Moviefone Editorial

Tag: jumanji

  • Box Office: ‘Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ Overtakes ‘Jumanji’ With $22 Million

    LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Fox’s “Maze Runner: The Death Cure” is set to knock “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” out of its first place slot at the box office, with $22 million from 3,787 North American locations.

    The last installment in the “Maze Runner” series, “The Death Cure” stars Dylan O’Brien as a young man fighting for survival in a dystopian world. The film’s opening was delayed for a year after O’Brien sustained injuries on the set two years ago. Kaya Scodelario and Thomas Brodie-Sangster also star. Wes Ball has directed all three films.

    Sony’s “Jumanji,” starring Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson, had maintained the top spot at the box office for the past three weekends after opening in second place behind “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” in December. The sixth weekend of “Jumanji” will likely finish at around $15 million at 3,553 sites, giving it $337 million domestically after 40 days — topping Sony’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming” for 49th place on the all-time list.

    Christian Bale Civil War era saga “Hostiles” is battling it out for third place with the sixth frame of “The Greatest Showman” — both are set to reel in around $9.5 million from 2,815 and 2,663 locations, respectively. The number represents only a 15% decline for “The Greatest Showman,” which has proven a solid draw for Fox and should finish the weekend with roughly $126 million. The weekend marks an expansion for “Hostiles,” which opened Dec. 20 at three theaters to $22,849.

    In fifth is Steven Spielberg‘s “The Post,” which stars Meryl Streep as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham alongside Tom Hanks as the editor of the same paper. The film chronicles the exposure of the Pentagon Papers and the outlet’s fight to publish them.

    The Maze Runner franchise has been a reliable performer for Fox since 2014, when it opened the original “Maze Runner” with $32.5 million; the film ended up grossing $102 million in U.S. revenue. The 2015 follow-up, “The Scorch Trials,” opened with $30 million and totaled $82 million at the domestic box office.

    Heist thriller “Den of Thieves,” starring Gerard Butler, and Afghan war drama “12 Strong,” featuring Chris Hemsworth, are both set to take in around $8 million in their second weekends, representing a roughly 45% decline for each.

    Fox Searchlight’s “The Shape of Water,” which led the Oscar nominations with 13, is adding nearly 1,000 sites this weekend and will play at 1,840. The fantasy drama has grossed $31.5 million in two months.

    Universal’s “Get Out” and Warner Bros.’ “Dunkirk” are returning to theaters this weekend after receiving best picture noms. “Get Out” grossed $175 million domestically before leaving multiplexes in July and “Dunkirk” took in $188 million between July and November.

  • ‘Jumanji’ Stays Strong, Topping ’12 Strong,’ ‘Den of Thieves’ With $20 Million

    LOS ANGELES, Jan 21, (Variety.com) – Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has won its third weekend box office title with ease, topping newcomers “12 Strong” and “Den of Thieves,” with $20 million at 3,704 North American locations.

    Afghan war drama “12 Strong” took second with $16.5 million at 3,002 sites for Warner Bros. and STXfilms’ “Den of Thieves” followed with $15.3 million from 2,432 venues. Fox’s “The Post” finished fourth with $12 million at 2,851 venues and its fifth weekend of “The Greatest Showman” remained a solid draw in fifth with $11 million at 2,823 screens.

    “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has shown remarkable staying power, declining only 28% this weekend and lifting its 33-day North American total to $317 million — the 61st highest of all time. It’s Sony’s fifth highest domestic grosser of all time, trailing only the first three Spider-Man titles and last summer’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

    “Jumanji” is also singular in winning the box office in its third, fourth and fifth weekends after finishing second in its first two weekends to “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” “This is an unprecedented and unusual box office trajectory for a wide release blockbuster,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore.

    The action comedy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has also kept overall domestic business healthy with the year-to-date total at $730.1 million through Sunday, up 2.1% from a year ago. The weekend’s total hit about $137 million, down 6% from the same frame in 2017 when “Split” opened with $40 million.

