‘Jumanji,’ ‘Insidious’ top ‘Star Wars’ in its fourth weekend
LOS ANGELES » Move over, “Star Wars,” there are some new box office champs this weekend. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has topped the charts after three weekends in theaters, and newcomer “Insidious: The Last Key” opened in second, pushing “The Last Jedi” into third place.
Columbia Pictures says Sunday that the Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart-led “Jumanji” is estimated to have earned an additional $36 million this weekend, bringing its total to $244.4 million.
“This is all about ‘Jumanji’s’ staying power,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. “This is a movie that was overshadowed by all the excitement around ‘The Last Jedi,’ and yet ‘Jumanji’ just kept plugging away and drawing audiences throughout the holiday ... This is kind of unheard of for a movie this size.”
In second place is the horror film “Insidious: The Last Key,” the fourth in the franchise, which earned $29.3 million. The Universal and Blumhouse Pictures film even outperformed the third chapter in the series. That film launched to $22.7 million in June of 2015.
“We could not be more thrilled with that debut. It’s a fantastic result,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “The release date worked in our favor. There hasn’t been a similar film in a couple of months. “
Young audiences drove the “Insidious” box office with 59 percent under the age of 25. Whether or not they enjoyed the film is another question: It got a scary B- CinemaScore.
“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” fell to third place with $23.6 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. The space blockbuster has grossed $572.5 million to date.
“The Greatest Showman” took fourth place with $13.8 million and “Pitch Perfect 3” rounded out the top five with $10.2 million.
Awards seasons films continue to expand throughout January, too, like Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut “Molly’s Game,” which added over 1,300 theaters this weekend and took in $7 million. The Jessica Chastain-starrer about the real life “poker princess” Molly Bloom is up for two Golden Globe awards Sunday evening — best actress and best screenplay.
The Winston Churchill film “Darkest Hour” starring Gary Oldman (who is up for a best actor Golden Globe) also added 790 theaters and took in $6.4 million.
The weekend is up around 18 percent from the same weekend last year, which Dergarabedian sees as a sign that perhaps the 2018 box office will be stronger and more steady than 2017.
“2017 was not consistent. It was volatile, it was a rollercoaster,” Dergarabedian said. “This sets the tone for what we’re hoping is a consistent and strong 2018 box office.”