This previous weekend only had one new film opening wide, the new DreamWorks animation effort “Abominable.” Looking at the domestic top 5, “Abominable” tops the weekend with $20.8 million, coming in slightly above its projected opening of $20.6 million reported last weekend by BoxOfficeMojo.
“Abominable” is a fascinating case. The film strikes a lot of similarities to a film that came out roughly one year ago the Warner Bros. animated film “Smallfoot.” It starred Channing Tatum, Zendaya, and James Corden, and was a musical instead of an adventure film. “Smallfoot” was made for a reported budget of $80 million dollars and opened to $23 million in 4,100 theaters but faced competition in its opening weekend against the Kevin Hart and Tiffany Haddish comedy, “Night School.” “Smallfoot” came in second and went on to gross $83.2 million domestically and earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences. On the flip side, “Abominable” does not have an all-star cast, was made for a budget of $75 million, and faces no direct competition on its opening weekend, resulting in it climbing to the top of box office. However, even with a higher CinemaScore from audiences, an A, and opening in roughly 100 more theaters, the film made less than “Smallfoot,” opening at $20.6 million.
The coming weeks will show if the A CinemaScore will help “Abominable overcome “Smallfoot” or dip lower than last years animated Yeti flick. It does help that “Abominable” does have a few weeks without competition from other family films, until October 11th when “The Addams Family” releases.
“Downton Abbey” slides down to second dropping 53.8%, a noticeable drop. However since the film came in over projections, the royals at Abbey are doing just fine totaling $14.3 million this past weekend. Jumping up from fifth last week all the way up to third is “Hustlers” in its third week of release, only dropping 32.2% and earning $11.3million. On “Hustlers” tail is Pennywise and the Loser Club with “IT Chapter Two” staying put at fourth earning $10.2 million and dropping only 39.8% which is a great hold for a horror film in the fourth week of release. Rounding up the top 5 is “Ad Astra,” dropping from second place by 47.3% to earn $10 million. The Brad Pitt space film once again is outpacing Sylvester Stallone’s newest installment of the Rambo series, as “Rambo: Last Blood” drops from third to sixth.
In the fifth weekend of the Fall Box Office season, “It Chapter Two” remains in the top spot, earning over $193 million in four weeks of release. In second, just last week, remains “Hustlers” now up to $80 million on a $20 million budget, which is a great return on investment for STX studios, who has had a rough time at the box office in recent years. Similar to last week, “Downton Abbey” claims third with $58 million, “Ad Astra” in fourth with $35 million and “Rambo: Last Blood” in sixth with $33 million. “Abominable” sits at sixth and will likely leap-frog “Ad Astra” and “Rambo: Last Blood” in the coming weeks. Rounding up the fall box office is “The Goldfinch” in 7th with just $5.1 million dropping 79.9% and loosing 2,100 theaters in its third weekend of release.
A new film opens wide this upcoming weekend which seems to be eyeing the October Domestic Opening crown; the Joaquin Phoenix starring “Joker.” The record is currently held by last years “Venom”, which opened to $80.2 million just edging out the 2018 “Halloween” reboot which made $76.2 million. Collider predicts that “Joker” will open to $82 million, while Forbes swings for the fences stating that “Joker” could exceed expectations and reach $100 million, which even “IT Chapter Two” failed to do last month.
Check back next week to see if the clown prince of crime can steal the crown from “Venom” to become the highest October Domestic Opening ever.