    “Another great performance by the seemingly unstoppable ‘Jumanji’ powers the pre-Oscar nominations weekend while bolstered by a pair of solid debuts from ’12 Strong’ and ‘Den of Thieves,’ but this was not enough to beat a tough weekend over weekend comparison to the year ago stellar performance of M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Split,’” Dergarabedian said.

    “12 Strong,” starring Chris Hemsworth and Michael Shannon, had been tracking in the $14 million to $17 million range. The movie is based Doug Stanton’s 2009 bestseller “Horse Soldiers,” which centers on CIA paramilitary operations officers and U.S. Special Forces sent to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan immediately after the Sept. 11 attacks. Prospects for ongoing business are solid, given its A Cinemascore.

    Production companies for “12 Strong” are Alcon Entertainment, Black Label Media, and Jerry Bruckheimer Films with Nicolai Fuglsig directing. Bruckheimer began developing the film in 2009 while at Disney.

    The R-rated “Den of Thieves,” starring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, finished well above forecasts, which had been in the $9 million range. The film follows the intersecting lives of an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and a successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank in downtown Los Angeles.

    Christian Gudegast is directing from his original screenplay, based on a story by Gudegast and Paul Scheuring, and is produced by Tucker Tooley and Mark Canton, who spent 15 years developing the film. “Den of Thieves” carries a $30 million budget and generated a B+ Cinemascore.

    “It’s incredibly satisfying to have this in theaters and performing so well after all this time,” Tooley told Variety. “STXfilms has done a great job activating social media on this.”

    “The Post” centers on the 1971 legal battle by the Washington Post and New York Times over the publication of the Pentagon Papers and stars Meryl Streep as WaPo publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as editor Ben Bradlee. It showed respectable staying power with a 37% decline from its first weekend in wide release and has totaled $45.2 million domestically.

    “The Greatest Showman,” starring Hugh Jackman as P.T. Barnum, remained a powerful draw with a remarkable small decline of 12% in its fifth weekend. The domestic total has hit $113.5 million while the international box office is at $118 million.

    Warner Bros.’ second weekend of family comedy “Paddington 2” finished sixth with $8.2 million at 3,702 sites, followed by Lionsgate’s sophomore session of Liam Neeson‘s “The Commuter” with $6.7 million at 2,892 venues. Both titles have reached $25 million in 10 days.

    Disney-Lucasfilm’s sixth weekend of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” came in eighth with $6.6 million at 2,456 locations for a 38-day total of $604.3 million. It trails “The Avengers” by less than $20 million for the fifth spot on that list.

  • Box Office: ‘Jumanji’ Dominates MLK Weekend, ‘The Post’ Leads Newcomers

    LOS ANGELES, Jan 14 (Variety.com) – Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is dominating the North American box office to easily win the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend with about $33.4 million at 3,849 sites, estimates showed Sunday.

    Fox’s “The Post” is leading the rest of the pack handily and topped forecasts with $22.2 million at 2,819 locations for Friday-Monday after expanding from 36 sites. The opening of Lionsgate’s Liam Neeson‘s thriller “The Commuter” also topped expectations in third place with $16 million at 2,892 venues.

    The fifth weekend of Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with $14.7 million at 3,090 sites is fourth and Fox’s fourth weekend of “The Greatest Showman” with $14.5 million at 2,938 screens takes fifth place at the holiday box office.

    Warner. Bros.’ launch of family comedy “Paddington 2” was battling for sixth place with Universal’s second weekend of “Insidious: The Last Chapter” with about $14.1 million each. Sony’s launch of action-thriller “Proud Mary” came in eighth with $12 million at 2,125 sites followed by Universal’s fourth weekend of “Pitch Perfect 3” with $6.7 million at 2,505 sites and Focus Features’ eighth weekend of “Darkest Hour” with $5.7 million at 1,693 venues.

    Overall business was solid rather than spectacular with a four-day total in the $190 million range, according to comScore. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which will finish the holiday with nearly $290 million in 29 days, now ranks as the eighth highest grosser released in 2017.

