)
8. Midway – $5.8M ($50M)
9. Joker – $3M ($330.6M)
10. Last Christmas – $2.8M ($32M)