This drop indicates more mixed word-of-mouth from moviegoers that seem to bore out by its B+ CinemaScore. Even worse, Justice League is the second most expensive movie of all-time, costing $300 million to make, which means it's more expensive than any Marvel Cinematic Universe project. Even when adjusted for inflation, only two movies in history (the third and fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movies) have cost more, meaning this thing really had to go the extra mile at the box office to make it a profitable venture. Basically, the news ain't good here, but it isn't surprising to see that. Justice League's marketing just made the film seem like generic blockbuster fare, especially in a year where the superhero film has expanded to accommodate post-apocalyptic Westerns, High School movies, soulful space operas and Taika Waititi movies. Combining a lack of a distinct identity in its marketing with the divisive reception of BvS, it's no wonder Justice League is stumbling out of the gate. The Thanksgiving holiday ahead should give this one a boost like Fantastic Beasts got last year after its own lackluster debut but that wizard film cost way less than Justice League and so this superhero team-up film has a long way to go box office-wise.
Doing far better at the box office in its opening weekend was Wonder, which bowed to $27 million. This live-action family movie finally gave Lionsgate its first family film hit and gave Julia Roberts her biggest opening weekend for a non-Ocean's film since America Sweethearts all the way back in July 2001. Given how hugely popular the book Wonder is based on is, it's no surprise to this one be a hit but to be a such a hit that's only coming in 20% below the opening weekend of The Blind Side from eight years? That is a surprise! It'll be very interesting to see how this one holds over the Thanksgiving holiday week to come, especially given its A+ CinemaScore....
The Justice League at least made their presence felt to Thor: Ragnarok which fell 62% in its third weekend, a bigger third-weekend decline than recent early November blockbusters than Spectre and Doctor Strange. Luckily, Thor and co. still brought in $21.7 million this weekend for a $247.3 million domestic total so far, putting it on track for a $315-320 million domestic total. Daddy's Home 2, meanwhile, went down 50% and grossed another $14.8 million for ten-day haul of $50.5 million. How this one holds over the Thanksgiving holiday to come will determine if this one gets past $100 million domestically. Murder On The Orient Express rounded out the top five with $13.8 million, a 52% drop from last weekend which means this Kenneth Branagh movie has now grossed $51.7 million domestically.
By far the lowest grossing of this weekend's new wide releases was The Star, which grossed $10 million. That's not an awful result given the projects mere $20 million budget and the fact that it's only the twelfth Christian movie in history to gross over $10 million on opening weekend, though Sony/Columbia would obviously have wanted more given the major marketing effort they give the film. The Star was likely prevented from getting much higher than this thanks to a marketing effort that couldn't quite appeal to adults like the biggest animated family movies could. Christmas-themed movies tend to hold well, so even with Coco coming this week, The Star probably can eke out $40 million domestically.
Sandwiched in between new wide releases and expanding arthouse hits was A Bad Moms Christmas, which dropped another 40% this weekend to gross an additional $6.8 million for a $50.7 million domestic haul so far. This one's already tripled it's $16.7 million opening weekend and looks to be on track for a final domestic cume just under or over $80 million, which would put it just outside the top ten biggest Christmas movies of all-time at the domestic box office.
Lady Bird continued its impressive run this weekend by grossing $2.5 million at 238 locations for a $10,630 per-theater average. Comparisons many made last week between Lady Bird's box office and Juno's box office seem once again apt here as Juno had a similar per-theater average ($11,266) in its third weekend, albeit while playing at more locations. Lady Bird has now grossed $4.7 million domestically. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was another arthouse non-wide release to crack the top ten this weekend as it grossed $1.1 million from just 53 locations for a whopping per-theater average of $21,038. This film has now grossed $1.5 million domestically.
Rounding out the top ten was Jigsaw, which plummeted 69% to gross another $1 million for a domestic haul of $36.5 million. The Florida Project had its largest weekend-to-weekend drop yet by going down 39% to gross another $326,325 at 217 locations for a per-theater average of $1,504 and a domestic cume of $4.3 million. Despite nearly doubling its theater count, Last Flag Flying went down 33% this weekend to gross only $115,000 from 59 locations for a per-theater average of only $1,949. With only $404,651 in the tank thus far, there's a strong chance this becomes Richard Linklater's first movie since Tape in November 2001 to gross under $1 million domestically. Finally, Roman J. Israel, Esq. debuted in 4 theaters to lackluster results, grossing only$65,000 from 4 locations for a per-theater average of only $16,250. This does not bode well for its wide release launch on Wednesday.
The top 12 movies this weekend grossed a total of $196.1 million, the sixth biggest pre-Thanksgiving weekend of all-time. November 2017 has grossed $645.7 million to date and if the Thanksgiving holiday box office is strong, there's a good chance this becomes only the third November in history to gross over $1 billion.
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