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Reuters
With anticipation building for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Disney-Pixar's animated comedy Coco handily won its third straight crown at a moderate North American box office with $18.3 million at 3,748 sites.
Coco joined The Hitman's Bodyguard, Fate of the Furious and Split as 2017 titles to top the domestic box office for three weekends in a row. The major studios have held off on any new openings since the Thanksgiving holiday but that changes on the evening of December 14 when previews start for Disney-Lucasfilm's The Last Jedi amid expectations of an opening weekend in the $200 million range.
Coco, a colourful celebration of Mexico's Day of the Dead, showed impressive holding power with a 33 percent decline from its second weekend to lift its 19-day domestic total to $135.5 million. It's performed similarly to Disney's animated Moana, which opened at the same time last year and had totaled $144.7 million after three weekends.
There was a single wide opening this weekend with Broad Green Pictures's final movie, Just Getting Started, showing little traction with moviegoers with $3.2 million at 2,146 locations. Just Getting Started, a poorly reviewed action comedy starring Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones, wound up in 10th place behind A24's sixth weekend of awards contender Lady Bird with $3.5 million at 1,557 venues.
The fourth weekend of Warner Bros-DC Entertainment's superhero team-up Justice League finished with just over half of Coco with $9.6 million at 3,508 locations with a 42 percent decline. Justice League has taken in $212.1 million in 24 days and is the 10th biggest movie of 2017 -- but it's also the lowest performer among the five DC Extended Universe movies. Wonder Woman had hit $318 million domestically at the 24-day point in June.
Justice League has gone past $600 million worldwide with an international total of $401 million. Its performance pushed Warner Bros past the $5 billion mark worldwide for 2017. The studio announced that it's become the first studio to cross the $2 billion mark for the year, led by Wonder Woman with $412 million and It with $327 million.
Lionsgate's third weekend of inspirational drama Wonder finished in third place with $8.5 million at 3,519 North American sites with a 35 percent decline. Wonder became the 27th movie of the year to cross the $100 million mark -- and one of the least costly among that group, given its $20 million budget. Production companies on the Jacob Tremblay vehicle are Mandeville Films, Participant Media, Walden Media and TIK Films.
A24's expansion of James Franco's comedy-drama The Disaster Artist came in fourth with a solid $6.4 million at 840 venues, up from 19 last weekend. That edged the sixth weekend of Disney-Marvel's Thor: Ragnarok with $6.3 million at 3,047 sites, which put its domestic total above $300 million. The third Thor movie was a key factor in November's box office staying ahead of the same month last year.
Paramount's fifth weekend of Daddy's Home 2 finished sixth with $6 million at 3,263 locations, down only 21 percent, to lift its 31-day total to $91.2 million. The original Daddy's Home wound up its domestic run two years ago with $150.4 million.
Fox's fifth frame of Murder on the Orient Express followed with $5.1 million at 3,201 sites for a total of $92. 7 million. The Kenneth Branagh vehicle, which has a $55 million budget, has been a solid performer internationally with $182 million in grosses outside the US.
Sony's fourth weekend of faith-based animated drama The Star came in eighth with $3.7 million at 2,976 venues, off only 10 percent. The film, co-financed by Walden Media and released through the Affirm label, has totaled $32.3 million.