    “‘Jumanji’ has in essence hit the reset button and is now behaving more like a film in its second weekend rather than its fourth,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. “In the wake of a startling late run ascension to the number one spot, ‘Jumanji’ continues to energize the early 2018 box office marketplace while this weekend taking on a host of wide release newcomers.”

    Disney noted Sunday that “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” had reached a worldwide total of $1.264 billion, topping Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” ($1.263 billion) and Universal’s “The Fate of the Furious” ($1.236 billion) to become the top global release of 2017 and the tenth-highest global release of all time.

    “Jumanji,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, provided the most substantive challenge to “The Last Jedi” after opening Dec. 20. It’s the most successful title for Sony since “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” which pulled in $337 million domestically during the summer.

    “The Post,” starring Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep in a story about the 1971 publication of the Pentagon Papers, attracted an older audience with 66 percent over 35. It received an A Cinemascore with ComScore’s PostTrak audience survey showing solid response with 63 percent rating the drama a “definite recommend” — indicating strong playability in coming weeks, according to Chris Aronson, president of domestic distribution.

    “We see a real opportunity for attracting young people who are politically aware due to the timeliness of the subject matter,” he added.

    “The Post” took in $4.3 million in two weeks of limited release, so its domestic total has hit $26.7 million. The National Board of Review named “The Post” the best film of 2017 with Hanks and Streep winning the acting awards and the Producers Guild nominated it as one of its top 11 films but it was denied nominations last week from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild. “The Post” has an 88 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

    “The Commuter,” starring Neeson as a businessman drawn into a criminal conspiracy on his train ride home. The film finished Friday with around $4.6 million, and has received a B CinemaScore and a 55 percent Rotten Tomatoes rating. The film kicks off a long-term partnership between Lionsgate and StudioCanal that will continue with “Early Man” and “Shaun the Sheep Movie 2.”

    “Paddington 2” was coming in slightly under expectations. Warner Bros. acquired the North American rights for the sequel film, starring the popular British children’s literary character, from the Weinstein Company in November after the sexual harassment allegations against former head Harvey Weinstein left the production company and distributor a toxic name.

    “Paddington 2,” in which Ben Whishaw voices the accident-prone bear, has already earned $125 million internationally and has garnered a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

    “Proud Mary,” starring Taraji P. Henson, opened at the lower end of expectations for Sony’s Screen Gems. The film, which carries a modest $14 million budget, was marketed toward Henson’s fan base. She portrays a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes bad. Critics were unimpressed and gave “Proud Mary” a 23 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

  • 5 Reasons Why ‘Insidious: The Last Key’ and ‘Jumanji’ Crushed ‘Star Wars’ at the Weekend Box Office

    January is typically a dead zone at the box office, which is one reason no one expected much from “Insidious: The Last Key.”

    After all, it’s a poorly-reviewed fourth installment of a horror franchise that seemed to be running out of gas with the third chapter three years ago, which debuted with the franchise’s weakest opening ($22.7 million) and limped out of theaters just ten weeks later, the shortest run of any movie in the series — with the lowest total gross of any “Insidious” movie ($52.2 million). It’s no wonder that almost no one thought “Last Key” would open any higher than $22 million, though some pundits predicted a premiere as low as $16 million.

    And yet, Sunday’s estimates have it opening in second place, with a robust $29.3 million, averaging a strong $9,392 per screen. That’s the second best opening of the series, behind only the $40.3 million debut of “Insidious Chapter 2” four years ago. It was enough to push “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” into third place, after the film spent three weeks atop the chart (it fell to an estimated $23.6 million in its fourth weekend). If not for the still strong “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which estimates placed at a remarkable $36.0 million in its third weekend, the fourth “Insidious” would have premiered in first place.

    How did “Last Key” scare up so much money and shock the experts? Here are five ways.

