Coco delivers box office encore on quiet weekend
On a quiet weekend with no new wide releases from the major studios, Disney and Pixar’s Coco is still managing to make some noise. The Día de los Muertos-themed animated musical is on track to top the box office for the second week in a row, grossing about $26.1 million from 3,987 theaters in the U.S. and Canada. Meanwhile, James Franco’s moviemaking comedy The Disaster Artist and Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi romance The Shape of Water are both off to strong starts in limited release.
Bolstered by glowing reviews from critics and an A-plus CinemaScore from moviegoers, Coco is poised to drop off 49 percent in its sophomore weekend, a solid figure that puts its estimated domestic total at $108.7 million after 12 days in theaters. The film is also set to take in about $69 million overseas, which would bring its international total to $171.3 million.
Directed by Lee Unkrich and co-directed by Adrian Molina, Coco centers on a 12-year-old Mexican boy (voiced by newcomer Anthony Gonzalez) who confronts his family’s ancestral ban on music. The cast includes Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, and Alanna Ubach.
The rest of the weekend top five are also repeats. Warner Bros’. superhero tentpole Justice League will take second place with about $16.6 million, bringing its 17-day domestic total to $197.3 million and its worldwide total to $567.4 million. The film, which is directed by Zack Snyder (with additional work by Joss Whedon) and stars Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Henry Cavill, received mixed reviews and a B-plus CinemaScore.
Lionsgate’s family film Wonder is No. 3, with about $12.5 million; Disney’s superhero sequel Thor: Ragnarok is No. 4, with about $9.7 million; and Paramount’s paternal comedy Daddy’s Home 2 is No. 5, with about $7.5 million.
On the specialty front, A24’s The Disaster Artist is poised to take in an estimated $1.2 million from 19 locations, for a robust per-theater average of $64,254.
Directed by and starring Franco, and based on Greg Sestero and Tom Bissell’s book of the same name, The Disaster Artist chronicles the making of Tommy Wiseau’s notorious 2003 independent film The Room, which has been called “the Citizen Kane of bad movies.” Critics have lauded Franco’s film, which also stars brother Dave Franco (as Sestero), Seth Rogen, Alison Brie, and Ari Graynor. It expands to 800 theaters next week.
Scoring the best per-theater average of the weekend, and one of the best of the year, is Fox Searchlight’s The Shape of Water. It’s on pace to earn about $167,000 from two locations, which works out to $83,400 per theater.
Set against the backdrop of the Cold War, Del Toro’s film centers on a mute woman (played by Sally Hawkins) who works a janitor at a government research center and forms an unlikely bond with a captured amphibious humanoid known as the Asset (Doug Jones). The film has also received glowing reviews.
Also opening in limited release, though to less impressive numbers and reviews, is Woody Allen’s latest, Wonder Wheel. The Amazon release is set to take in about $140,555 from five locations, for a per-theater average of $28,111.
According to ComScore, overall box office is down 3.9 percent year-to-date. Check out the Dec. 1-3 figures below.
1. Coco — $26.1 million
2. Justice League — $16.6 million
3. Wonder — $12.5 million
4. Thor: Ragnarok — $9.7 million
5. Daddy’s Home 2 — $7.5 million
6. Murder on the Orient Express — $6.7 million
7. Lady Bird — $4.5 million
8. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri — $4.5 million
9. The Star — $4 million
10. A Bad Moms Christmas — $3.5 million