USA TODAY US Edition

‘Coco’ lives it up at the box office; ‘Justice’ second

- Jake Coyle

NEW YORK – In a sleepy postThanks­giving weekend at the box office, Pixar’s Coco remained the top film for the second straight week while a number of Oscar contenders packed theaters in specialty release.

Coco again easily led all films with

$26.1 million in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. The acclaimed animated tale based on the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) has already racked up a global gross of $280 million, including record-breaking totals in Mexico and an impressive $75.6 million in China.

With no major wide releases, Justice League also held in second place with

$16.6 million in its third weekend. With a domestic total of $197.3 million in three weeks, the DC Comics superhero team-up isn’t going to catch Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok. The better-received Thor sequel has proved far mightier, with nearly $300 million in five weeks.

Family film Wonder, about a fifthgrade boy (Jacob Tremblay) with facial irregulari­ties, likewise stayed in third with $12.5 million. The sleeper hit of the season, also starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, has taken in $88 million in three weeks.

Among new releases, most successful was James Franco’s The Disaster Artist. The comedy opened with $1.2 million on 19 screens, good for a perscreen average of $64,000. The film, directed by and starring Franco, is about the making of the infamously bad cult movie The Room.

With most studios staying clear ahead of the impending release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (which forecasts peg for a $200 million-plus debut), much of the weekend’s action was with awards-season releases. They helped drive the biggest post-Thanksgivi­ng weekend in five years, according to comScore.

Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird, which spent the week collecting honors, earned $4.5 million, bringing its total to $17.1 million.

The Shape of Water, a monster-movie fantasy from director Guillermo del Toro, opened in two New York theaters with $167,000. (The $83,400 per-screen average ranks as among the best of the year.) Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri earned $4.5 million. The Frances McDormand-led film has grossed $13.7 million.

The coming-of-age tale Call Me By Your Name, which topped the Gotham Awards, remained in very limited release — four theaters — and pulled in an excellent per-screen average of $67,000. The film’s young star, Timothée Chalamet, has emerged as one the leading best-actor contenders.

Also of note: Woody Allen’s latest, Wonder Wheel, opened with $140,500 in five theaters; Winston Churchill biopic Darkest Hour took in $106,000 in four theaters; and the 20th anniversar­y release of Titanic grossed $415,000 in 87 theaters.

Final figures are expected Monday.

 ??  ?? Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) and his loyal dog Dante are still leading the movie pack with “Coco.” PIXAR
Miguel (voiced by Anthony Gonzalez) and his loyal dog Dante are still leading the movie pack with “Coco.” PIXAR

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