News

It's a third straight weekend atop the weekend box office for Warner Bros.'s Aquaman as the film pushed over $940 million worldwide, becoming the highest grossing worldwide release in the DC Extended Universe. However, Sony's release of Escape Room made sure this weekend wasn't all about holdovers. The PG-13 horror/thriller made some some noise of its own, delivering a surprise runner-up finish, helping prove once again that the beginning of the year is fertile ground for horror film debuts.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: WB's Aquaman is on its way to a third straight weekend in the #1 spot at the top of the box office after pulling in an estimated $9.3 million on Friday, heading toward a three-day performance around $30 million, signaling a strong, -41% drop from last weekend and pushing the film's domestic cume toward $260 million.

There were no big surprises in the final weekend of a record-setting 2018 as Warner Bros.'s Aquaman is once again king of the box office seas with a domestic cume that now tops $188 million and a worldwide tally nearing $750 million. Meanwhile, the weekend's new wide releases in Annapurna's Vice and Sony's Holmes & Watson were quiet in their debuts as the bulk of the weekend attention goes to holiday holdovers.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: At the top of the Friday box office is WB's Aquaman, pulling in an estimated $17.1 million, giving it a good shot at reaching $50 million for the three-day, pushing its cume over $185 million by the end of the weekend. Internationally, the film brought in an estimated $18.4 million from 78 markets on Friday, taking the international cume to $511.8 million for a worldwide tally topping $666 million.

The long Christmas weekend is underway with Aquaman, Warner Bros.'s latest entry into their DC Extended Universe, topping the charts, on its way to a $100+ million five-day opening. Meanwhile, Disney's Mary Poppins Returns and Paramount's Bumblebee finished in runner-up positions over a weekend that played relatively similarly to the same weekend last year, though given the holiday timing its hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: WB's Aquaman is leading the way as expected, bringing in an estimated $28 million on Friday, which includes $9 million from preview grosses for a $32.7 million cumulative gross as the studio did not apply the $4.7 million from Amazon Prime screenings to Friday's gross. When looking at the "pure" Friday gross of $19 million when removing the $9 million in previews we're looking at a performance very similar to the very first Transformers, which opened with $70.5 million over its first three days, which also saw previews account for 32% of its Friday gross. X-Men: Apocalypse is another comp that had previews account for 31% of its Friday gross before ultimately delivering $65.7 million in its first three days. Industry expectations are for a $70+ million three-day performance, which is pretty much right in line with pre-weekend expectations. Aquaman received an "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

For the 13th time this year the top film at the weekend box office was adapted from a Marvel Comics property as Sony's animated release of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse took the weekend box office crown with the largest opening ever for an animated film in December. Warner Bros.'s The Mule also enjoyed a solid debut while Universal's release of Mortal Engines crashed and burned. Additionally, ahead of its domestic debut next weekend, WB's Aquaman continued its stellar international rollout as the #1 film at the global box office this weekend.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Sony Animation's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse brought in an estimated $12.6 million on Friday and industry expectations are varying with ranges looking at a $35-40+ million opening. The film received an impressive "A+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

For the fourth time, and for the second year in a row, November calendar grosses topped $1 billion at the domestic box office. However, while this November's grosses topped last year's, 2018 ranks as the third highest grossing November ever with $1.044 billion in domestic grosses behind the back-to-back years of 2012 and 2013. Leading the charge was Universal and Illumination's The Grinch, which in turn helped the studio take the monthly crown for the third time this year as Universal's yearly grosses are now pacing ahead of last year's with over $1.6 billion.

The domestic weekend was, for the most part, as light as was expected. While it wasn't the lowest grossing weekend of the year so far, it was the second lowest with the top twelve delivering a combined $77.8 million. This is all in advance of what should be a profitable holiday season to come and we got a hint as to just how profitable it could be with the launch of WB's Aquaman in China this weekend where the film delivered a massive $93.6 million, becoming the #1 film globally from one market alone.

