‘Ralph’ feeds Thanksgiving record
Sequels rule as ‘Creed II’ rings up $35.3 million
LOS ANGELES – Movie sequels are having their own Thanksgiving feast at the box office.
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” and “Creed II” took the top two spots on the North American charts and beat the openings for the original films, propelling record industry-wide grosses for the Thanksgiving weekend.
Studios on Sunday said Disney’s “Wreck-It Ralph” sequel earned an estimated $55.7 million for the three-day weekend and $84.5 million since opening Wednesday to take first place and become one of the biggest Thanksgiving openings of all time.
Its five-day Thanksgiving grosses are second only to “Frozen” at $94 million, and its three-day haul puts it in third place behind “Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Frozen.”
The film sees the return of the vocal talents of John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman, and it scored with audiences and critics.
“We’re very thankful for this weekend,” says Cathleen Taff, who oversees Disney’s theatrical distribution. “It was a fantastic start and a great way to kick off the holiday season.”
The “Rocky” spinoff “Creed II,” starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone, placed second with $35.3 million from the weekend and $55.8 million since Wednesday, far surpassing the first film’s Thanksgiving debut in 2015. The sequel directed by Steven Caple Jr. has Jordan’s Adonis Creed fighting the
son of Ivan Drago.
Third place went to “Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch,” which stars Benedict Cumberbatch in the title role and earned
$30.2 million in its third weekend. That was enough to beat the second weekend of “Fantastic Beasts” sequel (and “Harry Potter” offshoot) “The Crimes of Grindewald” ($29.7 million), starring Eddie Redmayne and Johnny Depp.
Rounding out the top five was Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” (No. 5, $13.9 million), with Rami Malek playing Freddie Mercury.
There was little left at the table for the latest version of “Robin Hood,” starring Taron Egerton. The poorly reviewed adventure grossed just $9.1 million for the weekend and $14.2 million in its first five days in theaters against a reported production budget of nearly $100 million.
The crowd-pleaser “Green Book,” starring Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen, expanded to more than
1,000 locations after a limited start and took ninth place with $5.4 million.
Peter Farrelly directed the film based on a true story of a road trip through the Jim Crow-era South. With awards buzz, good reviews and an Aplus grade from audiences on CinemaScore for the movie, Universal’s distribution chief Jim Orr says he expects it to have a long life at the domestic box office
Another awards season movie, the acclaimed period piece “The Favourite,” with Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Oliva Colman, opened in four locations to $420,000.
Overall, it was a remarkable Thanksgiving frame at the box office for the industry. It’s the first time ever that the total domestic box office has surpassed $300 million for the five days around the Thanksgiving holiday. Box office tracker Comscore is projecting a $314 million total.
“This is a perfectly fitting Thanksgiving for a year that’s had its share of records being broken,” says Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
Final figures are expected Monday.