‘Coco’ wins as ‘The Last Jedi’ waits in the wings
LOS ANGELES: With anticipation building for ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’, DisneyPixar’s animated comedy ‘Coco’ handily won its third straight crown at a moderate North American box office with US$18.3 million at 3,748 sites.
‘Coco’ joined ‘The Hitman’s Bodyguard’, ‘Fate of the Furious’ and ‘Split’ as 2017 titles to top the domestic box office for three weekends in a row. The major studios have held off on any new openings since the Thanksgiving holiday but that changes on the evening of Dec. 14 when previews start for Disney-Lucasfilm’s ‘The Last Jedi’ amid expectations of an opening weekend in the US$200 million range.
‘Coco’, a colourful celebration of Mexico’s Day of the Dead, showed impressive holding power with a 33% decline from its second weekend to lift its 19day domestic total to US$135.5 million. It’s performed similarly to Disney’s animated ‘Moana’, which opened at the same time last year and had totalled US$144.7 million after three weekends.
There was a single wide opening this weekend with Broad Green Pictures’ final movie, ‘Just Getting Started’, showing little traction with moviegoers with US$3.2 million at 2,146 locations. ‘Just Getting Started’, a poorly reviewed action comedy starring Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones, wound up in 10th place behind A24’s sixth weekend of awards contender ‘Lady Bird’ with US$3.5 million at 1,557 venues.
The fourth weekend of Warner Bros.-DC Entertainment’s superhero team-up ‘Justice League’ finished with just over half of ‘Coco’ with US$9.6 million at 3,508 locations with a 42% decline. ‘Justice League’ has taken in US$212.1 million in 24 days and is the 10th biggest movie of 2017 -- but it’s also the lowest performer among the five DC Extended Universe movies. ‘Wonder Woman’ had hit US$318 million domestically at the 24day point in June.
‘Justice League’ has gone past US$600 million worldwide with an international total of US$401 million. Its performance pushed Warner Bros. past the US$5 billion mark worldwide for 2017. The studio announced Sunday that it’s become the first studio to cross the US$2 billion mark for the year, led by ‘Wonder Woman’ with US$412 million and ‘It’ with US$327 million.
Lionsgate’s third weekend of inspirational drama ‘Wonder’ finished in third place with US$8.5 million at 3,519 North American sites with a 35% decline. ‘Wonder’ became the 27th movie of the year to cross the US$100 million mark -- and one of the least costly among that group, given its US$20 million budget. Production companies on the Jacob Tremblay vehicle are Mandeville Films, Participant Media, Walden Media and TIK Films.
A24’s expansion of James Franco’s comedy-drama ‘The Disaster Artist’ came in fourth with a solid US$6.4 million at 840 venues, up from 19 last weekend. That edged the sixth weekend of Disney-Marvel’s ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ with US$6.3 million at 3,047 sites, which put its domestic total above US$300 million. The third Thor movie was a key factor in November’s box office staying ahead of the same month last year.
Paramount’s fifth weekend of ‘Daddy’s Home 2’ finished sixth with US$6 million at 3,263 locations, down only 21%, to lift its 31-day total to US$91.2 million. The original ‘Daddy’s Home’ wound up its domestic run two years ago with US$150.4 million.
Fox’s fifth frame of ‘Murder on the Orient Express’ followed with US$5.1 million at 3,201 sites for a total of US$92. 7 million. The Kenneth Branagh vehicle, which has a US$55 million budget, has been a solid performer internationally with US$182 million in grosses outside the US.
Sony’s fourth weekend of faithbased animated drama ‘The Star’ came in eighth with US$3.7 million at 2,976 venues, off only 10%. The film, co-financed by Walden Media and released through the Affirm label, has totalled US$32.3 million in 24 days. — Reuters