Weekend Box Office: Jumanji wins, Richard Jewell and Black Christmas lose
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle surprised just about everybody when it dominated box offices, emerging from 2017 as one of the year’s highest-grossing movies. Studios are no doubt hoping for a similar showing from its sequel, The Next Level, and, despite middling reviews, things are looking good. With a $60.1 million domestic haul, the film came close to doubling the opening gross of its predecessor. It also, in a herculean feat, ended Frozen II’s three-week streak as box office champ.
Frozen II still pulled in more than $19 million to clock in at second place, while Rian Johnson’s delightful Knives Out held steady in the third spot, which is good news for people who’d like more original films from the industry’s A-listers. Having weeks-old releases dominating the charts isn’t good news for the weekend’s other big releases, Richard Jewell and Black Christmas, which rounded out the top five with some not-so-impressive numbers.
Richard Jewell, a solid outing from Clint Eastwood that’s suffered from ample controversy in the wake of its release, pulled in only $5 million across 2,502 screens. A true story of the security guard who saved countless lives after discovering a bomb at the site of the 1996 Olympics, the movie may be facing legal action from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for its unsavory depiction of late journalist Kathy Scruggs. Black Christmas, the second remake of Bob Clark’s influential 1974 slasher, pulled in roughly $4.4 million on 2,625 screens. Sofia Takal’s movie has also endured a mixed critical reception, with our own Beatrice Loayza saying it “understands the frustrations and lived horrors of modern sexual politics, but stumbles over its scares and the finer points of its feminist messaging.” Per Variety, both films were expected to earn at least $10 million.
In better news, both the Safdie Brothers’ Uncut Gems and Jay Roach’s Bombshell pulled in solid numbers in limited release, with the former raking in $525,498 in five theaters and latter pulling $312,000 from four theaters. That bodes well for their upcoming wide releases. Terrence Malick’s A Hidden Life was less impressive, debuting to just $52,000 in five theaters.
For a more detailed analysis of this weekend’s box office, check out Box Office Mojo.