1. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker– $33.7M/$450.7M
On a typically quiet weekend, The Rise of Skywalker easily topped the box office with $33.7M, a 53% drop from last week. The film now has $450.7M domestic, which is third-best of the year behind Avengers: Endgame ($858M) and The Lion King ($543M). Worldwide it has amassed $918M, and may end with a number that isn’t wildly superior to a movie like Joker which ended its run at $1.062B. It’ll really have to stretch to get near the $1.3B of the equally-divisive The Last Jedi. I think it’s clear the middling reviews and word-of-mouth have played a role, and Disney is going to have to figure something out as Star Wars enters a transitional phase.
2. Jumanji: The Next Level– $26.5M/$236.2M
3. Little Women– $13.5M/$60M
Over the holidays I heard from more people going to see Greta Gerwig’s Little Women than any other film, and that anecdotal evidence seems to be bearing out. The well-reviewed film had a $13.5M weekend for $60M overall. It seems to be bucking any concern that only female audiences would turn out.
4. The Grudge (review)- $11.3M
The first weekend of the new year is usually owned by low-cost studio horrors that earn, three, four, or five times their budget then quickly disappear. Not so much for The Grudge, however, which opened with just $11M. A reboot of the once-popular franchise that nobody asked for and didn’t show up for, the reviews were across-the-board awful, and speaking for me it just didn’t do anything to justify its existence. What makes this version of The Grudge new and fresh? The film is directed by Nicolas Pesce, a rising star in the horror field, and stars Andrea Riseborough, John Cho, Lin Shaye, Jacki Weaver, and Betty Gilpin. A lot of talent there, but even with some loose connections to the 2004 remake there just wasn’t much to distinguish itself from prior films.
5. Frozen 2– $11.2M/$449.8M
6. Spies in Disguise– $10M/$46.7M
7. Knives Out– $9M/$130.2M
8. Uncut Gems– $7.4M/$36.4M
9. Bombshell– $4M/$24.5M
10. Cats– $2.6M/$24.6M
