“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” will take its third No. 1 on the box office charts, grossing $34.5 million to bring its domestic total to $453 million after three weekends.
While the result was slightly lower that the $40 million result analysts were expecting, the film is still on pace to become Disney’s seventh 2019 release with over $1 billion grossed worldwide. After a global third weekend of $84 million, it sits at $918 million grossed so far.
Holiday holdovers completed the rest of the Top 5 except for the first wide release of 2020, Sony/Screen Gems’ “The Grudge.” The Sam Raimi-produced horror film has earned an estimated $11.4 million opening against a $10 million budget, meeting pre-weekend projections. However, it is far below the $39 million opening of the 2004 version of “The Grudge and the $20.8 million opening of its 2006 sequel. It also opened below the $18.2 million start of “Escape Room,” the horror film Sony released in this slot a year ago.
In addition, the film became the 20th release ever to receive an F from CinemaScore audience polls. The last film to receive that grade was Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” in September 2017. Critics also panned the film with a 16% Rotten Tomatoes score.
The good news for Sony is that their two December releases, “Jumanji: The Next Level” and “Little Women,” are showing strong holdover numbers. “Jumanji” is second on the charts this weekend with $26.5 million, giving it a $236 million total after four weekends. Globally, the Dwayne Johnson-led blockbuster has passed $600 million worldwide with a total of $610 million.
“Little Women” is in third with $13.5 million in its second weekend, giving it a total of $60 million after 12 days in theaters. The film has also grossed $20.4 million from six early international markets, with a release in Brazil and Italy next weekend.
Completing The top 5 is Disney’s “Frozen II,” which today will pass the original “Frozen” to become the highest grossing animated film of all time. The film was released in Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia this weekend, posting the highest openings ever for Disney Animation in those markets. With $53 million grossed worldwide this weekend, “Frozen II” now has a total of $1.325 billion, putting it $75 million away from passing the $1.4 billion global run of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and joining the top 10 all-time list.
Finally, the Golden Globe-nominated “Knives Out” is now expected to pass $150 million in domestic grosses after earning $9 million in its sixth weekend to bring its North American total to $130 million. In addition to reaching that mark, it will also pass the domestic run of another 2019 original hit: Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood,” which grossed $141 million.
In anticipation of the Golden Globes, Lionsgate expanded the screen count of both “Knives Out” and fellow contender “Bombshell,” which is now up to a total of $24.6 million after earning $4.1 million this weekend. “Knives Out” earned nominations for Best Comedy or Musical and for lead stars Daniel Craig and Ana de Armas, while “Bombshell” earned acting nominations for stars Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie.