Studio 4-Day Weekend Estimates: ‘The Last Jedi’ Becomes Highest Earner of 2017 Domestically, ‘Jumanji’ Wins the 4-Day Weekend

Monday Update: Star Wars: The Last Jedi earned an estimated $68.1 million over the 4-day weekend, counting New Year’s Day Monday, just beating out Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle with $66.5 million.

The final tally, however, may likely deliver a different ranking. The original Sunday estimate had Jumanji winning the 4-day, but the leader changed back to Star Wars by the Monday estimate. Why? Because Disney revised the Monday estimate up notably, from a Sunday projection that the Monday gross would be $13.1 million, to saying it would be $15.7 million by Monday morning itself.

Check back here on Tuesday for the final numbers.

The numbers are close enough that it may be possible there will be two different weekend winners for the 3-day and 4-day, which is what the original Sunday projections forecast, when the studios projected Jedi would win the 3-day and Jumanji the 4-day.

Although Jedi is now projected to win both the 3-day and 4-day as of Monday, if that reverts back by the time actuals are released on Tuesday, it would be the first time there were two different winners on a weekend since August 30, 2013.  On that frame, One Direction: This Is Us led on the 3-day but The Butler led on the 4-day when factoring in that Labor Day Monday.

Last Jedi will have only held the top spot for two frames, down from three frames for 2016’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and four frames for 2015’s Star Wars: The Force AwakensCredit this to a combination of steeper drops for Last Jedi as word of mouth has been much more divisive than this decade’s other films in the franchise, plus a fantastic hold for Jumanji which is performing better than almost anybody expected pre-release.
Still, there was a fantastic piece of news for Jedi this weekend, as it overtook Beauty and the Beast to become the highest-grossing domestic release from 2017. Beauty finished its theatrical run with $504.0 million, a number which Jedi surpassed on Sunday, December 31 — the very last day of the calendar year.

Jumanji had a terrific hold, going up 38 percent on the 3-day weekend, compared to down 26 percent for Jedi. The family action comedy helps lift parent company Sony past the $1 billion mark for the year during the year’s final days. The studio ranks in 5th place, behind Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, and Fox.

The studio is now running 12 percent ahead of its YTD last year, the 2nd-best improvement of the seven major studios this year, behind only Lionsgate. That’s especially impressive considering Sony was running behind its 2016 YTD as recently as a few weeks ago.

[Read our interview with Jumanji actor Rhys Darby here.]

Other notable grosses include:

  • Pitch Perfect 3 in 3rd place, with a $17.7 million 3-day / $22.7 million 4-day gross. The film was down 15 percent, one of only three films in this weekend’s top 20 to experience a decline. [Read our interview with Pitch Perfect 3 director Trish Sie here.]
  • Fox’s musical The Greatest Showman in 4th place, with a $15.5 million 3-day / $20.7 million 4-day weekend. The film is up 76 percent, the largest percentage rise of any film in this weekend’s top 25.
  • Sony/TriStar’s All the Money in the World in 7th place, with a $5.6 million 3-day / $7.5 million 4-day weekend. The film, playing in its first full weekend after a midweek debut last Monday on Christmas Day, started about in line with pre-release expectations.

Total YTD box office stands at an estimated 2.9 percent behind last year. Although 2017 will finish behind 2016 at the domestic box office, that number at year’s end does represent the closest to even that metric has been in months, since early August. The box office regained much of its mojo in September and into the November/December holiday season, following the lowest-selling summer in many years.


4-Day Studio Weekend Estimates for Friday, December 29, 2017 – Monday, January 1, 2018:

WIDE (1000+)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 Star Wars: The Last Jedi $68,391,000 -4% 4,232 0 $16,160 $533,089,228 3 Disney
2 Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle $66,500,000 83% 3,765 0 $17,663 $185,755,967 2 Sony / Columbia
3 The Greatest Showman $20,750,000 136% 3,316 310 $6,258 $54,265,986 2 Fox
4 Ferdinand $14,600,000 100% 3,337 -293 $4,375 $56,760,105 3 Fox
5 Coco $9,689,000 80% 2,104 -7 $4,605 $182,061,459 6 Disney
6 All the Money in the World $7,540,000 2,074 $3,635 $14,700,000 1 Sony / TriStar
7 Downsizing $6,100,000 23% 2,664 -4 $2,290 $18,558,365 2 Paramount
8 Father Figures $5,065,000 54% 2,902 0 $1,745 $14,100,000 2 Warner Bros.
9 Wonder (2017) $4,306,000 117% 1,193 63 $3,609 $122,614,865 7 Lionsgate
10 Justice League $1,535,000 -1% 1,101 0 $1,394 $225,897,000 7 Warner Bros.

LIMITED (100 — 999)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 The Shape of Water $4,875,000 62% 756 30 $6,448 $17,015,155 5 Fox Searchlight
2 Lady Bird $1,426,164 43% 392 -10 $3,638 $31,392,176 9 A24
3 Daddy’s Home 2 $1,170,000 26% 770 -303 $1,519 $102,039,807 8 Paramount
4 Thor: Ragnarok $1,071,000 28% 540 -161 $1,983 $311,441,239 9 Disney
5 The Disaster Artist $951,982 8% 507 -10 $1,878 $17,880,782 5 New Line / A24
6 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri $950,000 81% 266 -41 $3,571 $24,439,084 12 Fox Searchlight
7 Murder on the Orient Express (2017) $845,000 63% 391 -56 $2,161 $100,848,049 8 Fox
8 The Man Who Invented Christmas $129,778 12% 146 0 $889 $5,642,133 6 Bleecker Street

PLATFORM (1 — 99)

# TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST.
1 The Post $795,000 51% 9 0 $88,333 $1,994,041 2 20th Century Fox
2 Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds $283,300 53% 17 0 $16,665 $731,879 2 Well Go USA
3 Youth $244,331 -24% 35 1 $6,981 $1,624,715 3 China Lion Film
4 Ex-File 3 (Qian Ren 3) $160,291 21 $7,633 $160,291 1 China Lion Film
5 Hostiles $46,453 103% 5 2 $9,291 $98,746 2 Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
6 Marshall $10,593 -4% 50 -8 $212 $9,468,318 12 Open Road
7 My Friend Dahmer $4,000 282% 2 -1 $2,000 $1,297,253 9 FilmRise
8 Thelma $2,172 4% 6 -3 $362 $132,780 8 The Orchard

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