As predicted by most professional box office hounds,Jumanji: Welcome to the Junglehas taken the top spot for the first full weekend of 2018 with an approximate $36 million being added onto its already impressive $200-million-plus domestic gross. In fact, the race between theJake Kasdan-directed action-comedy and its closest competition,Insidious: The Last Key, wasn’t even that close at the end of the day. The latest Insidious chapter will have brought in some $29.2 million by the end of Sunday, making the difference between it andJumanjiover $6 million. For all the skepticism shown in response to its marketing campaign, theJumanjireboot is a genuine blockbuster. A sequel will almost certainly be forthcoming.
There’s also a healthy buffer betweenInsidiousandStar Wars: The Last Jedi, which took the third spot in the top five with $23.5 million. While the latest volume of theStar Warssaga is seemingly flopping in China, which must be a mildly troubling bit of news for Disney, its domestic take is inching toward $600 million and its likely to land in 11th or 12th place amongst the most lucrative international movies of all time by the end of its theatrical run. I’m impatient to see how the third chapter of thisStar Warstrilogy will do following the divisive nature ofThe Last Jedibut that’s also mostly just me being impatient to see the next movie afterRian Johnson’s unexpected triumph.
I’m less interested in seeing what happens withThe Greatest Showman, the uniquely cowardly musical based on the life of the monstrousP.T. Barnum, which came in at fourth with $13.8 million. If the movie is kicked out of the top five next weekend, it won’t be a moment too soon. My attitude toward the thirdPitch Perfectmovie, which came in fifth with $10.2 million, is not much softer or kinder than that but all of this is to be expected. With the notable exception ofThe Last Jediand next weekend’sPaddington 2, none of these movies have much in the way of substance worthy of contemplating after the credits roll and there likely won’t be a title in that vein untilBlack PantherandThe 15:17 to Parisopen in February. Until then, expect the top five to be dominated by movies meant almost exclusively for toddlers and teenagers.
Here’s your top five for the weekend:
Weekend Domestic BO
Total Domestic BO
- ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’
$36,000,000
$244,372,666
2. ‘Insidious: The Last Key’
$29,265,000
3. ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’
$23,551,000
$572,513,602
4. ‘The Greatest Showman’
$13,800,000
$75,904,372
5. ‘Pitch Perfect 3’
$10,225,000
$85,984,090