    1. January Is a Good Month for Horror
    Studios have known this for some time, getting horror fans to open their wallets in January for such films as “Cloverfield” (opening with $40.0 million in 2008), “The Devil Inside” ($33.7 million in 2012), and “Mama” ($28.4 million in 2013).

    Last year, Hollywood really made January a terrifying month, with “Split” (a $40.0 million debut), “The Bye Bye Man,” and the underperforming horror-action thrillers “Underworld: Blood Wars” and “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.” So audiences were primed for a scary movie this month, especially since there won’t be another for four more weeks, when we get “Winchester” on February 2.

    2. “The Last Jedi” Just Doesn’t Have the Legs of a Typical “Star Wars” Movie
    That seems odd, given that it took just two weeks for “Last Jedi” to become the top-grossing movie of 2017 and three weeks to earn more than “Rogue One” did over its five-month run. Still, two years ago, “The Force Awakens” held on to first place for four weeks, not three.

    Last year, “Rogue One” fell from first after three weeks, but at least it spent its fourth week at No. 2. “Last Jedi” started stronger than “Rogue One,” but its fall feels steeper (it’s lost 89 percent of its debut business, compared to 86 percent for “Rogue One” at this point in its release). That could be because fan fondness for this chapter hasn’t been as strong, with opinions much divided over the sequel’s plot and character choices. But it’s also because the last two movies didn’t face a mainstream competitor that stole much of their thunder…

    3. Audiences Wanted Something New This Weekend
    That would be “Last Key” and “Jumanji,” whose take this week is just $169,000 shy of its opening-weekend tally. Nothing else that has opened lately has captured that kind of fervor or enjoyed that kind of holding power.

    So again, escapism-seeking audiences, who had no other new options, were going to turn out in force for “Insidious,” regardless of how little critics thought of it. Sure, it drew just a 25 percent Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes and even a lackluster B- grade among paying customers at CinemaScore, but what else was there?

    4. There Are Few Movies Out There That Young Women Want to See
    Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba in MOLLY'S GAMEYeah, there’s “Pitch Perfect 3,” though that has failed to spark the kind of enthusiasm that the first two movies enjoyed. And there’s “The Last Jedi,” overflowing with role models.

    Still, nothing caters to younger female audiences like horror. Everything else out there seems aimed either at young men (“Jumanji”) or at older viewers — namely, all those Oscar-hopeful movies. With the Golden Globes kicking off the awards-show season in earnest this weekend, such films as “Molly’s Game” and “Darkest Hour” expanded into more than 1,000 theaters each and saw solid box office boosts. (“Molly” earned an estimated $7.0 million this weekend, while “Hour” picked up an estimated $6.4 million.)

    Also seeing boosts were Oscar-seeking movies that are still playing in just a handful of theaters — “I, Tonya,” “The Post,” “Hostiles,” and “Phantom Thread.” These will be movies for box office observers to keep an eye on in the coming weeks. But that also means that younger viewers will have to settle for the likes of “Insidious.”

    5. Not Even Snow Storms Could Keep Audiences Away
    The winter storm that buried much of the eastern United States in snow at midweek was expected to keep theaters shuttered and discourage moviegoing. But the cinemas are back open, and cabin-feverish fans are eager to get out and see something, anything.

    If they’ve already seen “Star Wars” and “Jumanji,” at least there’s another familiar franchise film, one that offers indoor chills that are worth braving the outdoor chills for.

  • Box Office: ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ Roars Past ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ ‘Insidious 4’

    LOS ANGELES, Jan 7 (Variety.com) – Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” handily won the first box office weekend of 2018 over the launch of “Insidious: The Last Key” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with $36 million at 3,801 North American locations.

    The fourth installment of the “Insidious” horror franchise scared up a surprisingly strong $29.3 million at 3,116 sites for Universal. Disney-Lucasfilm’s “The Last Jedi” followed in third with a 55% decline to $23.6 million at 4,232 venues for a 24-day total of $572.5 million — the sixth-largest of all-time.

