Liam Neeson punching people on a train and a delightful bear couldn’t stop the Dwayne Johnson train this weekend at the box office.
“Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle” stayed on top for the second straight week, hauling in $27 million. Again, it doesn’t need repeating how much of a success the film is. Sony‘s rebootquel survived opening in the same frame as “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and in its third and fourth weeks at the box office, held onto the top spot. ‘Jumanji’ is now sitting at over $670 million worldwide, with a pretty balanced split between domestic and international ticket sales. Context comparison? It took “Jumanji” about three weeks to surpass the entire eight week haul of “Justice League,” a movie that it’s handedly trounced at the box office. You can definitely expect a sequel from these numbers, it’s just up to Sony to announce it.
“The Commuter” punched a modest ticket this weekend with $13.4 million. The numbers are on the lower end of the scale for Neeson’s brainless action flicks, hovering around “A Walk Among The Tombstones” and “Run All Night,” but nowhere near the “Taken” movies. If “The Commuter” follows the trajectory of “Run All Night,” it’ll likely wind up in the neighborhood of $70 million worldwide, but that’s relying on international figures to prop it up. With a budget of $30 million, it’ll likely squeak into profitability but not by much. Could this be the end of Neeson punching people as he protects his family?
This week’s true injustice belongs to “Paddington 2.” Absolutely adored by critics, and currently sitting with a perfect 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, the sequel only managed to pull in $10 million. Parents, this is one of the best kids franchises in ages — why aren’t you taking them to see this? It marks a steep drop from the $18 million debut of its predecessor, but there are some factors at play here. “Paddington 2” was originally slated to be released by The Weinstein Company before the whole Harvey Weinstein scandal went down, and Warner Bros. swooped in for the domestic release. Unfortunately, the studio didn’t seem to put much into the promotion of the movie at all and honestly, it feels like it was left in the wind a bit. The good news is that “Paddington 2” is already a bonafide smash internationally where it pulled in $125 million since opening in the fall, with more territories to come.
Sony Screen Gems had no idea what to do with “Proud Mary.” Not screened for critics, and with some reports floating of the studio yanking it at the last minute from cinemas where it was scheduled to play, the action flick still managed to pull in $10 million. One wonders what Sony Screen Gems could’ve done if they put a little more oomph into the marketing, but the word is that the actual movie is a disaster, so perhaps there’s only so much heavy lifting some nifty posters can do.
Lastly, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has passed “Beauty And The Beast” to become the highest grossing film of 2017 with $1.264 billion worldwide. And that’s without the help of China, where the movie has run aground with $38.8 million.
1. “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle” — $27 million ($283.1 mil.)
2. “The Post” — $18.6 million ($23 mil.)
3. “The Commuter” — $13.4 million
4. “Insidious: The Last Key” — $12.1 million ($48.3 mil.)
5. “The Greatest Showman” — $11.8 million ($94.5 mil.)
6. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” — $11.2 million ($591.5 mil.)
7. “Paddington 2” — $10.6 million
8. “Proud Mary” — $10 million
9. “Pitch Perfect 3” — $5.6 million ($94.6 mil.)
10. “Darkest Hour” — $4.5 million ($35.7 mil.)