Box office smiles on ‘The Grinch’
Latest outing of holiday favorite lands at No. 1.
LOS ANGELES – You’re a mean one – and you’re No. 1 – Mr. Grinch.
Dr. Seuss’ “The Grinch” sledded past mixed reviews and made off with $66 million to top the weekend North American box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Last week’s top film, the Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” starring Rami Malek as Freddie Mercury, drops to second place with a $30.9 million weekend that brings its overall take to $100 million.
Illumination, the animators behind “Minions” and “Despicable Me,” produced the latest interpretation of Seuss’
1957 book that led to a 1966 TV special and first came to the big screen as a liveaction feature starring Jim Carrey in
2000.
The war-zombie horror hybrid “Overlord” was third with $10.1 million. Disney’s “The Nutcracker and The Four Realms” slid to fourth with $9.6 million.
The weekend’s other major debut, “The Girl in the Spider’s Web,” starring Claire Foy as hacker Lisbeth Salander, rounded out the top five with $8 million.
“Grinch,” narrated by Pharrell Williams, gives the title character, voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch, a back story in an orphanage and fills out the story of his foil Cindy Lou Who.
“The Grinch” was widely expected to be No. 1 with few other major openings this weekend, but it surpassed projections that had it bringing in closer to $60 million, continuing what’s become a trend in 2018.
“‘ The Grinch’ is just the latest in a string of overperformers,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “‘ Bohemian Rhapsody’ was bigger than expected, ‘ A Star Is Born’ was bigger than expected. It’s fueling a box-office surge.”
The industry has reached a cumulative box office total of $10 billion faster than in any other year, Dergarabedian says.
The Christmas theme of “The Grinch” could sustain it through the holidays, and Universal hopes it has a longer life than that.
“Illumination’s created such a classic take on this beloved character that audiences will be enjoying it for a really long time,” says Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution for Universal.
But big rivals loom soon, including “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” next week and “Ralph Breaks the Internet” on Nov. 21.
“We’ve got a lot of competition coming up for family audiences,” Dergarabedian says.
Final figures are expected Monday.