Weekend Wrap-Up
By Tim Briody
October 13, 2019
Nobody was really expecting any of this weekend's new releases to dethrone Joker after its opening last weekend, but nobody was really expecting this good of a hold for it, either.
With a second weekend of $55 million, Joker easily holds on to the top spot at the box office with just a 43% decline. That's actually a quite excellent hold given that superhero/villain films are not really known for their legs (and especially not ones from DC). It's got a very solid $192.7 million after two weekends. For comparison, Justice League opened to $93.8 million and at the end of its second weekend had $171.9 million, and that second weekend came over Thanksgiving. Notably, Joker will cruise by that movie's $229 million total by next weekend. Additionally, with just a $55 million budget, this is going down as a huge financial win for Warner Bros. Add in overseas earnings and Joker is at a massive $543.9 million worldwide. This may very well be the brightest non-Disney box office story of the year.
Second place goes to The Addams Family, earning $30.2 million, no doubt boosted a little by the upcoming holiday weekend for most schools. A animated reboot and sharing little relation to the successful 90's live action films (RIP Raul Julia) other than the name, I'm not sure why this exists other than it had been a good 20 years since the last Addams Family related thing.
$30.2 million is a solid weekend, given a reported $40 million production budget and I doubt any of the target audience knew what this property was beforehand given how old it is and how long it's been. There was an impressive voice cast (Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Nick Kroll, Snoop Dogg, Bette Midler, Chloe Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard and Allison Janney among others) for the adults, but the reviews weren't great (40% Fresh) though those really don't matter for an animated film. The Addams Family is of course on theme for Halloween so it should play well for a couple of weekends.
Third goes to Gemini Man, disappointing with $20.5 million for the weekend. You see kids, a long time ago, Will Smith was the undisputed king of the box office. While sure, he's got a huge hit this year in Aladdin ($355 million) and 2016's Suicide Squad was also successful ($325.1 million), he wasn't the primary reason for either of those. I mean, you might have to go all the way back to Men In Black III in 2012 for the last time Smith had a hit that wasn't a remake or a comic book adaptation. And if you don't think that counts because it was a franchise, that takes it back to 2008's Hancock.
Gemini Man, in which old Will Smith battles The Fresh Prince, was rejected by both critics (26% Fresh) and audiences as it doesn't stand a chance of making back the reported $138 million budget. International grosses may save it yet, but they have a fair amount of work to do.
Abominable dips 48% to $6.1 million in the face of some direct animated competition, giving it $47.9 million in three weekends. As expected, with co-production by a Chinese company, the international earnings are helping out a ton here, sending over $100 million worldwide.
Downton Abbey adds $4.9 million in its fourth weekend (down 39%) and it has $82.6 million to date. It's already a big win, given an estimated $20 million budget, but again, boosted by its native UK, it's over $150 million worldwide, making it one of the more successful films of 2019 relative to its budget.
Hustlers gets close to the promised land in its fifth weekend, adding $3.8 million (down 40%) and giving it $98 million in five weekends. It's looking to be the 22nd film of 2019 to cross the $100 million mark, and should do that mid-week.
Judy continues to expand, this time to 1,627 theaters and earns $3.2 million, down 29% from last weekend. It's got $14.9 million in three weekends. Until we hear otherwise, Renee Zellweger has Best Actress on lock, so you'll be hearing about this one long after its been relevant at the box office.
The other evil clown movie, It: Chapter Two earns $3.2 million (down 39%) and has $207.1 million in six weekends. While seemingly a disappointing figure compared to the first one, this was basically a freeroll for Warner Bros. so they are certainly glad to take it.
One other new release lands in ninth place as Jexi flops with just $3.1 million. A comedy where a Siri/Alexa-like digital assistant goes too far in controlling a loser's (Adam Devine) life, Jexi was barely advertised and not screened for critics (and those who saw it hated it, rating it 16% Fresh). It's doomed to quickly vanish from here until it lands on the streaming sites where you forget that this was an actual movie released in actual theaters.
Ad Astra takes us home this weekend as the sci-fi space drama earns $1.9 million and has $47 million after four weekends.
Your top 12 films this weekend earned $134.4 million, just edging out last year when the top films earned $128.5 million, led by Venom's $35 million second weekend.
Next weekend things get interesting despite the wide releases being two sequels: Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, with Angelina Jolie reprising the title role, and Zombieland: Double Tap, a sequel to the 2009 comedy, with the four main characters all returning.
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Top Ten for Weekend of October 11-13, 2019
|
Rank |
Film |
Distributor |
Estimated
Gross ($) |
Weekly Change |
Cumulative
Gross ($) |
|
1
|
Joker
|
Warner Bros.
|
55.0
|
-43%
|
192.7
|
|
2
|
The Addams Family
|
MGM
|
30.2
|
New
|
30.2
|
|
3
|
Gemini Man
|
Paramount
|
20.5
|
New
|
20.5
|
|
4
|
Abominable
|
Universal
|
6.1
|
-48%
|
47.9
|
|
5
|
Downton Abbey
|
Focus Features
|
4.9
|
-39%
|
82.6
|
|
6
|
Hustlers
|
STX Entertainment
|
3.8
|
-40%
|
98.0
|
|
7
|
Judy
|
LD Entertainment
|
3.2
|
-29%
|
14.9
|
|
8
|
It: Chapter Two
|
Warner Bros.
|
3.2
|
-39%
|
207.1
|
|
9
|
Jexi
|
Lionsgate
|
3.1
|
New
|
3.1
|
|
10
|
Ad Astra
|
20th Century Fox
|
1.9
|
-54%
|
47.0
|
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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|
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