    Fox’s third weekend of “The Greatest Showman” held nicely in fourth, declining only 12% to $13.6 million at 3,342 theaters for a 19-day total of about $77 million. It was followed in fifth by Universal’s third session of “Pitch Perfect 3” with $10.2 million at 3,458 sites, lifting its 17-day take to a solid $86 million.

    Fox’s fourth weekend of animated comedy “Ferdinand” finished sixth with $7.7 million at 3,156 venues, followed by Jessica Chastain‘s “Molly’s Game” from STXfilms, which brought in $7 million after expanding to 1,608 sites from 271. Chastain received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a drama for her work in the film — whether or not she wins will be determined Sunday. The film also received a Producers Guild Award nomination on Friday for best film, a day after Aaron Sorkin’s script received a Writers Guild nom for adapted screenplay.

    The “Jumanji” sequel has taken in $244.4 million in its first 19 days domestically. It’s the first weekend box office win for “Jumanji” — which has gone past “Justice League” as the ninth-largest domestic grosser among 2017 titles. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is also topping the $500 million mark worldwide.

    Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan star in “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” a sequel to Robin Williams’ original, which was a 1995 hit with $262 million worldwide. “Welcome to the Jungle” follows four high schoolers in detention who wind up as video game characters facing an array of challenges.

    “Insidious: The Last Key” came in far above expectations, which had been in the $16 million to $19 million range. It’s the latest horror title from Blumhouse Productions, which delivered low-cost horror hits last year for Universal with “Split,” “Get Out,” and “Happy Death Day.” The franchise dates back to 2010 with “Insidious,” followed by “Insidious: Chapter 2” in 2013 and “Insidious: Chapter 3” in 2015 — which have grossed a collective $357 million worldwide.

    Lin Shaye, who has starred in all three films, returns in “Insidious: The Last Key” as a parapsychologist whose haunted childhood comes to threaten her family and home in a follow-up to the events in “Insidious: Chapter 3.” It’s produced by “Insidious” regulars Jason Blum, Oren Peli, and co-creator James Wan and by Sony Pictures (through Stage 6 Films) with Blumhouse. Universal is the U.S. theatrical distributor with Sony releasing in the rest of the world.

    Overall domestic business was up 18.1% to $165 million, according to comScore — a welcome sign after 2017 saw a 2.3% decline in total grosses.

    “2018 is off to a rollicking start with ‘Jumanji’s’ unexpected strength boosting the overall marketplace nearly 20% ahead of the comparable weekend a year ago as the box office new year gives the industry cause to celebrate with an incredibly diverse lineup of titles driving patrons to theaters and a red hot awards season in full swing,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. “Two years ago was not even as strong with a ‘Force Awakens’ driven marketplace ringing up sales of $159.1 million for the same weekend in 2016.”

  • Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Tops $1 Billion Worldwide

    LOS ANGELES, Dec 31 (Variety.com) – Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has cleared the $1 billion milestone in worldwide grosses in less than three weeks.

    “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” pulled in $120.4 million globally on the New Year’s Eve weekend with $52.4 million at 4,232 domestic venues and $68 million internationally during the Friday-Sunday period.

    “The Last Jedi” is now the eighth highest-grossing domestic movie of all time with $517.1 million — only $15 million behind last year’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” in the seventh spot. On the worldwide chart, it’s now 24th with $1.04 billion, edging Universal-Illumination’s “Despicable Me 3.” The tentpole’s international total, currently at $523.2 million, will see a significant jolt when it opens on Jan. 5 in China, its final market.

    “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has also topped Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” which grossed $504 million in North America, for the top spot among 2017 releases domestically. It’s the fourth 2017 title to go past $1 billion worldwide, along with “Beauty and the Beast” at $1.26 billion, “The Fate of the Furious” at $1.24 billion and “Despicable Me 3” at $1.03 billion.

    “The Last Jedi” is also winning the domestic weekend box office crown for the third time with $52.4 million, edging Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which took in $50.6 million at 3,765 locations for the Friday-Sunday.

