Two new films opened wide this weekend, though neither debuted on top.
“Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” still remains on top this past weekend, earning $19,369,877. After a disappointing opening, the film saw a 47.6% drop after its second weekend. After two weeks “Mistress of Evil” has not even matched the previous franchise entry, 2014’s “Maleficent” opening weekend total of $69,431,298. “Mistress” almost didn’t top the box office, as early reports through Tuesday showed that “Joker” had taken the number one spot back. In reality, “Mistress of Evil” was number one again, but the gap between it and “Joker” was less than $125,000.
However, in second, “Joker” only sees a 34.2% drop as the R rated film continues to show great legs. The films week to week holds resemble those of other drama films, which are better than the massive blockbusters the “Joker” opening resembled. “Joker” has officially moved to seventh on the top R rated domestic grosses, passing “The Hangover” which had a total of $277,322,503. “Joker” also looks to pass “The Matrix Reloaded” and “Deadpool” this upcoming weekend to sneak into the five highest. However, if “Joker” wants to become the top R rated domestic film of all time, it will need to catch “The Passion of the Christ,” which totaled $370,782,930.
“Joker” saw a great hold at second place, especially four weeks into release, with $19,248,035. Rising to third is “The Addams Family (2019).” In the film’s third week of release, the animated family film adds another $12,006,007 to its domestic run. “Zombieland: Double Tap” continued a steady box office run, collecting another $11,817,487 for its total and is on track to equal its predecessor’s box office totals. Then the battle for fifth, like first, was almost a tie. STX Entertainment’s “Countdown” edges out Screen Gems “Black and Blue” for the fifth-place spot. “Countdown” had an additional 600 theaters compared to “Black and Blue” which helped the horror film rack in $8,865,082. “Black and Blue,” which just misses the top five, earned $8,376,846 in sixth. “Black and Blue” showed in 2,062 theaters having a per theater average of $4,062.
In the ninth weekend of the Fall Box Office season, “Joker” continues to reign on top adding even more to its domestic total. In four weeks, the clown has made $277,931,557. As mentioned last week, clowns are dominating this year’s fall box office, as “IT Chapter Two” is in second place having earned $210,758,107 in eight weeks. Essentially at the end of their domestic run, “Hustlers” dropped a lot of theaters domestically but still remains in third for the fall season as a whole having grossed $103,561,824 in total. In fourth and closing in on $100 million domestically is “Downton Abbey.” The T.V. show adaptation has earned $92,256,175 through six weeks. In at fifth is “The Addams Family (2019),” which has nearly doubled its budget domestically. The animated film cost $40 million and has earned $73,101,705 through three weeks. The biggest gainer this week on the chart was “Mistress of Evil” jumping from ninth to sixth with the films domestic total up to $66,245,035. “Abominable” has dropped two weeks in a row down to seventh with its gross of $56,904,720. “Ad Astra” lands at eight with a domestic run of $49,313,893 while “Double Tap” jumps in between “Astra” and its box office rival “Rambo: Last Blood” with $47,217,760. “Last Blood” falls to last place in the film’s sixth week of release. The Sylvester Stallone starring film now trails Brad Pitt’s space drama and the zombie sequel, with just $44,538,786. “Gemini Man” misses the fall top ten by a little over a million.
Next weekend is another busy one. Four new films open wide, while “The Lighthouse,” “Jojo Rabbit” and “Parasite” continue to expand. The sixth Terminator film, “Terminator: Dark Fate,” opens alongside the low-budget animated film “Artic Dogs,” along with Oscar hopefuls “Harriet” and “Motherless Brooklyn.”
Check back next week to see how “Dark Fate” compares to other “Terminator” openings and if “Joker” can make further progress towards becoming the top R rated domestic film of all-time.
