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Disney's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker led the weekend box office, though there is likely to be a bit of pushing and pulling from analysts as to whether the film's $175.5 million debut is a worthy opening for the final installment in the now 42-year-old Skywalker saga. Meanwhile, Universal's Cats fell well short of expectations and appears to have already been left out in the rain.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: With an estimated $90 million on Friday, Disney's Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is looking at a $190-195 million, three-day debut. The performance falls below the two most recent Skywalker saga features, and audience response to the film appears to be a bit below both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, which both received an "A" CinemaScore while Rise of Skywalker received a "B+".

While the studio attempted to downplay expectations, Sony's Jumanji: The Next Level opened at the top end of industry expectations, leading the weekend charge with a December studio record opening and getting the box office off to a strong start for the holiday frame. Though, it has to be mentioned, that strong start didn't trickle down to the weekend's two other new wide releases as both Universal and Blumhouse's Black Christmas and WB's Richard Jewell fell well below expectations.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Sony's Jumanji: The Next Level is delivering on Mojo's pre-weekend expectations and then some, bringing in an estimated $19.4 million on Friday, heading toward a $50+ million three-day debut. To go along with the strong performance, the film received an "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences. Otherwise, the weekend's two fellow newcomers are struggling.

It was yet another weekend atop the weekend box office for Disney's Frozen II, which has now topped $900 million globally, well on its way to becoming the studio's sixth 2019 release to top the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box office. Meanwhile, while Focus Features saw Dark Waters finish just outside the top five in its nationwide expansion this weekend, STX's release of Playmobil failed to make the top ten, delivering the third worst opening ever for a film debuting in over 2,000 locations.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Disney's Frozen II is looking at another weekend atop the weekend box office after an estimated $7.8 million on Friday, with expectations for a third weekend around $35 million and a domestic cume topping $337 million. The performance is a bit behind Mojo's forecast, but is still in line with the average post-Thanksgiving dip for top titles.

The folks at Disney have full bellies after the animated feature Frozen II delivered three and five-day Thanksgiving records as the film topped $287 million domestically after just ten days in release and $739 million globally in the film's first 12 days. But it wasn't all Disney this weekend as Lionsgate's Knives Out exceeded expectations with a five-day performance topping $41 million and Universal and Makeready's Queen & Slim found a place in the top five.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Frozen II is headed toward a record Thanksgiving three and five-day performance after bringing in an estimated $34 million on Friday heading toward what is currently looking like an $88+ million three-day and a $128 million five-day performance, both of which would serve as records for the time frame.

SUNDAY AM UPDATE: Disney's Frozen II delivered a monster debut, bringing in an estimated $127 million domestically, which serves as the largest animated opening ever outside the summer corridor and a record animated opening for the month of November. In fact, the performance is the fifth largest November opening of all-time, topping the $125 million opening for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 back in 2010. The film played to an audience that was 59% female with families making up 70% of the opening weekend crowd.

Fox's Ford v Ferrari more than lived up to the most aggressive of pre-weekend expectations, delivering a #1 performance at the domestic weekend box office. However, Sony's Charlie's Angels struggled mightily in its debut, failing to reach the lowest of expectations, which means the film's third place finish puts the weekend's overall performance into perspective. In better news, WB's Joker became the fourth DC Comics adaptation to ever top $1 billion at the global box office and the first R-rated movie to ever reach that milestone.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Fox's Ford v Ferrari is living up to tracking expectations, out performing Mojo's pre-weekend forecast after bringing in an estimated $10.9 million on Friday, racing toward a $30 million three-day weekend. On top of that, while we knew critics already liked the film, opening day audiences gave it an impressive "A+" CinemaScore, boding well for the rest of the weekend and beyond.

Heading into the weekend we were anticipating a top ten that would deliver around $110 million, as it turns out the top ten currently falls just short of a combined $100 million as Lionsgate's Midway delivered a surprise #1 finish, topping WB's Doctor Sleep, which slipped to second and well below expectations. Paramount's Playing with Fire joined Midway in outperforming expectations while Universal's Last Christmas fell below Mojo's forecast, but well within studio expectations.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Lionsgate's Midway is the surprise of the weekend, bringing in an estimated $6.34 million on Friday and looking to finish #1 for the weekend with a three-day that could reach $18 million, well ahead of expectations. The film also earned an "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences, which suggests word of mouth throughout the weekend could carry it even higher.Ewan McGregorRebecca FergusonEmilia ClarkeHenry GoldingRoland Emmerich

Paramount's Terminator: Dark Fate was able to score the weekend's #1 spot, but it came in well below expectations, calling into question the fate of the Terminator franchise once again. Meanwhile, Focus's release of Harriet destroyed expectations, delivering a #4 finish to go along with a strong, "A+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Paramount's Terminator: Dark Fate is looking very soft after an estimated $10.6 million Friday, heading toward a three-day performance that could come up shy of the $27 million debut for 2015's Terminator Genisys. The film received a "B+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

It's a narrow race at the top of the box office, but based on estimates WB's Joker was able to return to the weekend #1 spot after a brief respite last weekend as Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil falls to second in its sophomore frame Meanwhile it was an equally tight race for third as well as fifth with the new releases of Countdown and Black and Blue competing for that last spot in the top five.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: STXfilms's horror thriller Countdown took in an estimated $3.1 million on Friday. The $6.5 million production is expected to deliver a $7.5-8+ million debut. The film received a "C+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

This weekend saw the release of two new sequels and Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil topped the chart as expected, albeit with a lighter performance than expected. However, Sony's Zombieland: Double Tap came in on the high side of expectations while WB's Joker continued its strong run and will soon top $250 million domestically. Elsewhere, Neon's Parasite, A24's The Lighthouse and Fox Searchlight's Jojo Rabbit all had strong showings in limited release.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Disney's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil is on its way to a #1 finish, albeit a bit lighter than expected. The film brought in an estimated $12.5 million on Friday and is looking at a three-day performance around $38+ million. It received an "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

In the face of three new wide releases, there was no dethroning Joker from the weekend's top spot as the film not only topped the weekend box office domestically, internationally and worldwide, it has already generated over $543 million globally in just its first twelve days in global release. As for the newcomers, UAR's The Addams Family led the way with a solid second place debut while Paramount's Gemini Man and Lionsgate's Jexi struggled to find an audience. However, one film that didn't struggle was Neon's release of the Palme d'Or winner Parasite, which made an impact in just three theaters this weekend.