    However, Sony’s projection showed the “Jumanji” sequel grossing $16.5 million on New Year’s Day on Monday — well above Disney’s forecast of $13.2 million for “The Last Jedi.” Should those numbers hold, “Jumanji” would edge “Jedi” over the four-day period with $67 million, winning by $1.4 million.

    “Jumanji” has been “The Last Jedi’s” biggest competitor by far since it opened on Dec. 20. The action-comedy should wind up with an 11-day domestic total of $186.3 million by the end of Monday. The action-comedy, starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has a $90 million budget. It’s also performed impressively in international markets with $107 million through Dec. 28.

    “Jedi” and “Jumanji” helped lift the entire domestic box office for 2017 to $11.12 billion, down 2.3% from last year’s $11.38 billion and off slightly from 2015’s $11.14 billion, according to comScore. The gap for 2017 had been more than 6% at the end of the worst summer in a decade but performances by “It,” “Thor: Ragnarok,” “Justice League,” “Jedi” and “Jumanji” closed most of that margin.

    “With another $11 billion plus year on the books, the industry looks ahead to awards season and a 2018 packed with blockbuster titles and a hope for a year slightly less volatile than 2017,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3” led the rest of weekend’s domestic pack with a projected $22.7 million at 3,468 locations for Friday-Monday, lifting its 11-day total to $69.2 million. The comedy threequel, starring Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, took in $13.1 million this weekend from 34 international markets for a foreign total of $28.6 million.

    Hugh Jackman‘s musical drama “The Greatest Showman” is finishing a close fourth with $20.3 million at 3,316 theaters forecasted for the four days. The Fox-Chernin Entertainment title showed the biggest gain in the top 10 movies from the Christmas Eve weekend with an impressive 73% surge. The domestic total should hit $53.8 million through Monday.

    Fox’s second weekend of “Ferdinand” — the only film to open on the same weekend as “The Last Jedi” — followed in fifth with $15.1 million at 3,337 North American venues, giving the animated comedy $57.3 million in 18 days. Disney-Pixar’s seventh weekend of “Coco” finished sixth with a projected $8.8 million at 2,845 sites for a domestic total of $181.1 million and $539 million worldwide.

    Sony’s “All the Money in the World” and Focus Features’ “Darkest Hour” were in a battle for seventh place at about $7.2 million for the four days. “All the Money” opened on Christmas Day as the final wide release of the year at 2,074 locations after director Ridley Scott excised Kevin Spacey’s scenes and reshot them with Christopher Plummer as J. Paul Getty, following the early November sexual abuse allegations against Spacey. Its eight-day total will be around $14.4 million.

    Awards contender “Darkest Hour,” starring Gary Oldman as the 1940 version of Winston Churchill, expanded to 943 venues in its sixth weekend and will have taken in $19.8 million by the end of the weekend. Focus reported strong performance in Washington, D.C./Maryland, Phoenix, Boston, Salt Lake City, and Florida markets.

    “‘Darkest Hour’ is taking America by storm,” said distribution chief Lisa Bunnell. “We’re seeing audiences coming out in big numbers. It’s a movie they found inspiring over the holiday break and the word of mouth gives us a strong outlook for the upcoming weeks.”

    Matt Damon’s comedy-drama “Downsizing” finished ninth with a projected $6 million at 2,664 sites for the four days for Paramount. The 11-day total for “Downsizing,” which carries a $65 million budget and was directed by Alexander Payne, should come in around $18.5 million.

    Warner Bros.-Alcon Entertainment’s second weekend of R-rated comedy “Father Figures” rounded out the top 10 with a projected $5.5 million at 2,902 locations. The 11-day total for the Owen Wilson-Ed Helms vehicle, which has a $25 million price tag, should hit about $14 million.

  • Box Office: ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ soars to $745 million worldwide

    Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” is showing plenty of force at multiplexes worldwide with $745.4 million globally as of Sunday.

    The North American take has hit $365 million in its first 10 days as of Sunday with the studio projecting another $32 million on Christmas Day on Monday – making it the third highest domestic release in 2017 following “Beauty and the Beast” with $504 million and “Wonder Woman” at $412 million.

