Movie audiences went toThe Next Levelthis weekend, literally. The thirdJumanjifilm was the clear victor, garnering the second-best opening of the holiday season to date with the further promise of solid returns through the Christmas vacation. Adult fare, on the other hand, hit the wall this week, unable to draw even $10 million between them as many may have chosen to avoid controversy and politics as part of their escapism. That said, there might still be interest in another film with those themes coming down the pike.

Recommended:The 50 Highest-Grossing Movies of All TimeRecommended:All 44 Billion-Dollar Movies, Ranked by TomatometerRecommended:2019 Holiday Box Office PreviewRecommended:Fresher Movies Make More Money at the Box Office: a Tomatometer Deep DiveKing of the Crop:?JumanjiDestroys the Competition

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungleopened on a Wednesday, five days after the release ofStar Wars: The Last Jedi, and in its first five days, it grossed $52.77 million.took just three days to make $60 million, way ahead of its ultra-conservative estimates of just $35 million. That may only be the 13th?best start for a film in the month of December, but if it follows suit with the other films like it,?The Next Levelshould pass $200 million with no issue. Sony has a much higher number in mind, given thatJunglehad the second-best December multiple of all time (afterAvatar) when it earned 11.18 times its opening Fri-Sun weekend, amounting to over $400 million domestic. Another $557 million internationally gave the film enough ($962 million) to place among the Top 50 grossing films ever; a spot it is likely to relinquish soon afterThe Rise of Skywalkeropens. CanThe Next Level?reach the $300 million level? Only 12 other films to have started in December (including the limited release ofAmerican Sniper, which broke through in January) have done it. Four areLord of the Rings/Hobbitfilms, three areStar Wars, two are from James Cameron, and the others areAquamanandJumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. Budgeted at $125 million,?The Next Level’s global total currently stands at $113 million and will have no problem turning a profit for Sony.Jumanji: The Next Level

Rotten Returns:?Richard Jewelland?Black ChristmasFail to Make an Impact

‘Tis the season not to release films about terrorist bombings and serial killers. It is hard to say whether or not the accompanying controversy over the portrayal of a journalist inreally kept people away, but a Clint Eastwood film without a big star at its center (like Tom Hanks, Bradley Cooper or… Clint Eastwood) is normally not a big draw. The last Eastwood film without any of those faces in front of the camera to gross over $50 million was 2003’sMystic River. But the last of his films to open as weak as Jewell ($5 million) was, ironically,True Crime, back in 1999. Eastwood the actor only drew a $5.27 million opening for that February release, which went on to gross just $16.64 million. His Best Picture?nominee,Letters from Iwo Jima, made just $13.75 million.Jewellmay still find itself grossing over $20 million, but it will rank as one of the lowest-grossing wide releases of his career and one of the bigger losers, given its $45 million budget.Richard Jewell

Then there is, the second remake of Bob Clark’s first great Christmas film from 1974. The 2006 remake opened to just $3.72 million and finished with $16.27 million. The 2019 version did not do much better, with a $4.4 million start after what turned out to be an against-the-odds projection of $10-12 million. Horror has not been a popular genre to release in December, and the numbers show why. Going all the way back to 1981, only three horror films have opened to more than $10 million in December (Scream 2, Krampus, and the 1998 remake ofPsycho) and only four horror films have grossed over $30 million (Scream, Scream 2, Krampus, andDracula 2000.) In Blumhouse fashion, the budget forBlack Christmaswas only $5 million, so it is not some major financial disaster, but if it fails to reach the $16 million benchmark set by the 2006 remake (Rotten at 14%), that has to stand as a big disappointment.Black Christmas

The Top 10 and Beyond:?Frozen IIHangs on,?Uncut Gemsand?BombshellAre Solid in Limited Theaters

The champion of the past three weeks fell to second place, as?missed becoming the 45th?film to gross more than $20 million in its fourth weekend of wide release, though its $19.18 million raised its tally to $366.54 million, which is the 19th?best ever after 24 days. That’s about $9 million higher thanThe Hunger Games: Catching Firehad back in 2013, when it was the originalFrozen’s November partner in grossing $400 million.Frozen II’s fourth weekend is also around $6 million more so we should expect no less than $430 million domestic in its pocket by the end of its run. Most importantly, though,Frozen IIhas become Disney’s 6th?film this year to cross the billion-dollar mark which makes it the 38th highest-grossing film ever, and it will ultimately join the Top 25. The originalFrozencurrently ranks 15th?with $1.274 billion.Frozen IIis only $242 million behind right now.Frozen II,

