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 Despite opening below projections heading into the weekend,
"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" easily towered over competition
including holdover from Warner Bros.' "Joker" and newcomer
Sony's "Zombieland: Double Tap." The "Maleficent" follow-up did
benefit as one of the few offerings catering to younger female
moviegoers in a marketplace that's been largely dominated by
male-skewed titles like "Joker" and Paramount's "Gemini Man."
Women represented 56% of ticket buyers, about 50% of which were
under the age of 25.
"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" marks the lowest opening weekend
of the year for Disney and will now rely on the international
box office to recoup its $185 million budget. The film had much
more promising showing overseas, lifting off with $117 million
for a global start of $150 million. The original pulled in an
impressive $517 million from foreign markets and another $241
million from the domestic market.
Elle Fanning also returned for the sequel, joining newcomers to
the series Michelle Pfeiffer, Ed Skrein and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
"Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" was directed by Joachim Ronning
("Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man Tell No Tales").
Fellow new release "Zombieland: Double Tap" launched at No. 3
with a better-than-expected $26.7 million and should continue to
build momentum in coming weeks as Halloween nears. The original
"Zombieland" premiered to $24 million in 2009 and ended its box
office run with a solid $102 million globally. Directed by Ruben
Fleischer, the zombie comedy reunites stars Woody Harrelson,
Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Bill Murray.
Rosario Dawson, Zoey Deutch, Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch
joined the cast. "Zombieland 2" cost $42 million to make,
roughly double what the studio spent on the original ($23
million).
After its two-week reign atop domestic box office charts,
"Joker" slid to second place and added $29 million in its third
weekend of release. That puts the dark supervillain origin story
-- starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips --
close to the $250 million mark in North America, with ticket
sales hitting $247 million. Overseas, "Joker" has scared up a
mighty $490 million for a worldwide bounty of $737.5 million.
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In other milestones, STX and Lorene Scafaria's "Hustlers" crossed
the coveted $100 million benchmark at the domestic box office. After
six weeks in theaters, "Hustlers" pulled in another $2 million,
boosting its haul to $101.8 million in North America and $128.8
million globally.
Meanwhile, Focus Features' "Downton Abbey" has surpassed $88 million
in the States and now stands as the studio's highest-grossing movie
ever at the domestic box office, a record previously held by "Brokeback
Mountain" with $83 million.
Among awards season hopefuls, Fox Searchlight's "Jojo Rabbit" bowed
with a strong $350,000 from five theaters in New York and Los
Angeles, averaging $70,000 from each location. Written and directed
by Taika Waititi (who also stars in the film as an absurdist
imaginary Adolf Hitler), "Jojo Rabbit" is set during World War II
and follows a young boy eager to join the Hitler Youth, who
discovers his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Critics
have been mostly impressed with "Jojo Rabbit" (it holds a 77% on
Rotten Tomatoes), while audiences have awarded it with an A
CinemaScore.
"There are many reasons to be very optimistic about the future of 'Jojo
Rabbit,'" said Frank Rodriguez, Fox Searchlight's president of
domestic distribution. "Notably, the very good performance at the
box office this weekend, the excellent CinemaScore of A, and the
interest that we see from exhibitors and moviegoers who are eager to
play and see the film in the coming weeks."
"Jojo Rabbit," based on the novel "Caging Skies," will continue its
paced rollout next weekend in eight new markets, including Denver,
Austin, Phoenix, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and
Toronto. The studio is aiming for a nationwide release by Nov. 8.
The cast includes Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett
Johansson, Rebel Wilson and Sam Rockwell.
Elsewhere, Robert Eggers' "The Lighthouse" took in $419,764 from
eight venues. The darkly comedic drama, led by Robert Pattinson and
Willem Dafoe, will continue to expand nationwide next weekend, where
it will play on 500 screens.
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