With no new wide releases this weekend, outside of the re-release of Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List, we're looking at what might be the lowest grossing weekend of the year so far. The top of the box office should, once again, be a near mirror image of the prior weekend with Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet leading the charge for a third weekend in a row while films such as Focus's Mary Queen of Scots and Neon's Vox Lux begin their limited release roll-outs.

Outside of only a couple differences, this weekend's box office top ten almost mirrors last weekend's rankings exactly with Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet securing the #1 spot for a second weekend in a row. Among the differences, Universal's The Grinch switched places with Creed II as the animated feature took the runner-up position while topping $200 million domestically. In the bottom half of the top ten Sony's release of the Screen Gems horror film The Possession of Hannah Grace outperformed expectations and earned a seventh place finish.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: In terms of the weekend's holdovers, things are playing out mostly as expected with Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet set to repeat at #1 after a $5.74 million Friday and Creed II right behind it with an estimated $4.95 million on Friday. Ralph will separate itself from the pack over the weekend as families head to theaters, eventually giving the animated feature a three-day around $25-26 million.

It was a massive five days at the box office, the last three days of which resulted in the largest Thanksgiving three-day weekend ever with the top twelve films combining for over $206 million. Leading the way was Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet, which brought in the second largest Thanksgiving five-day gross of all-time followed by MGM's Creed II with the largest holiday opening ever for a live-action film. Despite the performances of these two films, it wasn't all success stories, however, as Summit's big budget attempt at Robin Hood collapsed both with critics and audiences.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Friday estimates still show Disney's Ralph Breaks the Internet playing strong, though full five-day estimates are coming down a bit. The animated film brought in an estimated $21.7 million on Friday and is now looking at a five-day performance around $84 million. A performance of that size would still be enough for the second largest five-day Thanksgiving opening ever, topping Moana's $82 million from 2016.

While still a solid weekend, the performances fell below Mojo's pre-weekend expectations almost across the board. Warner Bros.'s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the latest entry in the Fantastic Beasts franchise still topped the weekend as expected, but even it fell a bit below the studio's expectations, though not by as much as both Paramount's Instant Family and Fox's Widows, neither of which managed to break out among opening weekend audiences, but will hope to take advantage of the holiday weekend to come.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: With an estimated $25.7 million on Friday, Warner Bros.'s Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald is coming in a bit lighter than was expected after matinees were reported yesterday. At this time the film is expected to pull in $61-64 million or so for the three-day weekend, but it isn't the only one of the weekend's new releases that's coming in a bit light. The film received a "B+" CinemaScore from opening day audiences compared to the "A" for the original. Internationally, Grindelwald has now reached $74.3 million from 79 markets now in release.

The 2018 box office continues to usher in hits as Universal and Illumination's Dr. Seuss' The Grinch debuted with a chart-topping $66 million this weekend. However, it wasn't all roses for the weekend's new wide releases as neither Overlord nor The Girl in the Spider's Web managed to catch on with audiences. Yet, holdovers such as Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born continued their strong performances while Sony's Venom delivered a massive $111 million debut in China.

SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Universal and Illumination's The Grinch got off to a great start, delivering an estimated $18.67 million on Friday to go along with an "A-" CinemaScore from opening day audiences. The studio is currently anticipating a performance around $67 million for the weekend, which would challenge Frozen's $67.39 million debut for the second largest animated opening for the month of November, though don't be surprised if it ends up topping The Incredibles's $70.4 million opening, which currently ranks as the largest animated opening for the month.

Another month and another record falls as October 2018 domestic calendar grosses topped $800 million for the first time ever, outperforming last October by more than +47%. Leading the charge was Sony's Venom, but it was a collective effort among several films including fellow October releases A Star is Born and Halloween, all of which topped $100 million at the domestic box office compared to last year, which didn't see a single film generate over $83 million over the course of the month. In fact, this is the first time ever more than one film brought in over $100 million in the month of October as studios continue to find ways to make use of a year-round release calendar.