1. Thor: Ragnarok– $56.6M/$211.5M
Thor: Ragnarok continued to swing a mighty blow at the box office, earning $56.6M and bringing its domestic total to $211M. Worldwide the third, and by nearly all accounts the best film in Thor’s solo run, has grossed $650M in only a couple of weeks of wide release. That’s already better than every MCU movie before The Avengers, and it will likely top Doctor Strange‘s $677M in a day or so.
2. Daddy’s Home 2 (review)- $30M
It didn’t seem to matter that Thor: Ragnarok was still hanging around because all of the new releases opened big. The biggest was Daddy’s Home 2, which opened with $30M, just $8M shy of what Daddy’s Home debuted with. The inexplicably expensive film ($69) reunites Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell, joined by Mel Gibson and John Lithgow as warring dads and granddads. Basically, you can count on Daddy’s Home 3 sooner rather than later, especially with Paramount so hard up for hit franchises right now.
3. Murder On the Orient Express (review)- $28.2M
Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded Murder On the Orient Express pulled into the station with $28M, a strong start for the $56M adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery. While star power doesn’t often mean much when it comes to big budget franchises, it often does with these mid-range dramas for adults. And ‘Express’ had the benefit of a much better marketing campaign than The Mountain Between Us had, even though they were targeting the same audience. Branagh’s film saw him take on the role of mustachioed detective Hercule Poirot, joined by Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley, Willem Dafoe, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Josh Gad, and more. I don’t know if this will be the first in a series of Poirot movies, and I’m split on whether it should be, but if they do continue here’s hoping they’re smart enough to keep the budget manageable. So far the film has $85M worldwide.
4. A Bad Moms Christmas– $11.5M/$39.8M
A slight 31% is all A Bad Moms Christmas had to endure in its second weekend, securing the holiday sequel a total near $40M. It’ll probably take a few hits in the coming weeks but already this is quite the gift for the $28M comedy.
5. Jigsaw– $3.4M/$34.3M
6. Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween– $2M/$45.9M
7. Geostorm– $1.5M/$31.6M
While this looks like nasty weather for the $120M (although it’s really closer to $300M with marketing) Gerard Butler action flick, it does have $199M worldwide. So it’s not all bad. Just mostly bad.
8. Blade Runner 2049– $1.4M/$88M
9. Happy Death Day– $1.3M/$54.9M
10. Lady Bird (review)- $1.2M/$1.7M
After a killer opening weekend in just a handful of theaters, Greta Gerwig’s terrific Lady Bird expanded to a whopping 37 and kept the momentum going. It earned $1.2M for an average of $33K per site. The coming of age drama stars Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf, but this is being driven by great reviews and Gerwig, who has become an industry unto herself on the indie circuit. With genuine Oscar buzz surrounding it we may see a long run well into the holidays.
