‘Moana’ Keeps Disney’s Streak Alive Till End of 2016
Disney just secured what will be a lengthy run atop the box office charts. For the third straight weekend, the studio’s lucrative princess flick, Moana, claimed the top spot with an estimated $18.8 million.
With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story blasting into theaters this Friday, Disney will carry the top spot for the rest of 2016. In its third weekend, Moana continues to behave more and more like animated holiday hits, Tangled and Toy Story 2. Tangled dipped 33.7%, while Toy Story 2 declined 34.3%. Moana’s 33.4% drop is fairly solid. The next few weeks will be tricky though. With Rogue One next weekend and Illumination Entertainment’s Sing the week after, there’s no telling if the comparable small drops will continue. If they do, Moana still has a chance at $250 million. Holiday legs will be a deciding factor.
While Office Christmas Party was the sole wide debut of the weekend, the holiday comedy settled for the runner-up spot with $17.5 million. That was very close to my $17.2 estimate on Friday. For bragging rights, Office Christmas Party outperformed both Almost Christmas and Bad Santa upon its debut. The Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman comedy also opened higher than last year’s holiday horror Krampus and Seth Rogen’s raunchy The Night Before. As the last live-action comedy of 2016, Office Christmas Party may pull off some legs. However, the slate is going to get quite crowded. Its B grade on CinemaScore may not be in its favor either.
Down 40.5% from last weekend, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them pulled in another $10.8 million. Now in its fourth weekend, the Warner Bros. spin-off is just a day from cracking $200 million domestically. Mathematically, Fantastic Beasts will still be the lowest-grossing Wizarding World film to date. But, if it continues to play like Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, it’ll be the third biggest film of the holidays. Marvel’s Doctor Strange and Fantastic Beasts still continue to track neck and neck. The only downside is that Fantastic Beasts will be losing its lucrative IMAX screens to Rogue One this Friday.
After five weeks in theaters, Paramount’s sci-fi thriller, Arrival, continues to hold better than the competition out there. The Amy Adams film dipped another 22.9%. With another $5.6 million in the bank, Arrival is up to $81.5 million. These small drops week after week are certainly pushing the film towards the century mark. A combination of holiday legs and awards season may do the trick. A potential 4x multiplier positions Arrival alongside leggy sci-fi films such as Gravity and The Martian.
Marvel’s Doctor Strange rounded out the charts for the second consecutive weekend. The Sorcerer Supreme conjured another $4.6 million in its sixth weekend. With over $222 million domestically, Doctor Strange could still be aiming for $235-240 million. A drop-off like Thor: The Dark World would finish the Marvel film around $230 million. However, a low-ball projection seems highly unlikely as Doctor Strange was better received and continues to hold.
On the independent front, La La Land danced its way to an impressive $800k from five theaters. The Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone musical continues to expand next weekend. Both Manchester by the Sea and Nocturnal Animals cracked $3 million with expansion. Jessica Chastain’s Miss Sloane opened on par with my Friday prediction with $1.9 million.
Note: These #’s are based on Sunday’s projections and can change with Monday’s actual #’s.
#1 – Moana (1)
$18.8 million / $145.0 million total
#2 – Office Christmas Party (NR)
$17.5 million / $17.5 million total
#3 – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2)
$10.8 million / $199.3 million total
#4 – Arrival (3)
$5.6 million / $81.5 million total
#5 – Doctor Strange (5)
$4.6 million / $222.4 million total
Opening Next Week: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Collateral Beauty, La La Land (expanding)
Source: Box Office Mojo
