Weekend Actuals: ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Stays On Top w/ $25.6M; ‘Grinch’ ($17.9M) Eases Out ‘Creed II’ ($16.6M) for 2nd; ‘Hannah Grace’ Exorcises $6.4M

Monday Update: Disney’s animated sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet led the box office for the second weekend with $25.5M.

The sequel fell -54.5%, a bit better than the -58.1% post-Thanksgiving drop for the original Wreck It Ralph in 2012.

Sony’s horror movie The Possession of Hannah Grace, the only new wide release opening this weekend, started in seventh place with $6.4M. That was slightly above most pre-release expectations.

Elsewhere at the box office:

  • Fox Searchlight’s period piece The Favourite, after opening last weekend with the best per-theater average since La La Land in December 2016, expanded slightly to 34 theaters and earned $1.07M.
  • Universal’s drama Green Book held onto the top 10 in 10th place with $3.9M. With only a -28.5% decline, it had by far the mildest drop of any holdover movie in the top 10.
  • Last frame’s #2 and #3 films switched places this weekend. Universal’s animated Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch rose a spot to take the runner-up position, with a -41.0% decline (holding on well thanks to the upcoming Christmas holiday) to $17.9M. MGM’s sports drama Creed II fell -53.2% to $16.6M, a steeper drop than the original Creed‘s -49.4%.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $118.2M.

That’s -45.4% below last weekend but +12.4% above this same weekend last year, when Coco led with $27.5M for a second frame.

Year-to-date box office stands at $10.84B. That’s +10.5% ahead of this same date last year, down from +10.6% after last weekend.

Demographics

[Note: audience demographics for The Possession of Hannah Grace were not immediately available from BoxofficeProfile by Vertigo. With that caveat…]

The most male audience in this weekend’s top 10 was Robin Hood at 66.7%, while the most female audience was Instant Family at 65.5%.

The most under-25 audience in this weekend’s top 10 was Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch at 53.6%, while the most over-25 audience was Widows at 93.8%.

A full demographic breakdown of the top 30 movies this weekend, courtesy of BoxofficeProfile by Vertigo, is below:

Our full table of weekend actuals is below, followed by our Sunday update featuring fuller analysis.


Sunday Update: The weekend box office remained more or less unchanged in the typically-slow post-Thanksgiving frame, with only one new title – horror film The Possession of Hannah Grace – debuting in wide release. The No. 1 slot again went to last week’s champ Ralph Breaks the Internet, which grossed an estimated $25.8 million in its sophomore frame.

Dropping 54% from its fantastic $56.2 million three-day opening over Thanksgiving weekend ($84.7 million over the five-day frame), Ralph Breaks the Internet has now brought in $119.3 million after 12 days of play, putting it roughly 21% ahead of the first Wreck-It Ralph at the same point in its release (though it’s worth noting that the first installment didn’t have the benefit of the extended Thanksgiving weekend until later in its run). That said, Ralph‘s second-weekend drop is much higher than its predecessor’s 32.7% dip, suggesting the film may be considerably more front-loaded than the first movie, which ended its run with $189.4 million in North America (representing a weekend-to-final multiplier of 3.86x). In fairness, Wreck-It Ralph didn’t have to contend with another major animated release for several weeks, whereas Ralph Breaks the Internet is up against the continuing powerhouse that is Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch.

Second place went to Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, which continued its lucrative run with an estimated $17.7 million in its fourth weekend of release. That brings the total for the Universal animated remake to $203.5 million so far, making it just the second animated movie to cross the $200 million mark this year after Disney’s Incredibles 2 (which soared way beyond that benchmark by taking in over $608 million since debuting in June). With Christmas still nearly a month away, look for The Grinch to continue performing well through the end of the year.

Dropping to third place was Creed II, which took in an estimated $16.8 million in its sophomore frame after posting the largest debut by a live-action movie over Thanksgiving weekend with $35.5 million over the three-day period and $56 million over the five-day. The total for the boxing sequel now stands at $81.1 million after 12 days of release, putting it roughly 25% ahead of the first Creed at the same point in its run. The film’s 52.6% second-weekend drop was only slightly higher than the first Creed‘s 49.4% dip back in 2015.

Fourth went to Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, which grossed an estimated $11.2 million in its third weekend in theaters. That’s a drop of 62% from its gross last weekend, bringing its total to $134.3 million so far. Notably, that’s roughly 26% off from the gross of the first Fantastic Beasts at the same point in its run, indicating that audiences have been somewhat less thrilled with the Wizarding World sequel than its predecessor. Nonetheless, solid international grosses are helping bolster the film’s overall performance, as it now stands at over $500 million worldwide (see below).

Holding steady in fifth was Bohemian Rhapsody, which scored an estimated $8.1 million in fifth weekend of release. With a total of $164.4 million to date, the Fox blockbuster about the life of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is now the highest-grossing biopic on a musical act of all time, surpassing the $161.1 million gross of Straight Outta Compton in 2015.

After easing just 15.1% over Thanksgiving weekend, Paramount’s Instant Family had a more significant 41.9% drop in its third frame with an estimated $7.1 million in sixth place, bringing its total gross to $45.9 million after 17 days of release.

Seventh place went to the weekend’s only wide newcomer The Possession of Hannah Grace, which debuted with an estimated $6.5 million. That’s quite a bit better than expected for the $9.5 million-budgeted horror film, which was clearly positioned as a counter-programmer against the current crop of feel-good holiday fare and Oscar-bait dramas. Among recent horror releases, the opening is about on par with last year’s Flatliners, which also debuted to $6.5 million  on its way to a final gross of $16.8 million. In the crowded holiday marketplace, expect Grace to fade quickly, particularly when taking into account its “C-” Cinemascore and 17% Rotten Tomatoes rating.

In eighth, Robin Hood brought in an estimated $4.7 million after debuting to a soft $9.1 million over the three-day Thanksgiving frame, giving the action update a not-great $21.7 million so far. With a reported budget of $100 million, the Lionsgate release can firmly be counted as one of the season’s most notable disappointments.

In its third weekend of release, Widows dropped 47% to an estimated $4.4 million in ninth place, giving the acclaimed heist thriller $33 million to date – a slightly disappointing total given its reported $42 million budget and heavyweight cast led by Oscar winner Viola Davis.

Finally, rounding out the Top 10 is Green Book, the Mahershala Ali-Viggo Mortensen race-relations drama that brought in an estimated $3.9 million in its second weekend of wide release on 1,065 screens. That’s a drop of just 29% from last weekend for the well-reviewed Universal release, which has grossed $14 million so far and was seemingly bolstered by strong word-of-mouth (the film has an “A+” Cinemascore).

Limited Release:

Fox Searchlight’s period satire The Favourite expanded to 34 locations and brought in an estimated $1.1 million (for a $32.5K per-screen average), bringing its total to $1.6 million. The buzzy Rachel Weisz-Emma Stone vehicle snagged the highest per-screen average of 2018 last weekend when it opened to $422K on just four screens. With another solid performance this weekend, look for its expansion to continue in the coming weeks.

Opening in five theaters, Orion’s Anna and the Apocalypse had an okay start with $50K, giving the well-reviewed Christmas-themed zombie musical a per-screen average of roughly $10K.

Overseas Update:

Ralph Breaks the Internet crossed the $200 million threshold this weekend with an estimated $33.7 million from 27 overseas markets, bringing its international cume to $87.7 million and its worldwide tally to $207 million. Cumes so far include $34.2 million in China, $12.6 million in Mexico, and $10.2 million in Russia.

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald crossed the $500 million mark worldwide this weekend after bringing in another $40.2 million overseas in 80 markets. Grosses to date include $56.2 million in China, $33.8 million in the U.K., $29.2 million in Germany, $25.4 million in Japan, and $24.4 million in France. The sequel now stands at $385.3 million internationally and $519.6 million worldwide.

Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch brought in another $27.1 million overseas this weekend, bringing its international total to $64.8 million and its worldwide cume to $268.3 million.


Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, NOV. 30 – SUN, DEC. 2

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Ralph Breaks the Internet $25,756,000 -54% 4,017 0 $6,412 $119,294,233 2 Disney
2 Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch $17,730,000 -42% 3,934 -26 $4,507 $203,509,195 4 Universal
3 Creed II $16,832,863 -53% 3,576 135 $4,707 $81,169,147 2 MGM / Warner Bros
4 Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald $11,200,000 -62% 3,851 -312 $2,908 $134,341,406 3 Warner Bros.
5 Bohemian Rhapsody $8,100,000 -42% 3,007 80 $2,694 $164,423,150 5 20th Century Fox
6 Instant Family $7,150,000 -42% 3,376 90 $2,118 $45,927,769 3 Paramount Pictures
7 The Possession of Hannah Grace $6,500,000 2,064 $3,149 $6,500,000 1 Sony / Screen Gems
8 Robin Hood $4,700,000 -49% 2,827 0 $1,663 $21,727,682 2 Lionsgate / Summit
9 Widows $4,400,000 -47% 2,393 -410 $1,839 $33,060,245 3 20th Century Fox
10 Green Book $3,900,000 -29% 1,065 2 $3,662 $14,014,491 3 Universal Pictures
11 A Star is Born $1,905,000 -37% 1,081 -121 $1,762 $193,822,436 9 Warner Bros.
12 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms $1,299,000 -53% 1,392 -365 $933 $51,058,909 5 Walt Disney Pictures

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Boy Erased $590,000 -49% 660 -12 $894 $5,582,437 5 Focus Features
2 Overlord $405,000 -64% 533 -690 $760 $21,014,015 4 Paramount Pictures
3 Nobody’s Fool $380,000 -58% 385 -223 $987 $31,068,059 5 Paramount
4 Venom $380,000 -50% 425 -160 $894 $212,270,652 9 Sony / Columbia
5 Can You Ever Forgive Me? $350,000 -41% 272 -154 $1,287 $6,591,770 7 Fox Searchlight
6 The Front Runner $270,000 -57% 807 0 $335 $1,627,318 4 Sony / Columbia
7 The Hate U Give $210,000 -36% 250 -10 $840 $29,226,139 9 20th Century Fox
8 The Old Man & The Gun $78,000 -25% 114 23 $684 $10,919,749 10 Fox Searchlight

PLATFORM (1 — 99)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 The Favourite $1,105,000 162% 34 30 $32,500 $1,679,310 2 Fox Searchlight
2 At Eternity’s Gate $180,000 -19% 48 17 $3,750 $669,584 3 CBS Films
3 Maria By Callas $116,803 -28% 69 14 $1,693 $873,836 5 Sony Pictures Classics
4 Shoplifters $106,000 19% 14 9 $7,571 $238,260 2 Magnolia Pictures
5 A Cool Fish $95,000 12% 35 16 $2,714 $364,329 3 China Lion Film
6 Border $76,920 2% 73 36 $1,054 $569,338 6 Neon
7 Mirai $62,497 71 $880 $272,758 1 GKIDS
8 Wildlife $55,487 -17% 66 -7 $841 $931,937 7 IFC Films
9 Anna And The Apocalypse $50,163 5 $10,033 $50,163 1 Orion Pictures
10 A Private War $50,000 -62% 66 -160 $758 $1,518,107 5 Aviron Pictures
11 Incredibles 2 $29,000 -49% 93 -13 $312 $608,546,638 25 Disney
12 Becoming Astrid $18,934 253% 15 12 $1,262 $26,955 2 Music Box Films
13 Tea With the Dames $8,762 -36% 17 2 $515 $847,087 11 IFC Films
14 El Ángel $7,901 -22% 4 -4 $1,975 $89,211 4 The Orchard
15 Last Letter $1,100 -76% 1 -3 $1,100 $179,721 4 China Lion Film
16 The Wife $846 -91% 6 -10 $141 $7,788,275 16 Sony Pictures Classics

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