Not Going Cold

Disney’s animated sequel Frozen 2 declined -59.0% to win the box office again. However, that was a sharper post-Thanksgiving drop than the original Frozen at -53.0%, or last year’s fellow Disney animated sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet with -54.5%.

Read our magazine’s cover story on Frozen II, including interviews with co-directors Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck.

Joker Just Misses Out

Reaching 10 weekends in the box office top 10 is a rare feat, accomplished only a few times a year. Sunday’s studio weekend estimates showed Warner Bros.’ Joker doing just that, barely holding onto 10th place with a mere $30K more than Universal’s Last Christmas.

However, relative to Sunday’s estimates, Monday’s updated weekend actuals showed a slight increase for Christmas and a slight decrease for Joker. Joker ended up in 11th place by a mere $5,569 behind, or a narrow -0.54% gap.

The same thing happened to Disney’s Captain Marvel in May. The film was tentatively reported on a Sunday to have spent a 10th weekend in the box office top 10. However, Monday’s weekend actuals revealed that it actually came in 11th place, missing that top tier by only $5,326 behind The Curse of La Llorona, or an even narrow -0.28% gap.

Do You Want To Play?

The weekend’s sole new wide release, STX’s animated Playmobil, came in below even the most pessimistic projections. While hardly expected to contend for the box office’s top tier, the film was predicted to earn around the $2M to $3M range. It actually came in well below $1M, earning only $656K.

Overseas

Ahead of its domestic release Friday, Sony’s fantasy comedy sequel Jumanji: The Next Level started with $52.8M overseas, led by $24.9M in China. The follow-up hopes to replicate the unexpectedly large $962.1M overseas total of its 2017 predecessor Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, including a $77.9M China total.

Limited Releases

Neon’s historical drama Portrait of a Lady on Fire earned the weekend’s best per-screen average, debuting with $67,344 on two screens, for a $33,672 average.

How’d This Weekend Compare?

Total box office this weekend was $89.5M. That’s -50.5% below last weekend but +4.3% above this same weekend last year, when Ralph Breaks the Internet led for a third frame with $16.2M.

The Year So Far

Year-to-date box office stands at $10.30B. That’s -5,8% behind this same date last year, up from -5.9% after last weekend.

The post Weekend Box Office Key Insights: <em>Frozen 2</em> is Thrice the Ice, Three-Peating w/ $35.1M appeared first on Boxoffice.