by Nathaniel R
What did you see over the weekend? Though a lot of Oscar hopefuls struggled, this weekend was but the preamble to a big holiday weekend so this coming week will tell a much broader story of which films the public is responding too. More commentary after the jump...
| Weekend Box Office (Nov 16-18) |
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| W I D E 800+ screens |
PLATFORM / LIMITED excluding prev. wide |
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| 1 🔺 Fantastic Beasts 2 $62.1 on 4163 screens *NEW* |
1 🔺 Boy Erased $1.3 on 409 screens (cum. $2.6) Podcast |
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| 2 Dr Seuss' The Grinch $38.5 on 4141 screens (cum. $126.9) Posterized |
2🔺 Can You Ever Forgive Me $893k on 555 screens (cum. $5) Review, Podcast |
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| 3 Bohemian Rhapsody $16 on 3810 screens (cum. $128.2) Review, Podcast |
3 Beautiful Boy $582k on 558 screens (cum. $6.4) Podcast |
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| 4 🔺 Instant Family $14.5 on 3286 screens *NEW* | 4 Free Solo $467k on 187 screens (cum. $8.9) |
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| 5🔺Widows $12.3 on 2803 screens *NEW* Review, Podcast |
5 🔺 Green Book $320k on 25 screens *NEW* Review, Podcast |
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| 6 The Nutcracker and... $4.7 on 2635 screens (cum. $43.9) Review |
6 Johnny English Strikes Again $115k on 77 screens (cum. $4.2) |
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| 7 A Star is Born $4.2 on 2010 screens (cum. $185.7) Review, Soundtracking, Podcast |
7 🔺Maria By Callas $96k on 29 screens (cum. $470k) |
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| 8 Overlord $3.7 on 2859 screens (cum. $17.6) |
8 Suspiria $95k on 53 screens (cum. $2.2) Podcast |
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| 9 The Girl in the Spider's Web $2.5 (cum. $13.2) |
9 🔺 At Eternity's Gate $92k on 4 screens *NEW* Review |
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| 10 Burn the Stage: The Movie $2.4 (cum. $3.6) *NEW* |
10 🔺 The Front Runner $75k on 22 screens (cum. $166k) Review, Podcast |
| 🔺 = new or expanding theater count numbers (in millions unless otherwise noted) from box office mojo |
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Some notes...
• About the disappointing returns for Oscar hopefuls. It doesn't necessarily spell doom. As Murtada pointed out on the podcast, if all the Oscar hopefuls are tanking, it might matter a lot less to each of them. On the other hand it's surely to early to tell about a lot of them since Oscar hopefuls tend to stay in theaters a long time (if not as huge swaths of them) and get several boosts along the way in public awareness if they start faring well with critics awards, top ten lists, word of mouth, or other nominations. The Front Runner and Green Book, for example are both star driven and will amp up publicity efforts when they expand.
• That result for Widows though is a head-scratcher. With so many stars, an exciting trailer, and great reviews... what is it that kept the mainstream public from rushing to it?
• I found this bit interesting from box office mojo. Look at how closely Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born are performing. They're neck and neck, the main difference being that A Star is Born had a smaller budget and a smaller opening weekend but a better hold each weekend (thus far).
• Free Solo is now losing screens but it's reasonable to hope that it will hit $10 million before it closes in what has been an inarguably sensational box office year for documentaries; if it hits $10 million it will be the FOURTH documentary this year to pass into 8 figures (by contrast just one did last year). Won't You Be My Neighbor ($22.6), RBG ($14), and Three Identical Strangers ($12.3) already accomplished that rare mark in 2018. Which of those four biggest dc hits do you think will manage Oscar nominations for Best Documentary?
• In a generally weak weekend for moviegoing, At Eternity's Gate had the best per screen average.