| Rank | Title | Domestic Gross (Weekend) | Worldwide Gross (Cume) | Week # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thor: Ragnarok | $56,600,000 | $650,089,707 | 2 |
| 2 | Daddy's Home 2 | $30,000,000 | $30,429,000 | 1 |
| 3 | Murder on the Orient Express (2017) | $28,200,000 | $85,447,891 | 1 |
| 4 | A Bad Moms Christmas | $11,510,000 | $46,543,626 | 2 |
| 5 | Jigsaw | $3,420,000 | $79,054,093 | 3 |
Notable Box Office Stories:
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Thor: Ragnarok - It's weird to think that in November there's a high possibility that every weekend will be topped by a superhero film, but then again I think all semblance of time has no more meaning on the box office as Thor: Ragnarok held as a summer release this weekend to come in #1 again with $56.6M. That marks a weekend drop of 53% which is fairly normal for a MCU film though on the better end of the spectrum. The film has already passed $650M worldwide, surpassing the domestic and worldwide grosses of both Thor ($181M domestic/$449.3M worldwide) and Thor: The Dark World ($206.3M domestic/$644.5M worldwide) in just two weeks. Thor: Ragnarok has done exceptionally well for a Thor movie overseas, where it's made $56M in China and over $25M in South Korea and the UK. The film currently stands at the #12 spot on highest grossing MCU films domestically and should pass Doctor Strange's domestic pull ($232.6M) by next week even with a major drop. Speaking of let's talk competition as Thor faces a serious rival, The Star, the Sony animated film about the animals involved in the birth of Jesus. No I'm just kidding (not about The Star, that's actually a real movie) obviously I'm talking about Justice League, the fifth DCU film and the final major play by WB this year. There probably isn't a place on the Planet Earth without some kind of Justice League promotion and not surprisingly it's expected to open at least over $100M but likely much higher. The question is how much is that going to affect Thor and the answer is Thor is probably going to take one on the chin. Actually the best example we have to look to is Thor: The Dark World, which on its third weekend saw the opening of a massive November hit, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire which opened to $158M (a very reasonable area for Justice League to open in) and Thor dropped 61%. Certainly doesn't help that Thor and Justice League are in the exact same genre as well. Interestingly Thor: The Dark World recovered on its fourth weekend with a drop of just 21% but already the gross was in the teens. On the advantage Thor side the reviews for Ragnarok are far superior to Dark World (generally considered the worst MCU film) but that just may not be enough to stop a huge drop.
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Daddy's Home 2 - If there's one thing I've learned from playing Fantasy Movie League for a few years now it's that you never count out Daddy's Home. The first film came out to mediocre reviews but opened against The Force Awakens' second weekend and became a major counter-programming hit, opening to $38.7M and closing its run over $150M domestic. Personally I thought it was kind of a crazy move they didn't put Daddy's Home 2 in the exact same position this year against The Last Jedi, but it seems to at least not have affected the opening which was lower than the sequel but still opened to a very good #2 with $30M. It wasn't like the film had an easy ride to opening either, with concerns about casting Mel Gibson in a major role led as well as the film getting just horrendous reviews before opening. Seems audiences themselves don't mind though as the film scored the same A- on Cinemascore that the original got. That film held incredibly well, dropping just 24% on its second weekend, another reason I don't get why they didn't just use the exact same slot (Paramount has put Downsizing in that slot instead and frankly I would have switched them around). However the play here could still be a good one. Daddy's Home 2 is the only major PG-13 comedy out right now and could be an excuse to bring the family and the film could be profiting off the very odd summer like November we are having. Also side note both Daddy's Home films have a budget of $69M so clearly someone at Paramount's accounting department is having a good laugh.
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Murder on the Orient Express (2017) - It's telling of how poorly so many films made for older audiences have done this year that I'm genuinely surprised at how strong the opening for Murder on the Orient Express was. The film opened at #3 with $28.2M and has also had a great run overseas earning $57.5M so far internationally, mostly lead by the UK. MOTOE is directed by and starring Kenneth Branagh and is based on one of Agatha Christie's most famous novels starring her most famous detective, Hercule Poirot. The mustachioed detective was once fairly popular on the big screen lead by the 1974 Murder on the Orient Express. However the last time we had a theatrical Poirot film was in 1988 with Appointment with Death produced by Canon Films, with Poirot since being played to great acclaim on the small screen by David Suchet. As such there has been an extreme lack of representation for Christie on the big screen for a while, and it seems the film couldn't come at a better time. While MOTOE '17 feels like a film made for older audiences, 49% of the audience was under the age of 35 and 56% of the total audience was female. This isn't too surprising to me as we are in the middle of a true crime boom, one that has been lead in large part by young female audiences. Not to mention Christie still remains as one of the most popular authors of all time. It also doesn't hurt the film has a major A-list cast that can appeal to everyone from Shakespeare fans to Star Wars fans to Hamilton fans. With a possible sequel tease it could begin a minor revival for Christie and the classic murder mystery genre as a whole.
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Oscar Movie Round-up - This year I really learned to not get my hopes up for successful limited releases to turn into massive wide release hits but boy Lady Bird just keeps impressing. This week the film managed to crack the top ten coming in at #10 with $1.2M in just 37 theaters, a per theater average of $33,766. The real hope for Lady Bird outside Oscar love would be that it has a similar life to La La Land which just kept expanding to great per theater averages and had an amazing run. Lady Bird may not do the same but unlike other Oscar favorites this year the film appeals to young teen girls and if it catches on in that market it could be a big hit. The big new Oscar movie release this weekend was Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, the latest from In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths writer/director Martin McDonagh and surprisingly the biggest front-runner for Best Picture right now which opened in 4 theaters to $320K, a per theater average of $80K. The main reason why Three Billboards is leading the pack is that the film won the People's Choice award at TIFF, a major predictor as 8 of the 10 previous winners have been nominated for Best Picture and two of those have won. The marketing for Three Billboards has been great so it will be interesting to see how well it expands in the coming weeks since while predictors have it currently leading the pack I don't think it's quite getting the same Oscar buzz it should be.
Films Reddit Wants to Follow
This is a segment where we keep a weekly tally of currently showing films that aren't in the Top 5 that fellow redditors want updates on. If you'd like me to add a film to this chart, make a comment in this thread.
| Title | Domestic Gross (Cume) | Worldwide Gross (Cume) | Budget | Week # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spider-man: Homecoming | $334,058,714 | $880,024,498 | $175M | 18 |
| Dunkirk | $187,948,479 | $524,848,479 | $100M | 16 |
| IT | $326,184,834 | $682,984,834 | $35M | 9 |
| Blade Runner 2049 | $88,001,297 | $243,026,191 | $150M | 6 |
Notable Film Closings
| Title | Domestic Gross | Worldwide Gross | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wonder Woman | $412,563,408 | $821,763,408 | $149M |
| American Assassin | $36,249,674 | $61,917,826 | $30M |
| Logan Lucky | $27,780,977 | $44,877,431 | $29M |
As always /r/boxoffice is a great place to share links and other conversations about box office news.
Also you can see the archive of all Box Office Week posts at /r/moviesboxoffice.