Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office Rises Over Last Year Helping 2019 End on a Positive Note
December 31, 2019
The last weekend of the year had some good news and some bad news. Unfortunately, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was part of the later, as it fell 59% to $72.39 million over the weekend. However, this was still a dominate performance at the box office, earning more than the next three films combined. It helped the overall weekend remained strong at $197 million. Granted, this is 20% lower than last weekend, but more importantly, it is 5.0% higher than the same weekend last year. Furthermore, 2019 cut the deficit with 2018 by about $100 million since The Rise of Skywalker came out and now it is fighting with 2016 to be the second biggest year at the box office of all time. It is true that the year is still behind 2018 by a massive 4.5% / $520 million at $11.04 billion to $11.56 billion, but not being able to maintain a record pace for two years in a row is hardly a serious concern. Even if you look at ticket sales and take into account inflation, then 2019 was a reasonably good year, as it isn’t too far behind 2017 and hardly the worst we’ve seen in the past decade. There are reasons to be optimistic going into 2020.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker fell 59% to $72.39 million over the weekend giving it a total of $362.19 million. This film’s ten-day total is nearly identical to that of The Last Jedi; however, you can’t really compare these numbers, as the two films opened a week apart when compared to Christmas Day. In fact, you won’t really be able to compare the two films after next weekend either. That said, we won’t need to wait that long to know this film isn’t going to live up to its predecessor. Its mixed reviews and its B plus rating from CinemaScore are clearly having a negative effect on the film’s legs and while it will be massively profitable, it will fail to live up to high expectations by a rather large margin.
Jumanji: The Next Level had a much better hold with an estimated $35.31 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $175.47 million. Like the previous film, this one is impossible to compare to its predecessor, because it too is dealing with a misalignment in Christmas Day. It is clear this film won’t live up to its predecessor, but it has already made enough worldwide to guarantee profitability.
Frozen II earned third place over the weekend with $16.89 million giving it a total of $421.68 million after six weeks of release. It is already ahead of the first film domestically and will top it worldwide very soon. I have absolutely no complaints about the film’s box office run, which is a rarity this year.
Little Women was right behind with an estimated three-day opening of $16.76 million and pushed its five-day running tally to $29.23 million. This is a little lower than expected, but still a solid opening. The film’s reviews are amazing and it has already earned plenty of Awards Season success. Its A minus rating from CinemaScore is not as good as its reviews / nominations, but is still good and should help its legs going forward.
Spies in Disguise opened in fifth place with $13.35 million / $22.24 million, which is lower than expected, but not a disaster. It earned good reviews and an A minus from CinemaScore, which should help its legs. However, it is not going to be a box office success. Maybe it will break even, eventually.
Knives Out was next with $9.88 million over the weekend for a total of $110.31 million after a month of release. It became the second Lionsgate release of the year to reach $100 million. The studio should be very happy with its performance this year.
Uncut Gems only managed seventh place with $9.58 million over the weekend for a total of $21.04 million, including its limited release run. The film’s reviews and its Awards Season success suggest long legs, but it only managed a C plus from CinemaScore, so I’m unsure about its legs at this point. We’ll have a better idea next weekend.
As for the sophomore class, Cats landed in eighth place with $4.82 million over the weekend for a total of $17.81 million after two weeks of release. It fell 27% from its opening weekend, which is the second worst decline in the top ten. This film will lose a boatload of money at the box office, but I’m really glad it was made, because over the past week, I’ve watch many videos on YouTube about this movie. I’ve watched so many videos that I could have watched this actually movie three times in the time I’ve spent watching these videos. I’ve watched some of them three or more times. Bombshell had a near identical result with $4.82 million over the weekend for a total of $15.76 million. It will need to win some serious awards to stick around long enough to be a box office success.
- Weekend Estimates
- Weekend Box Office Chart
- 2019 Domestic Box Office Chart
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- Friday Estimates
- Weekend Predictions
- Christmas Releses
- Theater Counts
- Friday Box Office Chart
- Christmas Day Box Office Chart
- Fastest to $300 million
- Fastest to $400 million
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Frozen II, Spies in Disguise, Uncut Gems, Jumanji: The Next Level, Little Women, Cats, Knives Out, Bombshell