It’s a Jungle out there at box office
LOS ANGELES — As the smaller films vied for recognition at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards, big-budget blockbusters dominated the weekend’s box-office charts.
Sony’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle climbed to the top of the chart for the first time since its debut, bringing in about $37 million in its third week for a cumulative total of approximately $246 million, according to figures from measurement firm ComScore.
Universal’s Insidious: The Last Key, the only new wide release last weekend, opened impressively with $29.5 million to place second on the box-office charts.
January has become a strong month for debuts in the horror genre. The Last Key is among the biggest horror debuts ever in January behind Split (another Blumhouse title) and The Devil Inside.
The fourth installment in Blumhouse’s Insidious series, The Last Key is the secondbiggest opening in the franchise after Insidious Chapter 2 opened with $40 million. It earned a B- rating on CinemaScore and a 27 percent “rotten” rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes.
In third place, Disney’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi continues to hold strong despite losing its No. 1 slot, adding about $24 million in its fourth week for a cumulative average of almost $573 million.
Coming in fourth, Fox’s The Greatest Showman had the smallest decline (just 11 percent) among the top 10 films, raking in an additional $13.8 million after three weeks in theaters for a cumulative $77 million.
Rounding out the top five, Universal’s Pitch Perfect 3 added another $10.3 million in its third week for a cumulative $86 million in earnings.
STX Entertainment’s Molly’s Game, now in its second week, and Focus’ Darkest Hour, now in its seventh, both saw increases in earnings after adding theaters.
The Jessica Chastain-led Molly’s Game added 1,337 screens and earned $7 million over the weekend, a 198 percent increase, for a cumulative total of $14 million. Darkest Hour, starring Gary Oldman, added 790 locations, which translated into $6 million in earnings over the weekend, a 16 percent increase, for a cumulative $28 million in earnings.
Neon Rated’s I, Tonya, taking on an additional 193 screens for a total of 242, brought in $2.4 million, a 297 percent increase. To date, it has earned $5.4 million.
Fox’s The Post continued to perform very well in limited release ahead of a nationwide expansion Friday. The film, which was up for several awards at the Globes, including best drama, added 27 theaters and earned $1.7 million in its third weekend for an impressive per-screen average of $47,167 and a cumulative gross of $3.8 million.
Directed by Steven Spielberg (up for best director at the Golden Globes), the drama chronicles The Washington Post’s 1971 role in publishing what came to be known as the Pentagon Papers. Stars Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks were also nominated for awards for their performances in the film.
This week, Lionsgate opens the Liam Neeson-led action flick The Commuter.