Ralph Breaks the Internet tops box office again on quiet weekend
Ralph Breaks the Internet is the high scorer at the box office for the second week in a row.
With only one major new release to contend with — Sony’s horror film The Possession of Hannah Grace — Disney’s candy-colored Wreck-It Ralph sequel is on pace to sell an estimated $25.8 million in tickets at 4,017 theaters in the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday, topping the chart and holding off The Grinch and Creed II.
After helping to power the biggest Thanksgiving box office on record, Ralph will decline about 54 percent over its second frame (a respectable figure), bringing its North American total to $119.3 million. Overseas, it will add about $33.7 million this weekend, for a worldwide total of $207 million.
Reviews have been favorable for the film, which stars John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman as two pixelated pals who venture into cyberspace for the first time. Moviegoers gave it an A-minus CinemaScore.
Filling out the top five are Universal’s animated Dr. Seuss tale The Grinch, with about $17.7 million; MGM’s Rocky film Creed II, with about $16.8 million; Warner Bros.’ wizarding world adventure Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, with about $11.2 million; and Fox’s Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, with about $8.1 million.
The Possession of Hannah Grace will debut in the No. 7 spot, earning an estimated $6.5 million at 3,148 North American theaters. The opening is on par with expectations for the film, which reportedly cost less than $10 million to make.
Directed by Diederik Van Rooijen, Hannah Grace stars Shay Mitchell as former cop and recovering addict working the graveyard shift at a morgue, where a newly arrived cadaver (Kirby Johnson) has other thoughts about staying dead. Critics were underwhelmed by the movie, while audiences gave it a C-minus CinemaScore.
In limited release, Orion’s zombie musical Anna and the Apocalypse is arriving in five theaters with an estimated $50,000 (a per-screen average of $10,000).
The post-Thanksgiving weekend is typically a quiet one in terms of major studio releases, and there are none on the calendar for next week either, but the rest of December will bring such high-profile offerings as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Aquaman, Bumblebee, and Mary Poppins Returns.
Overall box office is up 10.1 percent year-to-date, according to Comscore. See the Nov. 30-Dec. 2 figures below.
1. Ralph Breaks the Internet — $25.8 million
2. The Grinch — $17.7 million
3. Creed II — $16.8 million
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald — $11.2 million
5. Bohemian Rhapsody — $8.1 million
6. Instant Family — $7.2 million
7. The Possession of Hannah Grace — $6.5 million
8. Robin Hood — $4.7 million
9. Widows — $4.4 million
10. Green Book — $3.9 million
