The Last Jedi Leads Christmas Weekend

Star Wars: The Last Jedi added $99.03 million to its haul over the four-day Christmas weekend (Dec. 22-25) and $71.57 million over the traditional three-day weekend, easily continuing to lead the way as the heart of the holiday season took effect.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi led the Christmas weekend box office with $99.03 million. (Photo: Lucasfilms)

With the weekend’s four-day gross, the blockbuster sequel now stands at a massive $395.63 million domestic total through just nine days of play, pacing 31 percent ahead of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and 27 percent behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens, whose eighth day landed on Christmas.

The Last Jedi already ranks as the third highest grossing domestic release of 2017 — surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2‘s $389.8 million run. It is the first time in history that three films led by female characters/actors have stood atop any year’s box office chart: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast and Wonder Woman.

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which opened Wednesday, finished in second place. The movie starring Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and Jack Black continues to live up to pre-release expectations as it took in $55.40 million over the four-day ($36.40 million over the three-day). Strong word of mouth and positive reviews should continue driving the film through the holidays. giving it an overall six-day launch of $72.01 million.

Pitch Perfect 3 starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson debuted in third place with $26.42 million over the four-day holiday ($19.92 over the traditional three-day weekend). Fans will no doubt result in some front-loading to the weekend, but this is a solid performance in a highly competitive market for a sequel that was never likely to perform at the same level of its 2015 predecessor.

Meanwhile, The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman finished in fourth place with $14.41 over the four-day weekend ($8.81 during the three-day). The film, which opened on Wednesday, has earned $19.01 million so far.

In fifth place, Ferdinand added $10.12 million over the four-day weekend ($7.32 over the three-day) for an 11-day domestic total of $29.60 million. Coco earned $8.19 million over four days ($5.38 million for three days) to finish in sixth place. That brings the Disney-Pixar animated films domestic total to $164.31 million so far.

Downsizing, which stars Matt Damon, debuted with $7.67 million over the four-day holiday ($4.95 million from the three-day weekend) to finish in seventh. In eighth place was The Darkest Hour, which earned $5.51 million in four days ($3.89 million in three days). Father Figures, which stars Glenn Close and Owen Wilson, opened with $5.48 million over the four-day weekend ($3.28 million over the three-day). And in 10th place was The Shape of Water with $4.42 million over four days ($3.00 million over three days). It expanded to 726 locations as its nationwide expansion began in time for the holiday break. Its updated domestic total so far is $8.99 million.

The top 10 films earned $236.65 million over the four-day holiday and $164.53 during the usual three-day weekend. That is 11.6 percent behind three previous three-day weekend’s $267.79 million three-day total compared to the four-day holiday and 38.6 percent behind over the three-day weekend. It was also 5.9 percent behind the same weekend last year, when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story led for the second weekend with $96.12 million.

Mark Heckathorn

Editor-in-Chief Mark Heckathorn is a journalist, movie buff and foodie. He oversees DC on Heels editorial operations as well as strategic planning and staff development. Reach him with story ideas or suggestions at dcoheditor (at) gmail (dot) com.