Weekend Actuals: ‘Coco’ Sings w/ $50.8M/$72.9M 3-Day/5-Day, ‘Justice League’ Holds w/ $41.0M/$60.0M

Monday Update:

Coco is whistling a happy tune, coming in above its Sunday estimate with a confirmed $50.8 million debut.

Counting the Wednesday and Thursday of the Thanksgiving holiday, the animated offering from Disney/Pixar posted a five-day opening of $72.9 million.

That fell short of the top 10 Thanksgiving grosses of all time, ranking at #11.

However, it did start 31 percent above Pixar’s last Thanksgiving release The Good Dinosaur from 2015, and also earned more through its first five days than Pixar’s summer offering Cars 3 earned through its first six.

Last weekend’s leader Justice League came in second place but fell dramatically, dropping 56 percent while no other film in the top 10 fell more than 30 percent.

The film took in $41.0 million for the three-day, $60.0 million for the five-day — down a bit from its Sunday estimate.

On the plus side, the film did exhibit a better second-weekend hold than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Man of Steel, or Suicide Squad.

Several titles also did great in limited release, led by Call Me By Your Name which earned the top per-theater average of the entire year.

Starting on only four theaters, the film from Sony Pictures Classics earned a $103,233 average, the best since La La Land‘s $176,221 average in December of last year.

Comparisons:

The top 10 films this weekend earned a total $178.4 million over the three-day. That’s down 7 percent from last weekend, but up 22 percent over the same weekend last year.

Year-to-date box office is down 4.1 percent from last year, which sounds bad but actually continues a noticeable improvement over the past few weeks.

In fact, following this year’s historically low-performing summer, -4.1 percent is actually the best the year-to-date box office comparison has stood since -4.3 percent in early August.

The full table of weekend actuals is at bottom, after our Sunday update featuring fuller numbers and analysis.

— written by Jesse Rifkin

Sunday Update:

Coco sang loud and clear at the box office this weekend, bringing in $49 million over the three-day frame and $71 million since its opening on Wednesday. That was more than good enough for a No. 1 finish, though it fell a bit short of last year’s Moana, which debuted to $55.5 million over the three-day frame and $81.1 million over the five-day frame last Thanksgiving. That said, it improved upon the performance of Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur, which opened to $39.1 million over the three-day and $55.5 million over the five-day over Thanksgiving weekend 2015.

Coco‘s stellar reviews were undoubtedly a factor in its success this weekend. Perhaps even better, it rated an A+ Cinemascore from audiences, which bodes well for the animated effort’s long-term playability through the holiday season. In the record books, it now ranks as the fourth biggest Thanksgiving opening ever, behind only Frozen ($94 million), Moana ($82 million) and Toy Story 3 ($80 million). Demographically, Coco‘s audience this weekend was 53% female, 73% families, and 36% under the age of 12.

Running a reasonably close second was Warner Bros.’ Justice League, which took in $40.7 million over the three-day frame and $62.8 million since Wednesday. The superhero team-up film demonstrated a good hold after its weaker-than-expected $93 million debut last weekend. The film’s 57% drop is an improvement over several previous DCEU titles including Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (69%) and Suicide Squad (67%). Wonder Woman remains the champ in that department, however, with a drop of just 43% in its second weekend. While much was made of the Justice League’s sub-$100 million debut last weekend, the hold was more solid than expected.

In third place, Lionsgate’s Wonder continued to impress, grossing $22.3 million over three days and $32.2 million over five days, giving it a stellar total of $69.4 million in its first ten days. That represents a drop of just 19% from last weekend’s three-day total. The YA adaptation’s box office run thus far has shades of The Blind Side‘s performance back in 2009, though it probably won’t reach the heights of that Oscar-winning Sandra Bullock drama, which crossed $100 million by the same period and $255 million domestically by the end of its theatrical run.

In fourth, Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok grossed another added another $24.3 million to its already-phenomenal total ($16.8 million over the three-day frame), giving it a phenomenal $277.5 million in North America thus far. Fox’s Murder on the Orient Express, meanwhile, finished in fifth place, grossing $13 million over the three-day frame and $18.6 million over five days. The $55 million thriller has been a hit with adult audiences this season, and should finish north of $100 million domestically when all is said and done.

Further down the chart, Daddy’s Home 2 came in sixth in its third week, adding another $13.2 million to its coffers (and $18.6 million since Wednesday) for a domestic total of $72.6 million. Sony’s faith-based animated comedy The Star nabbed another $6.8 million in its second weekend (and $9.5 million over the five-day frame), performing strongly enough with faith-based audiences to register despite Coco’s gargantuan presence in the marketplace.

In eighth place, Denzel Washington starrer Roman J. Israel, Esq. grossed $4.5 million in its wide expansion ($6.2 million since Wednesday), for a so-so per-theater average of $2,705 in 1,669 locations. Elsewhere, A Bad Moms Christmas banked $5.01 million over the three-day frame ($6.77 five-day) for a domestic total of $59.7 million after four weeks.

Check back here again on Monday for the weekend actuals numbers, plus further analysis.

Limited releases:

Sony Classics’ freshman drama Call Me By Your Name took in a whopping $404,874 in just four theaters over the weekend, launched by almost-universally rapturous reviews. Starring Armie Hammer and Timothee Chalamet, the film enjoyed an impressive $101,000-plus per-screen average, and with strong Oscar buzz its long-term prospects are encouraging.

Focus Features’ Darkest Hour, in which a nearly-unrecognizable Gary Oldman plays Winston Churchill during the early days of WWII, also had a strong debut, grossing $248,000 in four theaters. That was good for a per-theater average of $62,000, boosted by strong reviews and strong Oscar buzz, particularly for Oldman’s lead performance.

Critical favorite Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri enjoyed a successful expansion, cracking the Top 10 with $4.4 million over three days and $5.8 million over five days. That gave it a solid per-theater average of $9,924 in 590 locations, which bodes well for further expansions in the coming weeks.

A24’s Lady Bird continued to pull impressive numbers in its fourth week in theaters, grossing another $4 million over the three-day frame (good for a per-theater average of $5,110) and $5.3 million since Wednesday.

Bleecker Street’s The Man Who Invented Christmas starring Dan Stevens and Christopher Plummer finished its opening frame with a so-so $1.79 million since opening on Wednesday ($1.34 million three-day) in 626 theaters.

Overseas update:

Coco pulled in another $30.7 million internationally over the three-day period, including a strong $18.2 million debut in China. Additionally, it crossed the $50 million mark in Mexico over the weekend, adding another $2.2 million to its coffers in a historic run there.

Justice League continued to top international markets in its second frame, grossing $72.2 million in 66 markets. That brought its overseas total to $309.8 million and its worldwide cume to $481.3 million.

Thor: Ragnarok crossed $500 million internationally this weekend after bringing in another $11 million in overseas markets. Its global total is closing in on $800 million after five weeks.

– written by Chris Eggertsen

Monday’s 3-Day Weekend Actuals for Friday, November 24 – Sunday, November 26, 2017:

Sunday’s 3-Day Studio Weekend Estimates for Friday, November 24 – Sunday, November 26, 2017: