Cubicle dwellers nationwide may be busting out their ugly sweaters and tuning their ukuleles readying for the annual ritual that is the company holiday party. But Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures are in particularly festive spirits. Their raunchy comedy, “Office Christmas Party,” snagged the top spot in the Friday box office.

The film, which features a feel-good ensemble cast that includes T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman and Kate McKinnon, is about a company holiday bash that gets out of hand. It brought in $6.6 million as of Friday and is expected to finish the weekend at about $17 million. That’s slightly below expectations of $20 million in ticket sales from the U.S. and Canada from Friday through Sunday.

Disney’s “Moana,” which led ticket sales the past two weeks, ranked second as of Friday in what’s been a sleepy movie-going weekend. The animated fantasy, steeped in Polynesian folklore, brought in $4.1 million at 3,875 locations. But the feature still has momentum and is estimated to gross about $19 million this weekend, which could land it in the top spot by the end of the period.

Warner Bros.’ “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” snagged the third spot on Friday. Now in its fourth week, the spinoff to the hit “Harry Potter” franchise grossed an additional $2.9 million on Friday. It was followed by “Arrival,” in its fifth week, which brought in $1.6 million Friday. “Doctor Strange” rounded out the top five with $1.2 million on Friday.


Meanwhile, Lionsgate debuted its critically acclaimed musical, “La La Land,” in limited release on Friday at five Los Angeles and New York theaters. The musical, starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, opened strong, grossing $300,000 on Friday. It’s expected to bring in about $850,000 this weekend.

deborah.vankin@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter: @debvankin

ALSO


Review: ‘La La Land,’ with Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, breathes new life into the movie musical

‘La La Land’ director Damien Chazelle writes about his favorite musicals

‘Moonlight’ beats ‘La La Land’ in L.A. Film Critics awards