In a November that has underperformed significantly compared to last year, Ford v. Ferrari zoomed to a solid finish in its debut weekend, bringing in an estimated $31 million from 3,528 locations.

The Fox title (released by Disney) benefitted from several significant selling points, not least of which was the star appeal of its two leading men, Christian Bale and Matt Damon. Additionally, strong reviews (it’s at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes) helped bring in the target adult audience, while its car-racing premise and blue-collar themes likely helped pull in moviegoers in the South and Midwest regions. The film performed particularly well among older men, with 62% of the opening weekend audience being male and 34% over the age of 45.

Ford v. Ferrari’s strong performance this weekend presents a rare bright spot for Fox in the wake of Disney’s acquisition of the studio, with recent titles like Dark Phoenix, Ad Astra and Stuber underperforming significantly over the last several months; indeed, Disney publicly kept its expectations low for the film, pegging it for a debut in the high-teen millions heading into the weekend. Though its reported budget is a steep $98 million, it’s looking like the kind of word-of-mouth hit that could hold up well in the coming weeks, particularly if its A+ CinemaScore and 99% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes (from 2,877 ratings) are any indication.

Coming in second was last weekend’s surprise champion Midway, which dropped 51% to an estimated $8.7 million in its sophomore frame. Lionsgate’s WWII drama — which financed its reported $70-$100 million budget outside the studio system (Lionsgate served only as the distributor) — now has $35.1 million after ten days of release.

Opening to an extremely disappointing $8.6 million in third place was Sony’s Charlie’s Angels, which failed to hit double-digit millions despite opening in 3,452 locations. Tracking and social media metrics for the woman-driven franchise reboot had not been encouraging heading into the weekend, leading the studio to predict an opening in the low-to-mid teen millions and box office pundits to follow suit. But despite a full-fledged marketing campaign — including a heavily-played theme song by pop stars Ariana Grande, Miley Cyrus and Lana Del Rey – audiences clearly couldn’t get worked up over another installment in the long-running franchise stemming from the iconic 1970s TV series.

This could be a case of franchise fatigue in a year filled to the brim with sequels, reboots and live-action “reimaginings,” though it’s worth pointing out that unlike the two previous big-screen Charlie’s Angels entries starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu, the star-wattage on display in the reboot was relatively low with the exception of Twilight ingenue-turned-arthouse-darling Kristen Stewart and director-star Elizabeth Banks. The starpower of the three leads in 2000’s Charlie’s Angels and 2003’s Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle helped lift those films to opening weekends of $40.1 million and $37.6 million, respectively – over four times the opening gross of the 2019 reboot. It’s worth noting, however, that those who have seen the new film are awarding it generally high marks; opening-day audiences gave it a “B+” Cinemascore, while its Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score currently stands at 82% with 547 ratings counted.

Coming in fourth was the Paramount family comedy Playing With Fire, which held well with an estimated $8.5 million in its sophomore frame, a drop of just 33%. The John Cena vehicle now has $25.4 million after ten days of release, though Frozen 2 should cut into its family demo significantly when it drops next weekend.

Also holding well in fifth place was Universal’s Last Christmas, which dipped 41% to an estimated $6.7 million. The holiday-themed rom-com now has $22.5 million in its coffers.

After debuting to a disappointing $14.1 million last weekend, Warner Bros.’ Doctor Sleep fell to sixth place in its sophomore frame, dropping 56% to an estimated $6.1 million — the largest drop of any of last weekend’s holdovers. The total for the Shining follow-up now stands at an underwhelming $25 million.

The final new wide release of the weekend, Warner Bros.’ The Good Liar, opened soft in seventh place with an estimated $5.65 million in 2,439 locations, which is about what was expected heading into the weekend.  Thankfully, the budget on the film is just $10 million, and with 64% of the audience being over the age of 50 — a demo that doesn’t typically rush out on opening weekend — it has the potential to post solid holds in the weeks ahead. The adult thriller starring Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen debuted to mixed reviews (64% on Rotten Tomatoes) and came in with an okay “B” Cinemascore.

In eighth place, Joker brought in an estimated $5.63 million in its seventh weekend, bringing the total for the DC Comics thriller to $322.6 million. At this rate, the Warner Bros. title (which just surpassed $1 billion worldwide) should finish its run as the fourth highest-grossing DC Comics movie of all time in North America, surpassing Suicide Squad ($325.1 million), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.3 million) and Aquaman ($335 million).

Coming in ninth was Maleficent: Mistress of Evil with an estimated $5.2 million — bringing the Disney sequel to $106 million through the end of its fifth weekend — while in tenth, Focus Features’ Harriet had another good hold, dropping 35% to an estimated $4.7 million in its third weekend of release. The historical drama now has $31.9 million to date.

Limited Release:

Lifted by mostly positive reviews, A24’s Waves had the highest per-screen average of the weekend ($36K) with an estimated $144K on just 4 screens. The Trey Edward Shults-directed family drama should expand further next weekend.

After debuting to over $75K last weekend in just 4 locations, Amazon Studios’ Honey Boy expanded to 17 theaters and grossed an estimated $210K, good for a per-screen average of $12K. The total for the Shia LaBeouf film now stands at $584K.

Still chugging along in limited release — and bolstered by roadshow screenings that include Q&As with director-star Kevin Smith — was Jay & Silent Bob Reboot, which brought in an estimated $168K this weekend on 10 screens. The film now stands at $2.59 million after five weeks of release.

Overseas Update:

Joker crossed the $1 billion global mark on Friday, making it the first R-rated film ever to reach the coveted milestone. It is also the fourth DC Comics movie ever to do so after Aquaman ($1.148 billion), The Dark Knight Rises ($1.081 billion) and The Dark Knight ($1.004 billion). Notably, it’s also the third film ever to reach $1 billion without the benefit of a release in China. With an estimated $13 million this weekend, its international gross now stands at $694 million and the worldwide tally is $1.017 billion. Top-grossing overseas markets to date include the U.K. ($70 million), Mexico ($43.2 million), Japan ($43 million), France ($42.7 million), Germany ($37.82 million) and Korea ($37.8 million).

Ford v. Ferrari debuted to an estimated $21.4 million overseas, bringing the film’s global opening cume to $52.4 million. The sports drama is slated to expand to several important East Asian markets in the coming weeks including Korea (Dec. 5), Japan (Dec. 10) and China (TBD).

The post Studio Weekend Estimates: <em>Ford v. Ferrari</em> Races to No. 1 Finish w/ $31M; <em>Charlie’s Angels</em> Falls to Earth with $8.6M appeared first on Boxoffice.