Thanksgiving Weekend Box Office: "Coco" Takes Down "Justice League", Extends Disney's Turkey Day Winning Streak.

Overall business for the three-day portion of the weekend was up 2% from last year when Moana topped Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for Thanksgiving weekend.

As what some expected, Disney and Pixar topped the box office over the extended weekend with their latest offering, Coco. The well-reviewed (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) animated flick pulled in a strong $50.8 million over the Friday-Sunday portion of the weekend ($12,742 per-venue average), and $72.9 million since its Wednesday start. That was above expectations, as many pegged it to open around $60 million for the five-day stretch. In comparison to other Disney Thanksgiving openers, Coco came in below last year's Moana ($82.1 million) as well as Frozen ($93.5 million) and Toy Story 2 ($80.5 million). But it did slightly outpace Tangled ($68.7 million), and also outpaced the last Pixar Thanksgiving effort, The Good Dinosaur ($55 million). Overseas, Coco is already the biggest movie of all-time in Mexico thanks to opening a month ago (around the Day of the Dead holiday), and has pulled in $160 million so far worldwide. With a rare "A+" CinemaScore (only the sixth Pixar title to receive this score), this looks to play well through the holiday season. No budget information was released.


After a disappointing start last weekend, prospects didn't improve much for Justice League. The Warner Bros. event film was off 56% to $41.1 million over the 3-day weekend, and $60 million over the extended period. True, that drop was better than Batman v. Superman (-71%) and Suicide Squad (-67%). In fact, the drop is in the same ballpark as two of the Hunger Games movies (53%) and better than the Twilight films (which all fell 65-70%). But still, for an extended holiday weekend, it's not a great hold (last year's Fantastic Beasts was down only 39%). Things are better overseas, with over $480 million picked up so far in two weeks. But, it probably won't reach $1 billion worldwide, which I'm betting Warner Bros. was hoping for.

Boasting a far more impressive hold was last week's breakout hit Wonder. The family film was down just 18% over the three-day portion of the weekend to $22.7 million ($32.6 million 5-day), for a strong $69.8 million gross in 10 days. The critically-adored drama looks set to play through Christmas break, and will easily soar past $100 million domestically. There is even some Oscar talk going around.

Thor: Ragnarok followed with a decent hold, off 22% in its fourth weekend to $16.9 million ($24.4 million five-day), for a very strong $277.7 million gross in 24 days. Ragnarok will have two more weeks before fellow Disney release Star Wars: The Last Jedi steals a good chunk of its screens. The threequel will likely close above $300 million, making it the fourth superhero movie to do so this year. Ragnarok is also about to pass $800 million worldwide.

After dropping hard last weekend, Daddy's Home 2 and Murder on the Orient Express recovered nicely this weekend. The Will Ferrell-Mark Wahlberg sequel was off just 8% to $13.22 million ($18.6 million 5-day), for a decent $72.6 million pick-up in 17 days. Murder was off just 5% to $13.17 million over the three-day ($18.7 million 5-day), for a solid $74.4 million pick-up in the same amount of time. Both movies look like they might make it past $100 million if they continue to play well into December.

With new animated competition from Coco, The Star was down 29% in its second weekend to $6.9 million ($9.5 million five-day). Sony's animated version of the Nativity story is at a modest $22.1 million in 10 days. The film will hope to hold strong next weekend as the Christmas season gets underway. A Bad Moms Christmas fell 30% to $4.9 million ($6.7 million 5-day), for a decent $59.6 million gross in 24 days. The comedy sequel has held up decently in the past couple of weeks, and also hopes to find some late-in-the-game momentum due to Christmas approaching.

Meanwhile, Denzel Washington's latest failed to find much of an audience over the holiday weekend (despite a decent start in limited release last weekend). Political drama Roman J. Israel, Esq. only managed to match its' low expectations, with $4.4 million over the three-day weekend in ninth place ($2,665 per-venue average, and $6.1 million over the five-day stretch). This is one of the worst starts of Washington's career, though distributor Sony didn't give the film much marketing. They are hoping for an awards season run for Washington, but the film is receiving only mixed critical reception (54% on Rotten Tomatoes). On a $22 million budget, the film will likely lose some money in the end for Sony, but it won't be a high-profile loss by all means.








Rounding out the Top 10 after a strong limited debut last weekend is Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Frances McDormand's likely Oscar contender expanded to over 600 locations, where it earned $4.4 million over the three-day part of the weekend ($5.9 million over the five-day stretch). The crime comedy is at $7.6 million since its limited start 17 days ago, and should be able to find more footing in more theaters in the coming weeks.

That's about it. With no new nationwide releases this coming weekend, I will not be publishing a weekend predictions post this week. Hope all has a great week! :)