Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker continued to be the top choice for families over the weekend but new openers like Little Women and Uncut Gems also shined during a very crowded weekend at the box office.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker dipped 59.4% in its second weekend to $72 million this weekend. Before you scoff at the decline, keep in mind that the film has been seeing grosses like it’s a Friday night ever since the few days before Christmas so it didn’t only need to rely on this weekend to dominate at the box office. The 59.4% drop is also a better hold than The Last Jedi had during its second weekend (68%) so despite opening lower than The Last Jedi, the final film of the Skywalker saga is making up some serious ground and is getting closer to catching up to The Last Jedi. At the moment, the domestic take for The Rise of Skywalker is $361.7 million, just 2% or $6.3 million behind Last Jedi at the same point in time. Internationally, Rise of Skywalker added $94.3 million this weekend for a $363 million overseas total and a global tally that is now just shy of $725 million. This weekend didn’t see any new markets released as the UK still leads all international markets with $51.4 million. Next weekend will see the film open in Vietnam.
Maintaining second place is Jumanji: The Next Level with $35.3 million, up 33.2% from the previous weekend. Sony claims the second and third place spot with this film and Little Women so they’re having a great holiday at the box office which is much needed after their blunder with Charlie’s Angels. The Next Level has not grossed $175.4 million at the domestic box office and should see another solid hold in the days ahead. Internationally, the film added another $61.6 million, pushing its overseas total to $296 million for a global tally that now stands at $472 million.
Opening in third is Greta Gerwig’s Little Women which grossed $16.7 million over three days and a stellar $29.2 million since opening on Christmas day. With Cats going bust, Little Women has now become the top choice for the older female demographic and they definitely responded by turning the film into a hit this weekend. Aside from the great reviews (95% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), Greta Gerwig took an IP that has been done numerous times but put a modern-day spin on the story and featured young stars who appeal to a variety of females, i.e. Saoirse Ronan and Laura Dern (sophisticated adult female moviegoers), Emma Watson (all females and Harry Potter fans), Florence Pugh, and Call Me By Your Name Oscar-nominee Timothee Chalamet (both are very much on the rise, with Pugh set to further explode next year in Marvel’s Black Widow, and Chalamet starring in Legendary/Warner Bros.’ big film next Christmas, Dune). Word of mouth should be healthy for the film as it received an “A-” CinemaScore and glowing exits from the target demo. The film was widely seen by a crowd that was 70% female with 71% of the audience coming in aged 25 or older.
In fourth place, Frozen 2 also saw an increase weekend to weekend, jumping 27.1% to $16.5 million. The film’s domestic tally is now at $421.2 million and internationally the film added another $42.2 million for an overseas gross totaling nearly $800 million as the global tally now stands at $1.217 billion making it the third-largest animated release all-time worldwide, topping Minions (1.159 billion).
Rounding out the top five is Spies in Disguise which grossed $13.2 million over three days and $22 million since opening on Christmas day. This is pretty much in line with expectations for the film and it has to be viewed as a strong start considering there is so much family competition at the box office right now. Spies in Disguise‘s 5-day number beats the first five days of Blue Sky’s Ferdinand (which opened in the pre-Christmas period in 2017 with $16.4 million) and it bests the Wednesday-Monday 6-day Christmas stretch which earned $13.1 million. The film received an “A-” CinemaScore which bodes well for potential word of mouth.
Opening outside the top five in seventh place is Uncut Gems which grossed $9.5 million over three days and $18.86 million since opening on Christmas day. The film was in limited release heading into its Christmas debut so the running total now for the critically acclaimed Adam Sandler drama is $22 million. This is the largest five-day performance in A24’s history so there are some bragging rights here. The cause for concern is the disconnect between critics and moviegoers on this one. When Uncut Gems opened in limited release, the film earned an “A-” CinemaScore but the score for its wide release was much lower at a “C+” CinemaScore. Critics loved the film (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) but the audience score is much lower at 54%. It will be interesting to watch where the film is headed moving forward due to the mixed response from moviegoers.
Check out the full top ten results below:
| Film | Total | % Change | Gross to Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Onward | $10,601,952 | -72.9% | $60.3 |
| Bloodshot | $9,176,695 | NEW | $9.17 |
| I Still Believe | $9,103,614 | NEW | $9.10 |
| The Invisible Man | $5,890,805 | -61.1% | $64.3 |
| The Hunt | $5,304,455 | NEW | $5.3 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog | $2,522,584 | -67.3% | $145.7 |
| The Way Back | $2,356,115 | -71.2% | $13.3 |
| The Call of the Wild | $2,226,720 | -67.1% | $62 |
| Emma. | $1,295,215 | -73% | $9.9 |
| Bad Boys for Life | $1,102,208 | -63.5% | $204.2 |
