Jumanji holds off The Post, Commuter, Paddington 2 at box office
The box office might of Meryl Streep’s steadfast newspaper publisher, Liam Neeson’s train-riding hero, Taraji P. Henson’s hitwoman with a heart, and a marmalade-loving bear from “darkest Peru” won’t be enough to take down Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
In its fourth weekend of release, Sony’s adventure movie is on track to earn an estimated $27 million at 3,849 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, topping the box office for a second time while holding off newcomers such as The Post (expanding to wide release), The Commuter, Proud Mary, and Paddington 2.
That number would bring Jumanji’s domestic total to $283.2 million after 26 days in theaters. The film, which reportedly cost $90 million to make, has also added about $383 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $666.2 million.
Released 22 years after the original Jumanji movie, Welcome to the Jungle has received generally positive reviews and an A-minus CinemaScore. The Jake Kasdan-directed film updates the story of a magical board game come to life and stars Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, and Kevin Hart.
In second place is The Post, director Steven Spielberg’s political thriller about the journalists from the Washington Post and New York Times who published the Pentagon Papers. The film, which stars Streep as Post publisher Katharine Graham and Tom Hanks as executive editor Ben Bradlee, is set to take in about $18.6 million from 2,819 theaters (up from 36 locations last week).
Since it started rolling out last month, the Fox release has garnered excellent reviews and an A CinemaScore. Its domestic tally through Sunday is an estimated $23.1 million.
Taking the No. 3 spot is Lionsgate’s thriller The Commuter, starring Liam Neeson as an ex-cop who gets mixed up in a conspiracy during his daily train ride. The film is on track to earn $13.5 million this weekend, after receiving mixed reviews and a tepid B CinemaScore.
The Commuter marks the third collaboration between Neeson and director Jaume Collet-Serra, following Non-Stop and Run All Night.
Further down the list, Warner Bros’. family-friendly sequel Paddington 2 is set to take in about $10.6 million from 3,702 theaters, good for seventh place, while Screen Gems’ shoot-’em-up Proud Mary is set to earn about $10 million from 2,125 theaters, putting it in eighth place.
For Paddington 2 — which Warner Bros. picked up from the Weinstein Co. in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal — its opening number is well short of the $19 million bow managed by its predecessor in 2015. But the sequel, once again starring Ben Whishaw as the voice of the mischievous bear, has garnered glowing reviews and an A CinemaScore, suggesting strong word-of-mouth potential. Paddington 2 has also earned about $125.2 million overseas in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, Proud Mary is coming in below industry projections that pegged it at least $15 million. Starring Henson as a hired gun for a Boston crime family, the film did not screen in advance for critics, which rarely bodes well. On the other hand, moviegoers gave it a decent B-plus CinemaScore, and some observers have questioned whether Screen Gems (a Sony genre division) botched the marketing and release.
According to ComScore, overall box office is up 6.1 percent year-to-date. Check out the Jan. 8-14 figures below.
1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle — $27 million
2. The Post — $18.6 million
3. The Commuter — $13.5 million
4. Insidious: The Last Key — $12.1 million
5. The Greatest Showman — $11.8 million
6. Star Wars: The Last Jedi — $11.3 million
7. Paddington 2 — $10.6 million
8. Proud Mary — $10 million
9. Pitch Perfect 3 — $5.7 million
10. Darkest Hour — $4.5 million