Last Jedi Just Tops Jumanji Over New Year’s

Star Wars: The Last Jedi barely beat Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle for the top spot at the box office during the hotly-contested four-day New Year’s weekend.

Star Wars; The Last Jedi led over the New Year’s weekend with $66.81 million, just beating Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
(Photo: Lucasfilm)

On Sunday, it appeared as if Jumanji would score an upset over Disney-Lucasfilm’s latest Star Wars installment, but following New Year’s Day, The Last Jedi won a third straight weekend atop the domestic box office with $66.81 million compared to Jumanji’s $66.27 million. That said, Sony Picture’s family-adventure sequel was the top movie in the country on Monday by a comfortable margin, taking in an estimated $16.22 million to The Last Jedi‘s $14.29 million.

The result was a definite win for Disney against a fierce competitor, though there was more than enough good news to go around. Sony took a risk by dusting off a 20-year-old property, banking on the drawing power of stars Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart and minting a rhino-sized hit in the process. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has now grossed $185.22 million in its first 13 days, with much more to come as we head into January.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the top-grossing film of 2017 domestically, with its North American total standing at $531.51 million. The previous leader, Beauty and the Beast finished its run with $504 million. The Last Jedi topped the gross of its Disney stablemate in only 17 days.

Universal Pictures’ Pitch Perfect 3 finished the four-day weekend with $21.68 million in third place, giving the musical-comedy sequel a $68.17 million total after 11 days of release. Twentieth Century Fox’s The Greatest Showman finished in fourth place with $20.92 million, a 45.1 percent increase over the four-day Christmas weekend, bringing its total to $68.17 million through New Year’s Day.

In fifth place, 20th Century Fox’s Ferdinand posted a 46.7 percent increase over the four-day Christmas weekend, bringing in $14.85 million for a total of $57.01 million. Disney-Pixar’s Coco also took advantage of the school break, grossing another $10.08 million in sixth place for a total of $182.46 million after six weeks.

In seventh place, Sony-TriStar’s All the Money in the World took in a so-so $7.21 million in its second weekend for a $14.34 million total. Eighth place went to Focus Features’ Darkest Hour, which added 137 screens and brought in $7.01 million over the four-day weekend in 943 locations, bringing its total so far to $19.66 million.

In ninth place, Paramount Pictures’ Downsizing took in $6.2 million in its second weekend giving the Matt Damon comedy $18.71 million through New Year’s Day, a disappointment given the film’s reported $65 million budget. And in 10th place, Warner Bros. Pictures’ Father Figures took in $4.97 million for a $14.03 million gross after 11 days. Landing just outside the Top 10, Fox Searchlight’s The Shape of Water brought in $4.72 million on 756 screens, giving the Guillermo del Toro fantasy-romance $16.68 million so far

The top 10 films earned $226.04 million over the four-day holiday. That is 4.4 percent behind the four-day Christmas holiday weekend’s $235.56 million total. However, it was 2.6 percent ahead of the same 4-day weekend last year, when Rogue One: A Star Wars Story led for the third weekend with $65.52 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.