Box Office: ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Refreshes for Another No. 1 Weekend
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The second weekend of “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is dominating North American moviegoing with an estimated $28 million at 4,017 locations, early estimates showed Friday.
The second weekend of “Creed II,” the third weekend of “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” and the fourth frame of “The Grinch” are battling for second place in the $15 million range. “The Possession of Hannah Grace,” the weekend’s only opener, is materializing at the high end of forecasts with about $6 million at 2,065 locations on Thursday night.
If the estimates hold for “,” it will be the third year in a row that a holdover Disney animated movie has won the post-Thanksgiving weekend with a $27 million-plus take, following “Coco” last year with $27.5 million and “Moana” with $28.3 million in 2016. “Ralph” should finish the weekend with about $120 million in its first 11 days — giving it a decent shot at matching the final domestic gross of 2012’s “Wreck-It Ralph” at $189 million.
Friday’s projections showed Universal’s fourth frame of the animated holiday comedy “The Grinch” as the probable second-place finisher with $16 million at 3,934 venues. “The Grinch” appears likely to wind up the weekend with $202 million in 24 days — making it the 10th 2018 title to cross the $200 million mark.
MGM-New Line’s “” is pegged to take in $15 million at 3,576 sites, lifting the eighth installment of the Rocky franchise to nearly $80 million domestically in its first eight days. Warner Bros.’ third weekend of its tentpole “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” looks likely to finish fourth with about $13 million at 3,851 locations, pushing the sequel past $135 million.
Fox’s fifth frame of “Bohemian Rhapsody” is heading for fifth place in the $9 million range, which will leave it with $165 million after a month in theaters. The Freddie Mercury biopic is performing sensationally on the international side with the worldwide total topping $500 million.
Universal’s awards contender “Green Book” is holding well in its second frame of expanded release with $3.4 million at 1,065 sites for a cumulative domestic total topping $13 million.
“” is doubling Sony’s pre-release forecast of $3 million. Sony’s Screen Gems is distributing “The Possession of Hannah Grace,” which stars Shay Mitchell as a troubled ex-cop who takes the graveyard shift in a morgue and discovers a body that may be possessed by a ruthless demonic force. Kirby Johnson, Stana Katic, Grey Damon, and Nick Thune also star, with Diederik Van Rooijen directing from a script by Brian Sieve. “Hannah Grace,” which carries a $10 million price tag, is produced by Broken Road.
Overall domestic moviegoing for 2018 has rebounded sharply from last year’s decline, with records set for February, April, June, and October. As of Nov. 28, grosses had reached $10.73 billion, up 9.8%, according to comScore.
The two post-Tranksgiving weekends have been among with lowest grossers in the past decade, representing of the 60 weekends which have finished below $98 million since 2008 as parents in particular are engrossed in Black Friday and Christmas shopping, according to comScore. The one exception came in 2013, when the first weekend in December saw the second frames of “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” and “Frozen” take in $74 million and $67 million, respectively.
