Weekend Wrap-Up: Post-holiday Blues Gets to Frozen II
December 10, 2019
As expected, the box office collapsed this week, as it always does in a post-holiday weekend. Despite the best efforts of Frozen II and Knives Out, the overall weekend box office fell 50% to $89 million. This is 5.4% higher than the same weekend last year and that’s the more important figure. Year-to-date, 2019 closed ground with 2018, albeit by a tiny margin and this year is still behind last year by 5.9% or $630 million at $10.16 billion to $10.80 billion. It has been a long time since we’ve seen the box office decline by that high of a percentage in one year; however, 2019 is still on pace to be the second highest grossing year of all time and it still has higher ticket sales than 2017 had at this point, so I think we shouldn’t panic over this.
Frozen II fell a little faster than I would have liked, but it avoided a 60% drop-off earning $35.17 million over the weekend for a total of $338.09 million after just three weeks of release. The film should be at $400 million by the end of Christmas.
Knives Out held on even better than expected down just 47% to $14.22 million for a two-week total of $63.55 million. Its reviews and its Awards Season success so far strongly suggests long legs. It is on pace to become Lionsgate’s second $100 million hit of the year.
Ford v Ferrari managed third place, barely, with $6.66 million over the weekend for a running tally of $91.23 million. It is on pace to become the first film from Fox to get to $100 million this year. It might not be the last.
Queen and Slim was right behind with $6.64 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $27.01 million. It isn’t on pace to crack $100 million, or even get halfway there, but it has already earned more than it cost to make and should break even sometime during its home market run.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood isn’t living up to expectations, either at the box office or during Awards Season. That said, it still managed fifth place over the weekend earning $5.20 million for a total of $43.12 million after three weeks of release. It won’t stick around long enough to get a real boost from the Christmas break, but it is doing well enough to break even eventually. It is yet another profitable disappointment and we’ve seen many of those this year.
Dark Waters just missed the Mendoza Line ($2,000/theater) during its wide expansion earning $4.00 million in 2,012 theaters for a total of $5.18 million, including two weeks of limited release. Its reviews and its A minus from CinemaScore could help its legs, except theater owners will be looking to drop the film before its word-of-mouth has a chance to develop.
I’ve seen some reports that Playmobil had the worst opening for a wide release, but with $657,000 in 2,337 theaters, it is in third place on that chart. The film has reviews and a rating from CinemaScore (B plus) but neither of them matter, because the film’s theater average means theater owners will be looking to drop the film as soon as they are contractually able to.
- Weekend Box Office Chart
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- Weekend Predictions
- Friday Estimates
- Weekend Estimates
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Frozen II, PLAYMOBIL, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Ford v. Ferrari, Queen & Slim, Dark Waters, Knives Out