Turn It Up to 11

Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level earned an 11th weekend in the top 10, the first film to do so since The Lion King in September. Level came in ninth place, with a -48.1% decline to $2.8M.

If it spends a 12th frame in that top tier next weekend, it would be the first film to do so since Black Panther in May 2018. That definitely seems possible, especially since The Invisible Man will be the only new wide release.

Best Picture Leads to Box Office

Following its Academy Award win for Best Picture, Neon’s Parasite finally entered the top 10 last frame, on its 19th weekend of release. It ranked seventh place, or eighth if factoring in the extended weekend.

This frame it remained in the top 10, ranking in eighth place again, with a -47.0% decline to $3.0M.

That’s a milder drop than for several other Best Picture winners in their second weekend post-win, such as -56.2% for The Shape of Water, -60.8% for Moonlight, -47.3% for Spotlight, or -62.7% for Birdman.

However, it was a slightly steeper drop than -45.1% for last year’s winner Green Book.

Heeding the Call

Disney and 20th Century Studios’ animal adventure The Call of The Wild called out to second place with with $24.7M.

Compared to other animal-themed adventure movies, that’s +13.4% ahead of Dolittle and +15.2% ahead of Pete’s Dragon, though -35.6% behind The Legend of Tarzan.

Call came in higher than virtually all pre-release projections. On one popular box office prediction website, the highest that any user predicted was $19.0M.

Call‘s estimated audience was split exactly 50-50 between males and females, and was 62% age 25+.

Hedge Your Bets

Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog held onto the top spot with a -54.8% decline to $26.1M.

Compared to other “video games in real life” movies, that sophomore drop was about even with Pokemon: Detective Pikachu at -53.8% and Tron: Legacy at -56.4%, but steeper than Ready Player One at -41.0%.

Joke’s on You

WarnerMedia’s Impractical Jokers: The Movie, opened with $2.6M in 357 theaters. Its $7,302 per-theater average marked the weekend’s best average among films playing in more than 30 theaters.

Based on the truTV show where four best friends give each other increasingly audacious dares, the film plans to expand wider next weekend.

2006’s Borat, another television comedy adaptation which filmed real situations, started with $26.4M on 837 screens. Its $31,607 average more than quadrupled Jokers‘ average.

2002’s Jackass: The Movie, another television adaptation which featured best friends performing stunts and dares, opened with $22.7M on 2,509 screens. Its $9,072 average was a bit higher than Jokers as well.

Oh, Boy

STX’s horror sequel Brahms: The Boy II didn’t make much of a dent, opening in fifth place with $5.8M.

That’s -45.9% behind the opening of the original The Boy in January 2016, though it matches the original’s fifth place rank.

How’d This Weekend Compare?

Total box office this weekend was $102.2M. That’s -34.5% below last weekend. It’s also -20.1% behind this same weekend last year, when How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World led with $55.0M.

The Year So Far

Year-to-date box office stands at $1.43B. That’s +4.8% above this same date last year, down from +6.8% after last weekend.

While 2020 year-to-date is running ahead of 2019, it’s falling below 2018, 2017, 2016, and 2015 through the same point.

Most analysts project this year’s domestic box office will ultimately fall below last year, but the early trajectory is defying that prediction.

Studios

Sony is the top studio of the year so far, at $427.3M. Universal ranks second with $268.9M. Disney (including 20th Century Studios films) ranks third with $259.4M.

While it’s virtually certain that Disney will end the year as the top studio, they’re in third place right now.

Monday’s Weekend Actuals (Domestic)

FRI, FEB. 21 – SUN, FEB. 23

WIDE (1000+) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Sonic The Hedgehog $26,192,294 -55% 4,198 31 $6,239 $106,493,965 2 Paramount 2 The Call Of The Wild $24,791,624 — 3,752 — $6,608 $24,791,624 1 20th Century Studios 3 Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey $6,802,003 -60% 3,565 -671 $1,908 $72,326,018 3 Warner Bros. 4 Bad Boys For Life $5,843,978 -49% 2,972 -213 $1,966 $191,159,623 6 Sony / Columbia 5 Brahms: The Boy II $5,823,006 — 2,151 — $2,707 $5,823,006 1 STX Entertainment 6 Fantasy Island $4,270,479 -65% 2,784 0 $1,534 $20,257,549 2 Sony Pictures 7 1917 $4,216,890 -48% 2,725 -359 $1,547 $151,804,359 9 Universal Pictures 8 Parasite $3,010,526 -47% 1,803 -198 $1,670 $48,832,019 20 NEON 9 Jumanji: The Next Level $2,875,302 -48% 2,126 -284 $1,352 $310,839,725 11 Sony Pictures 10 The Photograph $2,785,655 -77% 2,516 0 $1,107 $17,630,295 2 Universal Pictures 11 Dolittle $1,850,385 -62% 2,265 -604 $817 $74,494,675 6 Universal 12 Downhill $1,438,219 -69% 2,311 10 $622 $7,410,479 2 Fox Searchlight 13 The Gentlemen $1,231,117 -55% 1,133 -669 $1,087 $33,628,459 5 STX Entertainment

LIMITED (100 — 999) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Impractical Jokers: The Movie $2,606,873 — 357 — $7,302 $2,606,873 1 truTV 2 Las Píldoras De Mi Novio $1,396,140 — 350 — $3,989 $1,396,140 1 Lionsgate / Pantelion Films 3 Knives Out $1,069,376 -50% 949 -205 $1,127 $163,708,563 13 Lionsgate 4 Little Women $711,178 -54% 633 -402 $1,124 $106,953,449 9 Sony Pictures 5 Portrait of a Lady on Fire $693,218 62% 130 108 $5,332 $1,428,332 12 NEON 6 The Lodge $626,969 368% 322 301 $1,947 $923,251 3 Neon 7 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker $565,707 -59% 558 -434 $1,014 $514,129,079 10 Disney 8 Frozen II $500,072 -41% 424 -292 $1,179 $476,576,425 14 Disney 9 Jojo Rabbit $451,362 -54% 385 -99 $1,172 $32,713,966 19 Fox Searchlight 10 Gretel & Hansel $318,226 -79% 733 -912 $434 $15,050,796 4 United Artists Releasing 11 Just Mercy $261,802 -66% 423 -423 $619 $35,403,442 9 Warner Bros. 12 The Assistant $216,294 4% 167 85 $1,295 $797,301 4 Bleecker Street 13 Spies in Disguise $197,414 -59% 263 -256 $751 $66,167,073 9 20th Century Fox 14 Ford v. Ferrari $171,643 -54% 214 -79 $802 $117,337,198 15 20th Century Fox 15 The Turning $127,200 -77% 315 -295 $404 $15,345,435 5 Universal Pictures 16 A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood $57,325 -49% 112 -29 $512 $61,610,598 14 Sony Pictures