What did you see this weekend?
Sunday, December 16, 2018 at 11:50PM
NATHANIEL R in Capernaum, If Beale Street Could Talk, Into the Spider-Verse, The Favourite, The House That Jack Built, The Mule

by Nathaniel R

What did you see this week? I caught up with Ralph Breaks the Internet and *gasp* Paddington 2 (I regret my life choices that put the latter off this long). Here's what general audiences and big city moviegoers were checking out...

Weekend Box Office (Estimates)
(December 14th-16th)

W I D E
800+ screens
PLATFORM / LIMITED
excluding prev. wide
1 🔺 Into the Spider-Verse $35.4 on 3813 screens *NEW* Review
1 🔺 The Favourite $2.5 on 439 screens (cum. $6.7) ReviewPodcast ❤️
2 🔺 The Mule $17.2 on 2588 screens *NEW* 
2 🔺 Mary Queen of Scots $700k on 66 screens (cum. $961k) Review 
3 The Grinch $11.5 on 3759 screens  (cum. $239.2) Posterized 
3 🔺 Vox Lux $244k on 325 screens 
(cum. $433k) Review Podcast
4 Ralph Breaks the Internet $9.5 on 3575 screens (cum. $154.4)   4🔺If Beale Street Could Talk $219k on 4 screens *NEW*  Review
5🔺 Mortal Engines $7.5 on 3103 screens *NEW*
5  At Eternity's Gate $188k on 178 screens (cum. $1.4) Review

 

Into the Spider-Verse ruled the weekend on both brand-awareness, superhero infallibility (still... we keep wondering when the bubble will burst) and good word of mouth, the latter because the film is actually very good. In other key wide release news, Clint Eastwood is still a draw, and Mortal Engines is off a rough start given its $100 million budget.

Meanwhile Creed passed the $100 million mark and those who were quick to dub Green Book a flop might be chagrined to know that the film is hanging in there week to week and will eventually make a profit, if not quickly, since it's already earned as much as its budget (minus the P&A budget of course which can be substantial)

Bohemian Rhapsody has begun to lose screens in its 7th weekend. Overall it's performing very similarly to A Star is Born, from week to week by just a few million less... and they'll end the year as  the 11th and 12th biggest hits of 2018 unless Aquaman and Mary Poppins Returns both do gangbuster business and push them down a couple of notches (which is not unlikely). 

6 Creed II $5.3 on 3107 screens (cum. $104.8) Michael B Jordan Podcast
6 🔺 Ben is Back $145k on 29 screens (cum. $254k) Review
7 Bohemian Rhapsody $4.1 on 2213 screens (cum. $180.4)  ReviewPodcast
Can You Ever Forgive Me? $140k on 166 screens (cum. $7.2)ReviewPodcast ❤️
Instant Family $3.7 on 2860 screens (cum. $60.2)
8 🔺 Anna and the Apocalypse $135k on 138 screens (cum. $413k)
9 Fantastic Beasts 2 $3.6 on 2606 screens (cum. $151.6)
9  Free Solo $132k on 100 screens (cum. $10.7)  
10 Green Book $2.7 on 1215 screens (cum. $24.6) ReviewPodcast
10 🔺 The House that Jack Built $40k on 33 screens *NEW*

 

In limited release Can You Ever Forgive Me has pushed itself over 7 million while The Wife (slightly resurgent post Globe/SAG nominations -- which led to a significant if short re-expansion last week) has finally crossed 8 million. The best per screen average of the week went to If Beale Street Could Talk on just four screens. Capernaum earned a decent $9,000 per screen average given the tiny release without much publicity... hopefully awards season will boost its visibility.

But the big limited release news is still The Favourite, expanding to over 400 screens this weekend, it nearly hit the top ten.

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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