Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Is Back on Top
Not since Star Wars: The Force Awakens has a film led the box office for four weekends. But last weekend (Feb. 2-4), Sony Pictures’ Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle returned to the spot for a fourth weekend with $10.93 million, moving back up after spending the previous weekend in second place.
The action-adventure sequel held incredibly well over a weekend that is traditionally light on moviegoing due to the Super Bowl, falling just 32.3 percent. Jumanji is a box office darling and continues to show tremendous staying power despite being in theaters for seven weeks. Its total now stands at $352.57 million domestically, making it the third highest-grossing Sony title of all time. At its current pace, it will easily end up in second place on that list, and maybe even first, surpassing both Spider-Man 2 with $373 million and Spider-Man with $403 million. That said, it will have done so with the benefit of higher ticket prices. It is also the second highest-grossing Dwayne Johnson film of all time domestically, and it will soon surpass the top movie on that list, Furious 7, which grossed $353 million in 2015.
Slipping to second place was the previous weekend’s winner 20th Century Fox’s Maze Runner: The Death Cure with $10.47 million, a 56.7 percent fall. That is a higher drop than either of the previous entries in the YA series, which dropped 46 percent and 52 percent in their second weekends, respectively.
With $40.04 million banked so far, Maze Runner: The Death Cure’s gross is 32 percent below The Maze Runner with $57.9 million at the same point in its run and 24 percent below Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials with $51.9 million. With a reported production budget of $62 million, that isn’t a great result for the threequel domestically. That said, it has made up a lot of ground internationally, having grossed nearly three times as much overseas.
However, The Death Cure’s earnings were enough to push 20th Century Fox past Sony to become the highest-grossing studio of the year so far with $223.7 million. Sony, which had held the title all of January, now ranks second with $216.9 million. Disney is widely expected to take the crown by the end of the month with the projected blockbuster Black Panther. Fox’s success is due to a combination The Death Cure, which debuted on top the previous weekend, and the continued run of The Greatest Showman, which fell just 19.4 percent to finish in fourth place with $7.70 million, and the solid earnings of multiple Oscar nominee The Post, which took fifth place with $5.22 million – a 42.7 percent decline. The Greatest Showman has earned $137.37 million through seven weekends, a surprising total for a film that opened with only $8.8 million, while The Post has grossed $67.20 million in the same time.
Lionsgate’s horror Winchester was the top debut, with $9.32 million in third place. The Helen Mirren horror film hasn’t done well with critics or audiences. Luckily the reported budget is a mere $3.5 million.
Sixth place finisher Hostiles took in $5.11 million in its second weekend of wide release, dropping 49.5 percent after grossing $10.11 million the previous. The total for the Christian Bale Western now stands at $20.82 million, which is nearly double the $11.3 million what Bale’s last film with director Scott Cooper, 2013’s Out of the Furnace, grossed during its entire run. At a reported cost of $50 million, it has a long way to go before recouping its budget.
Seventh and eighth places went to 12 Strong and Den of Thieves, respectively, which have been performing nearly-identically since opening opposite each other two weekends ago, although Den of Thieves has been doing so on about 600 fewer screens. With another $4.71 million and $4.55 million this weekend, their totals currently stand at $37.30 million and $36.15 million, respectively.
Rounding out the top 10, The Shape of Water finished in ninth with $4.49 million after expanding to its widest screen count so far of 2,341 theaters, and Paddington 2 finished in 10th with $3.28 million. Their totals stand at $44.73 million and $39.48 million, respectively.
Several Oscar nominees finished outside the top 10 including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which finished in 11th with $3.05 million for a $41.78 million total; I, Tonya, which finished in 12th with $2.47 million and $22.55 million total; Darkest Hour, which finished in 13th with $2.36 million and $48.79 million total; Phantom Thread, which finished in 16th with $2.13 million and $14.16 million total; and Lady Bird, which finished in 20th with $1.32 million and $43.69 million total.
The top 10 films last weekend earned $65.77 million. That is 35.8 percent below the previous weekend’s $102.42 million total. It is also 13.1 percent below the $75.66 million on the same weekend last year, when Split led for the third weekend with $14.42 million. Year-to-date, the box office stands at $1.06 billion, up 0.8 percent from last year.
This Week | Last Week | Movie | Weekend Gross | Cumulative Gross | Weeks |
1 | 2 | Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle | $10.93M | $352.57M | 7 |
2 | 1 | Maze Runner: The Death Cure | $10.47M | $40.04M | 2 |
3 | New | Winchester | $9.31M | $9.31M | 1 |
4 | 4 | The Greatest Showman | $7.70M | $137.37M | 7 |
5 | 5 | The Post | $5.22M | $67.20M | 7 |
6 | 3 | Hostiles | $6.11M | $20.82M | 7 |
7 | 6 | 12 Strong | $4.71M | $37.30M | 3 |
8 | 7 | Den of Thieves | $4.55M | $36.15M | 3 |
9 | 8 | The Shape of Water | $4.45M | $44.73M | 10 |
10 | 9 | Paddington 2 | $3.28M | $36.48M | 4 |
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.