This weekend’s box office saw the major debuts of three completely different films, with fairly different results. However, the worldwide story might be the most interesting aspect of the report this weekend. But before we travel overseas, we have to take a look at the domestic top 10 which was dominated by a young kid named Miles Morales, aka Spider-Man.
Debuting this weekend, “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” dominated the box office with a three-day total of $35.4 million. The animated superhero film entered Friday with near-universal acclaim (a stunning 97% on RT, with only 7 of the almost 250 reviews being “rotten”) and gave Sony a number one debut, on its way to securing its place among the year’s best animated films. While the $35.4 million isn’t comparable to the live-action “Spider-Man” films, this is a pretty great debut for a film that doesn’t feature Peter Parker in the lead, instead focusing on the new Spider-Man, Miles Morales.
That being said, fans didn’t care who was under the mask, as ‘Spider-Verse’ earned a spectacular A+ CinemaScore, signalling that audiences fell in love with the film just as much as early critics did. This means that it looks as if ‘Spider-Verse’ will stick around in the coming weeks as more films battle over the coveted Christmas-time box office money.
While not as impressive as “Spider-Man,” Clint Eastwood made some box office noise this weekend with his latest film, “The Mule.” Considered a late-season contender for awards, the film seems to be a fairly strong hit with audiences, with a #2 showing of $17 million. Critics didn’t seem overly impressed with Eastwood’s latest directorial effort (in which he also stars), with the film only earning a 62% on RT. Audiences, on the other hand, seem to enjoy the legendary icon’s latest with a solid A- CinemaScore. However, with the box office only getting more competitive in the coming weeks, it’ll be interesting to see how “The Mule” fares.
The final major debut comes from producer Peter Jackson with his “Mortal Engines” sci-fi/fantasy film. With a reported budget of over $100 million, Jackson’s film would have had to debut with a massive number to hope for profitability. Unfortunately, “Mortal Engines” landed in this week’s box office with a resounding thud. The film only earned $7.5 million, good for a #5 debut. This spells doom for Jackson’s latest, as many analysts predict the film could lose anywhere from $100 million to $150 million worldwide after everything is all said and done. Ouch.
Speaking of worldwide, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the real winner at this weekend’s box office – “Aquaman.” Jason Momoa’s superhero epic has yet to formally debut domestically, but continues to be a force overseas, particularly in China. After a massive debut in the Middle Kingdom last weekend, “Aquaman” continued to impress overseas, earning an incredible $126 million worldwide in the last three days, as it continues its international expansion. However, the big story is the Warner Bros. film’s dominance in China, as it now has a total of $189 million in the country alone after two weekends. Depending on how the film debuts next weekend in the domestic box office (against some serious competition), it’s not out of the realm of possibility that “Aquaman” could already have earned more money in China than it will domestically.
Overall, the film has earned $261 million to date, and will easily pass $500 million shortly, as it expands in North America and other territories in the next few weeks. This means that WB has another DC superhero film to hang its hat on, in addition to “Wonder Woman,” as fans seem to be really responding well to Momoa’s take on the fish man.
In other superhero news, “Once Upon a Deadpool” debuted mid-week in over 1,500 theaters, earning a decent $3.9 million to date. Unfortunately, for Fox, since the film is retitled (and re-rated with a PG-13), this number stands on its own and can’t be added to the already massive “Deadpool 2” earnings. But hey, Ryan Reynolds and Co. seem to be poised to donate quite a bit of money to charity, so that’s good.
In more limited release, this weekend saw the debut of three films with very, very different subject matter. Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk” opened in four locations, earning a per-theater-average (PTA) of $54,794. That’s a pretty good start for Jenkins’ film as it starts to expand in the coming weeks, and hopes to earn more awards nominations.
Lars von Trier’s controversial “The House That Jack Built” opened in 33 locations, earning a dismal $1,225 PTA. However, that number was affected by the fact that the film opened day and date with VOD platforms, as well. Even still, it’s not a great number for IFC Films.
Also debuting softly is Nadine Labaki’s awards contender “Capernaum,” which only earned a PTA of $9,196 in 3 locations. The Lebanese film is likely to get some serious awards consideration this year, but hasn’t found an audience domestically, as of yet.
In better limited release news, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Favourite” continues to impress as it expands in its fourth weekend. In just over 400 locations, the film earned a massive $2.5 million with a PTA of $5,854. If you compare that to the biggest films overall this weekend, the PTA would rival something like “The Mule.” Also doing well in expansion is “Mary Queen of Scots,” starring Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie, which is now in 66 locations and a PTA of $10, 606.
Next weekend is a heavyweight showdown between “Aquaman,” “Bumblebee,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” and “Welcome to Marwen.” Which will be #1? Which is the film that will suffer most from the massive competition? And can “Aquaman” dominate North America like it has done in China? We’ll have answers in 7 days.
Here’s the entire domestic top 10 for December 14 to 16:
1. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – $35.4M (Debut)
2. The Mule – $17M (Debut)
3. The Grinch – $11.6M ($239M Overall)
4. Ralph Breaks the Internet – $9.6M ($154M)
5. Mortal Engines – $7.5M (Debut)
6. Creed II – $5.4M ($105M)
7. Bohemian Rhapsody – $4M ($180M)
8. Instant Family – $3.7M ($60M)
9. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – $3.65M ($152M)
10. Green Book – $2.78M ($24.7M)