Box-Office: ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ Projected to Fall $100 Million Short of ‘Jedi,’ ‘Little Women' Has Strong Debut

Disney’s “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” continued its impressive haul in a week in which Oscar players “Little Women” and “Uncut Gems” made equally impressive bows.

No surprises for guessing which film tops the Christmas box office as Disney’s ‘saga ending’ “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” raked in a solid $72M in its second weekend, giving it a domestic haul of $361M. This good second-week hold, unexpected by many given its extremely polarizing reviews has seen the film firmly set its sights on 2017’s “The Last Jedi” and its global haul of $1.3B. That’s because the film also added $94.3M internationally over the weekend, lifting its overall tally to $725M after two weeks of release.

In second again this week and continuing its face-off with “Star Wars” is Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level” which scored an estimated $35.3M in its third week of release. Domestically the films total now sits north of $175M, whilst thanks to $61.6M overseas, the film now has a global standing of $472M. Although the film may find itself falling short of its predecessor’s $900M life span, its current haul and eventual end total will be more than enough to see the third film greenlit by the studio.

In third this week is another major victory for Sony, as the latest re-imagining of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women”, this time directed by Greta Gerwig and littered with stars including Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh, and Meryl Streep, debuted to an impressive $29M in just five days, making the film one to watch out for as we approach the new year period, whilst its box office success is also a major plus for the films Oscar chances following shut outs at both the Golden Globes and the SAG awards. Internationally, the film opened in two markets, the UK and Spain where it managed $4.6m and $1.6M respectively. The film will open in 7 other international markets across January.

“The Rise of Skywalker” wasn’t Disney’s only winner this week, as in fourth was animated powerhouse “Frozen 2” which added a further $16.5M domestically and $42.2M overseas which shifted the film up a place (past “Minions”) and into third on the highest grossing animated films of all time list ($1.217B).

Seeing out the top five over Christmas is another newcomer in the shape of Fox’s “Spies in Disguise”. The animated flick, starring both Will Smith and Tom Holland debuted to the sound of $22M domestic and $16M overseas. To be expected in an extremely overcrowded period, and with such juggernauts still in play.

An interesting debut outside of the top five arrived from A24, as they finally went wide with the Adam Sandler starring, Safdie brothers directed “Uncut Gems”, which gave the studio their biggest five-day haul ever with $18.86M. Yet another intriguing story to keep an eye on.

The week’s most notable limited release came in the form of Sony’s war epic “1917”. A major Oscar hopeful, including for its director Sam Mendes, the film opened in just 11 locations but brought in $1M, which although a small sample size, indicates major interest in the film.

Elsewhere, Warner Bros “Just Mercy”, a hard-hitting and important drama starring Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx, opened in four locations, hauling in $229,000.

With only one wide release coming next week, in the form of Sony’s “The Grudge” remake, it will be hugely interesting to see how this week’s debutants stand up next week in the face of the money sapping “The Rise of Skywalker” and “Jumanji”. Next week does however see both STX’s Guy Ritchie gangster flick “The Gentlemen” and Fox Searchlight’s “Jojo Rabbit” take their international bows.

1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – $72M ($363M Overall)
2. Jumanji: The Next Level – $35M ($175M)
3. Little Women – $16.525M ($29M)
4. Frozen II – $16.5M ($421M)
5. Spies in Disguise – $13.2M ($22M)
6. Knives Out – $9.7M ($110M)
7. Uncut Gems – $9.55M ($20M)
8. Cats – $4.8M ($17.8M)
9. Bombshell – $4.7M ($15.6M)
10. Richard Jewell – $3M ($16M)