The Force Is With ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ This Christmas [Box Office]

This weekend, some folks are busy doing their last minute holiday shopping and others, who are far more organized, have time to squeeze in a movie. And the force was with one movie in particular this weekend….

Predictably, “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” cruised into the top slot with $68.4 million, but it’s worth taking a closer look at the numbers. The somewhat controversial entry in the saga saw a sharp second week audience drop of 68.9%, the largest decline of any of the Disney era “Star Wars” films (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” only fell 39.8% in week two, while “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” dropped 58.7%). At the end of the Christmas weekend, ‘The Last Jedi’ will be running roughly 25% ahead of the pace of ‘Rogue One,’ which wound up tallying $532 million domestic, for a $1 billion worldwide haul. In short, ‘The Last Jedi’ will certainly be joining the billion dollar club, however, as Disney cautioned before it opened, it won’t come anywhere near the $2 billion tally of ‘The Force Awakens.’

Eating into ‘The Last Jedi’ audience is “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle,” which knocked the saga from the top spot in 28 international territories where it scooped $49.5 million, while at home it earned $34 million. Chalk this up good reviews, smart marketing, and almighty power of Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. The only thing to wonder now is when Sony will announce the sequel.

Speaking of sequels, “Pitch Perfect 3” puts in the nail in the coffin of the franchise, opening to $20.4 million, a staggering $49 million off the mark of the debut of “Pitch Perfect 2.” Universal was likely aiming way too high by opening the film during the crush of the holidays, but the weird hybrid of breezy acapella comedy and war movie (?) probably didn’t help. It’s probably a safe bet they might’ve fared better launching the film at almost any other time of year, but it’s at least good to know we won’t have to hear any more pitch puns ever again.

The expensive “The Greatest Showman” failed to put on much of a show, with the razzle dazzle musical flopping with $8.6 million. It’s one of the worst wide release openings of Hugh Jackman‘s career (ironically, one of the others is the barely remembered thriller “Deception” also co-starring Michelle Williams). Considering that his brand was entirely built around Wolverine, it seems it’s going to take some time for the actor to figure out how to reposition himself for audiences. But if one thing is clear, audiences really don’t want to see him sing (yes, there’s “Les Miserables,” but that was built off the smash hit Broadway show, which did all the heavy lifting that required).

It’s funny how conversations shift around movies. Alexander Payne‘s ambitious sci-fi social satire “Downsizing” debuted strong at Venice, with Oscar talk floating around the picture. It then travelled to Telluride and Toronto where the reception was much cooler. Unfortunately, Paramount seemed unable to figure out how to translate the concept to audiences, because the film pulled in a dismal $4.6 million. The film continues Matt Damon‘s brutal box office following “The Great Wall” and “Suburbicon,” and it looks like Payne will have to quickly return to low to mid-budget pictures that have been the bulk of his career.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. threw out the trash before the year ran out with “Father Figures,” the comedy starring Owen Wilson and Ed Helms, that they barely promoted and didn’t screen for critics. As such, it expectedly died on the vine with $3.2 million.

In limited release: Steven Spielberg‘s Oscar contender “The Post” hit nine screens with a strong $55,000 per-screen-average ($495,000 total); “Hostiles” starring Christian Bale was far less successful with a $8,667 per-screen-average from three screens ($26,000 total); Michael Haneke‘s “Happy End” — the perfect Christmas movie! — his thirty-three screens with a dismal $721 per-screen-average ($23,800).

1. “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” — $68.4 million ($365 mil.)
2. “Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle” — $34 million ($50 mil.)
3. “Pitch Perfect 3” — $20.4 million
4. “The Greatest Showman” — $8.6 million ($13.1 mil.)
5. “Ferdinand” — $7 million ($26.5 mil.)
6. “Coco” — $5.2 million ($161.3 mil.)
7. “Downsizing” — $4.6 million
8. “Darkest Hour”— $4.1 million ($6.9 mil.)
9. “Father Figures” — $3.2 million
10. “The Shape Of Water” — $3 million ($7.6 mil.)