by Nathaniel R
With all but one (Dunkirk) of the Best Picture nominees still in or back in theaters (Get Out returned for the weekend at 468 screens after its blockbuster run nearly a full year ago) and most* of them wise enough to expand slightly to exploit any possible Best Picture bump, let's look at the top 30 movies and see how well they did and in what context...
| Weekend Box Office (Jan 26th-28th) | |
| TOP THIRTY | |
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| 1. 🔺 Maze Runner: The Death Cure $23.5 NEW |
6. 12 Strong $8.6 (cum. $29.7) |
| 2. Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle $16.4 (cum. $338) |
7. Den of Thieves $8.3 (cum. $28.5) |
| 3. 🔺 Hostiles $10 (cum. $12) |
8.🔺 The Shape of Water ... $5.7 (cum. $37.6) CAPSULE | PODCAST | SCREENPLAY |
| 4 The Greatest Showman $9.5 (cum. $126) REVIEW | ANOTHER HIT MUSICAL |
9. Paddington 2 $5.5 (cum. $32) REVIEW |
| 5. The Post $8.8 (cum. $58.5) REVIEW | OSCAR KICK-OFF |
10.🔺 Padmaavat $4.2 NEW |
While the final installment of The Maze Runner owned the weekend and The Greatest Showman continued to defy the odds by climbing UP a rung in the top ten in its 6th week, the big news of the week was the Oscar nominations. Guillermo del Toro's Oscar frontish-runner Shape of Water took the most advantage of the news and jumped an incredible 160% up from last weekend's gross. That makes sense since it dominated headlines and was somewhat underseen with a strange underperformance to date. That should change now with a second chance to find an an appreciate audience. The Post, still in the top five, wasn't able to capitalize on its 2 nominations but to hold fairly well but in fairness it was already popular so it didn't have much to gain.
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| 11. SW VIII: The Last Jedi $4.1 (cum. $610.7) PODCAST | REVIEW | SECOND TAKE | 16. 🔺 I Tonya $2.9 (cum. $18.8) REVIEW | FYC ALLISON JANNEY |
| 12.🔺 Forever My Girl $3.7 (cum. $9.2) | 17. 🔺 Phantom Thread $2.8 (cum. $10.6) REYNOLDS VS ALMA | HARRIET'S CAMEO |
| 13.🔺 Three Billboards... $3.6 (cum. $37) REVIEW | WILLOUGHBY & DIXON |
18. Darkest Hour $2.1 (cum. $45.1) CAPSULE | SECOND VISIT |
| 14. The Commuter $3.4 (cum. $31.4) REVIEW | 19. 🔺 Lady Bird $1.9 (cum. $41.6) REVIEW | TEAM EXPERIENCE | PODCAST |
| 15. Insidious The Last Key $3.2 (cum. $63.4) | 20. Coco $1.4 (cum. $202.7) REVIEW | FEELING SEEN |
Lady Bird returned to wide release and Three Billboards added 500 theaters and both were rewarded though Billboards got the bigger boost. Phantom Thread and Darkest Hour though, like The Post, weren't able to gain so much as prevent much of a drop. Still, Phantom Thread surpassed Inherent Vice this weekend so it's no longer P.T. Anderson's lowest grosser after his little seen debut Hard Eight. It will need another strong week to get past The Master or Punch-Drunk Love, though.
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| 21. Proud Mary $1.3 (cum. $19.2) | 26. Wonder $430k (cum. $130.5) |
| 22. Call Me By Your Name $1.3 (cum. $11.3) REVIEWISH | SCREENPLAY | SEX | 27. All the Money in the World $225k (cum. $24.5) REVIEW |
| 23. Pitch Perfect 3 $1.3 (cum. $102.6) REVIEW |
28. Thor Ragnarok $183k (cum. $313.6) REVIEW | YOUR QUEEN |
| 24. Ferdinand $950k (cum. $80.4) | 29. 🔺 Get Out $170k (cum. $175.8) PEELE & KALUUYA | SCREENPLAY | THAT HOUSE |
| 25. Molly's Game $900K (cum. $25.9) | 30. Daddy's Home 2 $150k (cum. $103.7) |
🔺 = new or significant theater expansion numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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Post BP Nominations % gains or losses?
Shape of Water +160%
Three Billboards +87%
Lady Bird +61%
Call Me By Your Name -6%
Phantom Thread -11%
Darkest Hour -20%
The Post -24%
n/a
Dunkirk and Get Out
Other gains post Oscar nomination
The Insult (foreign film nominee) +162%
The Breadwinner (animated nominee) +51%
Faces Places (documentary nominee) +44%
Florida Project (supporting actor nominee) +42%
I Tonya (actress nominee) +3%
* Which brings us to Call Me By Your Name which confuses us yet again. It was agonizingly slow to expand, finally doing so last week but post Best Picture nomination it added... zero theaters. What gives?
What did you see this weekend?
ICYMI
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