1917 wins box office battle to the top with $37 million
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has finally met its match at the box office.
The ninth and final installment of the Skywalker Saga bows out of the number one spot with a respectable $15.1 million. Sam Mendes’ highly lauded war epic 1917 blasts to the top with an estimated $37 million during its third week in theaters.
Jumanji: The Next Level is still going strong in the third spot with $14 million. Fourth and fifth place are newcomers Like a Boss and Just Mercy who are tied with an estimated $10 million.
At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman) are given a seemingly impossible mission in 1917. It’s a race against time and they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers – Blake’s own brother among them.
The premise is loosely based on a real life story told to Mendes by his grandfather Alfred Mendes. 1917 made its debut in limited theaters on Christmas Day, with the drama expanding from 11 theaters to 3,434 this weekend. The film was likely given a boost after earning the Best Picture – Drama prize during the Golden Globe Awards.
EW gave 1917 an A- saying, “Sam Mendes doesn’t have a particularly new tale to tell in 1917 — it’s essentially an impossible-mission drama, like Dunkirk, Saving Private Ryan, and countless films before it — but he has found a remarkable new way to tell it: through a single camera’s seemingly unbroken gaze.”
Moviegoers agree with EW’s review, giving it an A- via Cinemascore.
Like a Boss brings together three powerhouse actresses: Salma Hayek, Rose Byrne, and Tiffany Haddish in a story about best friends who start their own beauty company and are forced to do business with a sneaky third party after they get in over their heads. Mel (Byrne) and Mia (Haddish) who are forced to address their shortcomings before Claire Luna (Hayek) steals their business from under them.
EW gave the film a C saying, “the film tries to replicate the formula that made Bridesmaids sing, pairing a heartfelt story exploring the complexities of female friendship with bawdy, over-the-top comedy. But the first half of the equation only partly succeeds, and the latter falls totally flat.”
Moviegoers enjoyed Like A Boss a bit more, giving it a B via Cinemascore.
Michael B. Jordan stars as real life lawyer Bryan Stevenson in Warner Bros.’ Just Mercy, a legal drama about how Stevenson helped a wrongfully accused Alabama man (played by Jamie Foxx) appeal his murder conviction. It co-stars Brie Larson, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Rob Morgan, and Darrell Britt-Gibson.
EW gave the film a B saying, “It’s solidly rewarding to watch the wheels of Mercy turn, though the direction (by Destin Daniel Cretton, who helmed 2013’s great Short Term 12) can’t seem to help falling into certain schematics that tend to follow movies like these: the original sin; the uplift; the leering good-old-boy sheriffs; the big-moment court scenes.”
Moviegoers enjoyed the film much more, they gave it an A+ according to Cinemascore.
Kristen Stewart goes under the sea in Underwater, a suspenseful horror film about a crew of underwater researchers who must scramble to safety after an earthquake devastates their subterranean laboratory. The William Eubank-directed title co-stars Vincent Cassel, Jessica Henwick, and Mamoudou Athie.
It debuts in the seventh spot on the box office top ten with earning estimated at $7 million by Comscore. EW gave the film a B- saying, “The fact that Kristen Stewart is essentially playing a water-logged Xerox of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley (or tribute, if you will) couldn’t be made much more clear by the story’s claustrophobic setup on a damaged drilling submarine, or by the fact that it consistently finds a reason to keep her stripped down to her underwear.”
Moviegoers liked it even less, Cinemascore reports the film deserves a C.
Overall, box office is up 6.7 percent year-to-date, according to Comscore. Check out the Jan. 10-12 numbers below:
1917—$37 million
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker—$15.1 million
Jumanji: The Next Level— $14 million
Like a Boss—$10 million
Have Mercy—$10 million
Little Women—$8 million
Underwater— $7 million
Frozen 2— $6 million
Knives Out—$6 million
Spies in Disguise—$5.1 million
Related content:
Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins get in the trenches of their stunning 1917 collaboration
Where are the Star Wars characters left off at the end of The Last Jedi
A guide to Star Wars callbacks and parallels in The Rise of Skywalker
Michael B. Jordan felt a responsibility to play “real life superhero” in Just Mercy