Then we have two films making their runs toward $100 million.is nearly there after another $4.14 million this weekend. Its total stands at $98.2 million domestic, but it is the $175 million global tally that lingers for Fox, as that is still around $75 million behind where it needs to be to recoup its costs. Rian Johnson’sis already into profit for Lionsgate and is now just trying to leg it out to the milestone. With $78.8 million so far, the murder mystery is hitching a ride on the numbers thatCreedhad at this point, within a million behind of both it’s 19-day tally and its third weekend.Creedfinished with $109 million. That is a number thatFerrariis also headed towards and even withKnivesa few million behind its pace it looks like it should still cross the finish line and may even pass Ferrari worldwide as it currently has $162 million.Ford v FerrariKnives Out

Benny and Josh Safdie’s(92%) with Adam Sandler had a stellar showing in just five theaters grossing $525,498. While that is the second best per-theater-average of the year ($105,099) behind just Bong Joon-ho’sParasite($128,072 in each of three theaters), it is the fourth-best ever for a film released in five theaters. OnlyLa La Land($881,104),The Master($736,311), and Brokeback Mountain ($547,425) opened better.Gemsalso just missed a personal best PTA for A24, passing such notable titles asLady Bird($91,109) and this year’sThe Farewell($88,916), but was just behindMoonlight($100,519) as the all-time champion. We will see if the estimates come out higher on Monday. The studio’s $50,000+ PTAs have all grossed at least $7.3 million. The Safdies’ last film,Good Timewith Robert Pattinson, grossed a total of $2.02 million.Uncut Gems

The list of four-theater openings is a little steeper, but Jay Roach’snevertheless had a solid showing this weekend. With $312,000 the Fox News sexual harassment expose became the 15th?best opening within that group ahead. Among the top 15 films in that group, 11 of them were nominated for Best Picture (withThe FarewellTBD) including the aforementionedAmerican Sniper(the all-time champ with $873,667) andMoonlight, which went on to win the Oscar, as didBirdman($424,397).Bombshell

Terrence Malick’s latest,, had a less than great showing with just $52,000 in five theaters. That comes between his last two narrative releases,Song to Song($50,559 / Rotten at 43%) andKnight of Cups($60,551 / Rotten at 47%), which were only in four theaters initially.A Hidden Life’s PTA ($10,400) is the director’s third lowest since his return to cinema in 1998 withThe Thin Red Lineand could be second lowest if the estimates fall.?This has to be cited as a big disappointment for Fox Searchlight, who released the three-hour film?featuring his first positive score with critics (78%) sinceThe Tree of Lifein 2011.A Hidden Life

This Time Last Year:?Spider-Verse?Swings into First Place

The Oscar winner for Best Animated Feature first took the #1 spot at the box office this weekend.Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verseopened to $35.36 million, doubling the take by Clint Eastwood’sThe Mule, which began with $17.50 million. In turn, Eastwood’s film more than doubled the start ofMortal Engines($7.55 million) which ultimately barely doubled its opening weekend to become one of the biggest bombs of 2018. BothFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of GrindelwaldandRalph Breaks the Internetpassed $150 million, andCreed IIgot over $100 million. James Wan’sAquamanearned $2.9 million in special previews and that was good enough to grab the tenth slot on the list. Barry Jenkins’If Beale Street Could Talkopened to $224,476 in four theaters, which amounted to the eighth best per-theater-average of the year. The Top Ten films grossed $101.64 million and averaged 67% on the Tomatometer.

This year’s Top Ten grossed an estimated $112.24 Million and averaged 76.7% with critics.

On the Vine:?Jumanji?Is Back, Along with a Slew of Awards Hopefuls

The week fans both young and old have been waiting decades for is finally here: The big-screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’sarrives to storm the box office with its blend of live-action FX wizardry and angel-like lyrics. All kidding aside, while that all remains to be seen, it is also the week that the Skywalker Saga comes to an end. For years, fans all over the world have been anticipating the conclusion of the nine-film arc that George Lucas hinted at so many years ago. And now, Episode IX of the series, arrives and will undoubtedly be one of the biggest hits of 2019 and ultimately give Disney its 7th?billion-dollar film of the year and push their grosses to over $11 billion.CatsStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The Full Top 10: December?13-15Jumanji: The Next Level(2019)66%– $60.1 million ($60.1 million total)Frozen II(2019)77%– $19.18 million ($366.54 million total)Knives Out(2019)97%– $9.25 million ($78.91 million total)Richard Jewell(2019)73%– $5?million ($5 million total)Black Christmas(2019)44%– $4.42 million ($4.42 million total)Ford v Ferrari(2019)92%– $4.14 million ($98.12 million total)Queen & Slim(2019)82%– $3.6 million ($33.17 million total)A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood(2019)95%– $3.35 million ($49.32 million total)Dark Waters(2019)92%– $2 ($8.89 million total)21 Bridges(2019)50%– $1.19 million ($26.36 million total)

Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office onwith Nick Digilio as well as onwith Angela Miles and his.WGN RadioBusiness First AMMovie Madness Podcast

[box office figures via]Box Office Mojo

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