    “Stars Wars: The Last Jedi” has totaled $380.3 million in international box office. It is already the top grossing film of 2017 in both Denmark and Sweden and the fourth highest grosser in the overall European market. The U.K. is the top market with $67.4 million, followed by Germany with $40 million, France with $29.3 million and Australia with $26.9 million.

    “The Last Jedi,” which picks up following the events of 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” is so far the 87th highest worldwide grosser of all time, trailing 2016’s “Suicide Squad” by $1.4 million. Rian Johnson directed with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Lupita Nyong’o and Domhnall Gleeson reprising their roles. It’s the final screen role for Fisher, who died a year ago.

    Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” and Universal’s “Pitch Perfect 3” have also opened solidly while Fox’s “The Greatest Showman” is drawing respectably at the domestic box office. But moviegoers are showing little interest in Paramount’s “Downsizing” and Warner Bros.-Alcon’s “Father Figures.”

    “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” opened with the second-largest North American launch ever in its first weekend with $220 million. It faced competition for the first time on Dec. 20, with Sony’s action comedy “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle,” which is leading the rest of the pack with $34 million at 3,765 sites for Friday-Sunday and a six-day total of around $64 million.

    Josh Greenstein, Sony’s president of worldwide marketing and distribution, pointed to the A- Cinemascore as an indication that “Jumanji” is attracting all demographics. “We have incredible momentum as we go into the biggest moviegoing week of the year,” he added.

  • Dwayne Johnson Embarrassed Himself When He First Met Robin Williams

    ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY Presents Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson at Stan Lee's Los Angeles Comic-Con on Saturda,, October 28, 2017Even The Rock has awkward moments.

    Dwayne Johnson has been out promoting “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” ahead of its fast-approaching release date, and while he was speaking to EW, he got to talking about Robin Williams, who starred in the film’s 1995 predecessor. It turns out that Johnson became a little tongue-tied when he first met the legendary comedian. After approaching Williams backstage at an event, he made of funny gaffe.

    “I finally see him and catch his eye, and I’m like, ‘Hey, I just want to say, you are my biggest fan,’” Johnson told EW.

    It took an awkward pause for the younger actor to realize what he had said and to then correct himself.

    “He just laughed and said, ‘It’s so good to meet you,’ and gave me a big hug,” Johnson said. “So that was it. I made an idiot out of myself when I first met Robin.”

    The mistake is an understandable one, considering what an influential star Williams was. In fact, his legacy is why they made sure to clarify early on that “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is a continuation rather than a reboot.

    “We cannot fill Robin Williams’ shoes,” Johnson said. “That’s impossible to do.”

    “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” opens Dec. 20.

    [via: EW]

  • You Can See ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ in Theaters Before Its Official Release Date

    Karen Gillan, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson star in JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE.The wait for “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has gotten shorter — at least for some fans.

    Ahead of the action flick’s late December release, Amazon has lined up early showings for Prime members. The company announced Wednesday that it was selling tickets to screenings at 1,000-plus theaters nationwide. The events will be held on Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. at select Regal, ArcLight Cinemas, and National Amusements theaters, and likely AMC Theaters, as well, according to Amazon.

    Moviegoers will see the film 12 days early, which is exciting considering that it is expected to be a big box office draw this holiday season. The movie is a standalone sequel to 1995’s “Jumanji” and puts a modern spin on it and the children’s book the flick was based on. It stars Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan as a group teenagers stuck in the bodies of video game characters.

    With its early showings, Amazon is both rewarding its Prime members and encouraging others to join. Each member is allowed to buy 10 tickets (while supplies last) to attend a nearby screening. Tickets for Amazon’s Dec. 8 showings can be purchased online via Atom and IMDb.

    “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” officially opens on Dec. 20.

  • 18 Movies That ’90s Kids Can’t Live Without

    18 Movies That ’90s Kids Can’t Live Without