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Box-Office Weekend: Rise of Skywalker Still Strong with the Force

Mike Tyrkus
Box Office Weekend

Retaining the box-office weekend top spot for a third week in a row was Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker as the film took in $33.7 million over the weekend to bolster its three-week total to $450.8 million. The film also lifted its worldwide total to over $900 million.

Though it remained in first place, The Rise of Skywalker, only bested second-place finisher Jumanji: The Next Level by a little over $7 million as the latest film in the “Jumanji” series made $26.5 million, raising its four-week tally to $236.2 million.

Holding steady in the third spot of the top ten for a second week in a row is director Greta Gerwig’s interpretation of Little Women, which made $13.6 million in its second week of release to lift its overall total to $60 million. Meanwhile, the only newcomer to this week’s top ten, the horror film The Grudge, debuted with a $11.3 million weekend.

Tied with The Grudge was the Disney sequel Frozen II, which added $11.3 million to give the animated powerhouse a seven-week total of $449.9 million, as well as a finish in the fifth spot of this week’s top ten (a drop of one spot from last weekend). Incidentally, the film also became the highest grossing worldwide animated release of all time as it has now made $1.325 billion. Similarly dropping a spot to sixth was the top ten’s other animated film, Spies in Disguise, which took in $10.1 million in its second week of release, giving the film a tally thus far of $46.7 million.

Also dropping one spot was Knives Out, which landed in seventh place this weekend with a showing of $9.0 million, subsequently lifting the film’s six-week totally to $130.3 million. Uncut Gems similarly dropped one spot from seventh to eighth over the weekend, adding $7.8 million to give it a four-week total of $36.8 million. Refusing to drop a spot and thusly holding firm to the ninth spot in this weekend’s top ten, was Bombshell, starring Charlize Theron, which took in $4.1 million and can now claim a four-week total of $24.6 million.

Finally, the much lambasted live-action adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Cats, made $2.6 million as it fell from eight to tenth place on this weekend’s list. The film has now earned $24.7 million over the course of its first three weeks of release and has been critically derided on almost every front.

The only film taking its leave of the top ten this weekend was the Clint Eastwood-directed Richard Jewell, which made $1.7 million over the weekend. Perhaps it will manage to climb back into the top ten in the coming weeks, but for now it must be content with a four-week total of $21.2 million.

The weekend box office should enjoy a moderate shakeup next week as several new releases promise to do well upon wide release. Look for Just Mercy, 1917, Like a Boss, and Underwater to each potentially lay claim to a space in the top ten next week.

Weekend Box Office (January 3rd – January 5th)

  1. Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker…$33.7 Million
  2. Jumanji: The Next Level…$26.5 Million
  3. Little Women…$13.6 Million
  4. The Grudge…$11.3 Million
  5. Frozen II…$11.3 Million
  6. Spies in Disguise…$10.1 Million
  7. Knives Out…$9.0 Million
  8. Uncut Gems…$7.8 Million
  9. Bombshell…$4.1 Million
  10. Cats…$2.6 Million

Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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