Box Office: JOKER repeats with $55 million, ADDAMS FAMILY bests Will Smith’s GEMINI MAN

Welcome to the Beat’s Weekend Box Office Recap!

Well, it looks like Todd Phillips’ Joker with Joaquin Phoenix isn’t going anywhere. After an astounding $96 million opening last week, it remained at #1 with another $55 million, down just 43% from that opening. It has grossed $192.7 million just in North America and another $351 million overseas, so it’s a bonafide hit.  Last weekend, it set an October opening record and its 2nd weekend of $55 million is actually bigger than all but three other October openings.

If you look at other comic book movies, even the ones from Marvel Studios, they usually have a 50-60% drop in their second weekend, since so much business comes from Thursday previews. Joker has managed to withstand that, whether it’s due to positive word-of-mouth or interest from the controversy, but clearly, everyone is making it a priority to see the movie in theaters. Expect it to cross $200 million early this week.

Joker added another $123.7 million overseas where it added a few new territories, including France ($10.3 million) and Germany ($9.3 million), which brings its global total to $543.9 million in just ten days, which is no joke.

Another big surprise for the weekend was U.A. Releasing’s animated The Addams Family doing better than expected with an estimated $30.3 million this weekend, significantly more than my own prediction. With a voice cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron, Chloë Grace MoretzFinn Wolfhard and Allison Janney, the movie only took in $1.3 million in Thursday previews but broke out big-time on Friday to take second place with $9.7 million.

We’ll have to see whether Monday’s Columbus Day school holiday gives that weekend number a bigger boost, but that’s U.A.’s biggest opening to date. There’s a very good chance the movie can make $100 million domestically, even with Disney releasing a new movie next week. Audiences seemed to like The Addams Family more than critics, giving the movie a “B+” to CinemaScore, but that isn’t too great for a family film.

Despite having a box office superstar like Will SmithAng Lee‘s sci-fi actioneer Gemini Man, released by Paramount Pictures into 3,642 theaters, had to settle for third place with an estimated $20.5 million this weekend. It did better than Addams Family in Thursday previews with $1.6 million but fell behind on Friday with $7.5 million. There’s no word yet on how much of the movie’s ticket sales were boosted by the higher price to see the movie in the higher frame rates, which once again was a big selling point. We’ll also have to see how it fares in its second weekend having received similarly poor reviews and a “B+” CinemaScore, just like Addams Family.

With The Addams Family entering theaters, DreamWorks Animation’s Abominable lost even more business, dropping 48% to 4th place with $6.2 million. Its $47.9 million domestic gross is pitiful, and the animation house will be relying on foreign markets like China to make back its $75 million budget.

Things are looking rosier for Comcast’s other division, Focus Features, as the British period dramedy Downton Abbey has grossed $82.7 million in its first month, adding another $4.9 million this weekend (down 39%) to take fifth place. It’s still a long ways off from being the most successful TV-to-movie transition but it’s catching up to Fox’s The X-Files movies from twenty years ago. I can’t imagine that the producers of the film and Focus aren’t thinking of a way to bring the beloved PBS characters back for another movie.

STXfilms’ Hustlers still hasn’t crossed the $100 million mark, but it’s so close with $98 million after adding another $3.9 million (down 41%) this weekend to take sixth place.

Renée Zellwegger‘s Judy took seventh place with $3.3 million and close to $15 million total, followed by New Line’s It: Chapter Two which remains in the top 10 at #8 with $207.1 million grossed so far.

CBS Films ended its run on a low note with its final production, the R-rated comedy Jexi, starring Adam Devine, which bombed this weekend with just $3.1 million in 2,332 theaters or $1,329 per theater.  That’s a ninth place opening. As I said on Wednesday, I hadn’t seen almost anything about the movie, and clearly, audience awareness was very low compared to other movies. It’s pretty sad for the CBS spin-off studio which failed to find much success and didn’t benefit from the success other smaller studios have had over the past few weeks. (Since September, STXfilms, Focus Features and U.A. Releasing have all scored their top openings to date.)

The biggest box office news of the weekend, though, had to be the enormous success of director Bong Joon-ho‘s Parasite, which opened in just three theaters in New York and L.A. with Director Bong and cast doing multiple QnAs. New York’s IFC Center was reportedly sold out all weekend showing the movie on four screens, which helped it gross $376,264. That’s an astounding per-theater average of $125,000 that’s not only the highest for the year, but also, the best per-theater for a foreign language film EVER.

This seems to make it more and more apparent that Parasite might break South Korea’s rotten luck when it comes to the Oscars, having never had a single movie nominated for a single award. Parasite was able to open just outside the top 10 in 13th place, and it will be interesting to see how distributor NEON chooses to get it out to the rest of the country.

This Week’s Top 10: 

Rank Last Week Rank Movie Studio Weekend Gross % Change Total Gross
1 1 Joker Warner Bros. $55 million -43% $192.7 million
2 New The Addams Family U.A. Releasing $30.3 million N/A $30.3 million
3 New Gemini Man Paramount $20.5 million N/A $20.5 million
4 2 Abominable DreamWorks $6.2 million -48% $48 million
5 3 Downton Abbey Focus Features $4.9 million -39% $82.7 million
6 4 Hustlers STXfilms $3.9 million -40% $98 million
7 6 Judy Roadside Attractions $3.3 million -29% $15 million
8 5 It: Chapter Two New Line/WB $3.2 million -39%
$207.1 million
9 New Jexi CBS Films/Lionsgate $3.1 million N/A $3.1 million
10 7 Ad Astra 20th Century Fox $1.9 million  -54% $47 million

Last year, Sony’s Venom movie and Bradley Cooper‘s A Star Is Born remained in first and second place with $35 million and $28 million respectively. Damien Chazelle‘s First Man, starring Ryan Goslingopened in third place with $16 million, followed closely behind by Sony’s family sequel, Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween. The only other wide release, Fox’s Bad Times at the El Royale opened in seventh place with $126 million. The second week success of Joker and the solid opening for The Addams Family made sure that this weekend’s top 10 was slightly higher than the top 10 this weekend last year.

Check back on Wednesday for my weekly Box Office Preview, this week looking at Angelina Jolie‘s return as Maleficent, Mistress of Evil and an even more anticipated sequel, Zombieland: Super Tap.

3 COMMENTS

  1. The only surprise here is JUDY hanging on in the top 10. I thought the audience for this movie was at home watching TV, not in theaters.

  2. The overseas box office for Joker is amazing since it’s a freakin’ character drama with barely any explosions at all.

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