Monday Update: Universal’s animated Abominable debuted with $20.6M to lead the box office, on one of the quietest weekends of the year.

As the only new wide release, Abominable started in the same range as other recent September animated openers: Smallfoot with $23.0M, Storks with $21.3M, and The LEGO Ninjago Movie with $20.4M.

Roadside Attractions’ Judy Garland biopic Judy began in seventh place with $2.9M, ahead of an expected theater expansion in the coming weeks.

Disney’s animated The Lion King came in ninth place with $1.6M, spending an 11th weekend in the top 10. It becomes only the third film in the past year to reach that milestone, along with Aladdin and Green Book.

Since there’s only one new wide release debuting next frame (Joker), it’s possible Lion King could spend a 12th weekend in the top 10 next frame. That would make it the only film of the past year to do so, and the first since Black Panther.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $94.4M.

That’s -23.5% below last weekend and -11.3% below this same weekend last year, when Night School led with $27.2M.

Year-to-date box office stands at $8.42B. That’s -5.5% behind this same date last year, up from -5.6% after last weekend.

Although the 2019 YTD box office has trailed behind 2018 the entire year, that current -5.5% is the closest the 2019 box office has come to the 2018 YTD level since after the very first weekend of January, when it was -5.0%.

Monday’s Weekend Actuals (Domestic)

FRI, SEP. 27 – SUN, SEP. 29

Sunday Update: Families returned to North American multiplexes over the final weekend of September with the release of Universal’s Abominable, the first animated film to debut since Warner Bros.’ Angry Birds 2 in mid-August. Though the Dreamworks Animation and Pearl Studio title opened to a relatively modest $20.8 million estimate — a few million shy of last September’s Smallfoot ($23 milllion) — it was enough to lift the Chinese co-production to No. 1 over holdovers including Downton Abbey, Hustlers and Ad Astra.

Debuting on an ultra-wide 4,242 screens, Abominable opened at the higher end of expectations thanks to a mixture of generally positive reviews (80% “Fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes), a relatively enthusiastic audience response (“A” Cinemascore) and the aforementioned fact of it being the first animated release to hit theaters in over a month. While the film’s opening is definitely on the low end for a Dreamworks Animation title, it’s a reasonably healthy debut for a film with a budget reported to be $75 million — and with buy-in from the China-based Pearl Studio and a plot that sees its teenage character traversing the Asian nation to return a young Yeti to his family, its international performance could well make up for any shortfalls on the domestic front.

Before diving into the rest of the Top 10, it should be noted that the weekend box office was rather less robust than it otherwise might have been, as Universal’s horror-satire The Hunt was previously slated to open on Friday before being pulled by the studio following mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso back in August.

Finishing in second place was last weekend’s champion Downton Abbey with an estimated $14.5 million in its sophomore frame, representing a drop of 53% from its Focus Features-record $31 million debut. The continuation of the hit TV series now boasts a strong $58.5 million through Sunday, which already makes it the fifth highest-grossing release in the studio’s history.

STX’s Hustlers rose from fifth to third place this weekend with an estimated $11.4 million, bringing the total for the Jennifer Lopez-Constance Wu crime drama to a fantastic $80.6 million in just 17 days. That puts the critically-acclaimed title in third place all-time among the studio’s releases, behind only Bad Moms ($113.2 million) and The Upside ($108.2 million).

In fourth place was IT Chapter Two with an estimated $10.4 million, putting the horror sequel in striking distance of $200 million with a total of $193.9 million to date.

Last weekend’s sci-fi newcomer Ad Astra dipped 47% to an estimated $10.1 million in fifth place, putting the Brad Pitt vehicle at $35.5 million in its first ten days. The Disney-released Fox title had a similar second weekend drop as last year’s First Man, which started slightly lower at $16 million and finished its domestic run with a disappointing $44.9 million.

Another newcomer last weekend — Lionsgate’s Rambo: Last Blood — fell to sixth in its second weekend with an estimated $8.5 million, representing a rather steep drop of 56% from its $18.8 million debut. That puts the Sylvester Stallone sequel at $33.1 million after ten days, pacing it about 9% ahead of 2008’s Rambo at the same point in its run not adjusting for inflation.

Aside from Abominable, the only other major opener this weekend was Roadside Attractions’ Judy, starring Renee Zellweger as legendary entertainer Judy Garland. Debuting with a reasonably healthy $2.9 million from 461 locations — good for a per-screen average $6,362 — the film no doubt received a boost from Oscar talk for its leading lady, whose lead performance has made up the bulk of the critical praise for the biopic. Look for this one to debut wider in the coming weeks as it moves into the thick of fall prestige season.

In eighth, the resilient Good Boys dipped just 21% to an estimated $2 million in its seventh weekend, bringing the total for the Universal comedy to a superb $80.3 million to date.

A surprise entrant in the Top 10 was Fathom Events’ release of Friends 25^th: The One With the Anniversary, a special celebration of the iconic TV series that’s slated to play in theaters three separate times this fall. Each showing includes newly de-archived bonus content and four episodes hand-picked by Friends producers, and this weekend — the second in the series — it brought in an estimated $1.8 million from 1,600 screens, bringing the running total to $2.7 million.

Rounding out the Top 10 this weekend was Disney’s The Lion King, which brought in an estimated $1.6 million for a total of $540 million to date.

Overseas Update: 

Ad Astra brought in an estimated $18 million this weekend from 50 territories, including such major new markets as Italy, Russia and Brazil. The international total for the Disney-released Fox title now stands at an estimated $53.5 million, while the global tally is $89 million to date.

Warner Bros.’ IT Chapter Two rose to $223.5 million internationally with another estimated $11 million this weekend, bringing the global cume for the Stephen King adaptation to $417.4 million to date.

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, SEP. 27 – SUN, SEP. 29