It’s been three weeks now with the top three films dominating the box office. “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” “The Grinch,” and “Creed II” have steadily kept those top three spots, providing for what would seemingly be a boring month at the box office, at least narratively. But yet, here we are, and there’s plenty to talk about including outstanding audience retentions holds for all the films in the top 10 especially family fare (“The Grinch,” “Instant Family,” ‘Ralph’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’ all showing impressive holds from last week).
The major news this weekend came from those prestige fall films making their limited debuts and those expanding into more theaters as Golden Globe nominations were announced. Oh, and there’s that new Warner Bros./DC superhero film, “Aquaman,” making some serious waves in China. But before we get to Jason Momoa’s fish-man movie, let’s talk about “Green Book” and “The Favourite.”
Fresh off scoring multiple Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, and Screenplay, Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” moved up the charts slightly with a #7 showing and a nearly $4 million showing in its fourth weekend of release. With “A Star is Born” leaving the top 10, and pretty much everyone continuing to love Rami Malek in “Bohemian Rhapsody” (an incredibly small -25.1% drop in its 6th week at the box office), it appears that moviegoers are pretty content with what’s in theaters right now (the movie has almost made $600 million worldwide!!). And even though “Green Book” isn’t the best-reviewed film of the year, it’s definitely a crowd-pleaser and will probably keep sticking around in the top 10 for a while.
READ MORE ‘Aquaman’ Tidal Wave Hits China As Superhero Film Scores Epic Debut Box Office
Also creeping up the charts, expanding to just under 100 theaters is filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite.” After a massive debut, and an equally impressive second weekend of expansion, the period dramedy continues to impress, pulling in $1.4 million from just 91 theaters and falling just outside the top 10. As the film gains more theaters in the coming weeks, it’ll be interesting to see just how high “The Favourite” can climb.
Switching gears, and continents, perhaps the biggest news this weekend at the box office happened in China, as “Aquaman” made its highly-anticipated debut early. The WB film had a massive opening day, eclipsing every previous DCEU film in the Middle Kingdom, and the underwater superhero epic just gained steam on Saturday and Sunday, turning in an estimated $93.6 million over its first weekend. As we mentioned on Friday, compared to the opening weekends of the previous DCEU champ, ‘Batman v. Superman’ ($55.7 million in its Chinese debut), the total for “Aquaman” is nothing short of a massive win for WB/DC, setting a terrific state for the film as it begins its international rollout before hitting the U.S. on December 21.
Making their limited release debuts are three major awards contenders, led by “Mary Queen of Scots.” The Saoirse Ronan/Margot Robbie film opened in 4 locations, earning an excellent $50,000 per-theater-average (PTA); the 6th highest indie opening of 2018. While the period piece drama’s relatively low Rotten Tomatoes score (67%) isn’t high as the aforementioned “Green Book” and “The Favourite,” it doesn’t seem to have made a difference, but the box office story on the film will truly be told in the coming weeks.
READ MORE: ‘Ralph 2’ Continues Box Office Dominance As ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Flops Hard In China
Joining “Mary Queen of Scots” in limited release is the Natalie Portman film “Vox Lux.” Much like ‘Mary,’ “Vox Lux” hasn’t had the glowing reviews of other fall films, but with the star power of Portman, that was enough: the movie opened with a very strong $27,042 per screen average from six theaters.
Rounding out the major awards contenders debuting in limited release is the Julia Roberts/Lucas Hedges family drama, “Ben is Back.” The movie fell behind ‘Lux’ and ‘Mary’ in the arthouse sweepstakes battle of this weekend, but still took in a healthy $20,243 per screen average from four theaters.
Next week is sure to shake up the top 10, as “Once Upon a Deadpool” hits 500 theaters with a special holiday re-release, Clint Eastwood’s awards contender “The Mule” debuts nationwide, and “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is expected to have a big debut. Oh yeah, and Peter Jackson’s “Mortal Engines” is looking like it could face trouble finding audiences considering low-wattage buzz and a paltry 38% Rotten Tomatoes score.
Here’s the entire top 10 for December 7 to December 9.
1. Ralph Breaks the Internet — $16,141,000 ($140,858,885)
2. Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch — $15,175,000 ($223,463,175)
3. Creed II — $10,322,515 ($96,471,912)
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — $6,805,000 ($145,207,524)
5. Bohemian Rhapsody — $6,000,000 ($173,569)
6. Instant Family — $5,600,000 ($54,160,742)
7. Green Book Uni. $3,935,000 +($19,976,9112)
8. Robin Hood — $3,585,000 ($27,289,193)
9. The Possession of Hannah Grace — $3,175,000 ($11,506,549)
10. Widows — $3,100,000 ($38,155,806)