Monday Update:

The year has already gotten off to a surprising start, with STX’s drama The Upside opening in first place with $20.3M, after most pre-release projections had it in second or even third place.

Expected champ Aquaman ceded the top spot, falling -44% to $17.3M and second place. Don’t feel too badly, though — the film passed $1B globally this weekend, the fifth (and almost certainly final) film from 2018 to do so, along with Avengers: Infinity War, Black Panther, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Incredibles 2.

Sony’s family-friendly A Dog’s Way Home began in third place with $11.2M. That’s -38.2% behind the similar January opening of A Dog’s Purpose two years ago.

Comparisons

Total box office this weekend was $117.3M.

That’s -15.5% below last weekend and -40.0 % behind this same weekend last year, when Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle led during its fourth frame with $35.1M.

Year-to-date box office stands at $420.1M. That’s -10.9% ahead of this same date last year, down from -5.9% after last weekend.

Demographics

The audience for The Upside was 52.4% male, 87.6% over age 25, and 60.5% over age 50.

The audience for A Dog’s Way Home was 54.1% male and 52.5% over age 25.

The audience for On the Basis of Sex during its wide opening was 56.5% female, 85.4% over age 25, and 65.6% over age 50.

The most male audience in this weekend’s top 10 was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse at 64.6%, while the most female audience was Mary Poppins Returns at 60.6%.

The most under-25 audience in this weekend’s top 10 was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse at 56.6%, while the most over-25 audience was Vice at 93.4%.

A full demographic breakdown of the top 30 movies this weekend, courtesy of BoxofficeProfile by Vertigo, is below:

Monday’s Weekend Actuals (Domestic)

FRI, JAN. 11 – SUN, JAN. 13

Sunday Update:
Three-time champ Aquaman was knocked off its perch this weekend in unexpected fashion, as the Kevin Hart-Bryan Cranston dramedy The Upside far surpassed predictions to land in first place with an estimated $19.5 million. As for the weekend’s other two new wide releases, it was a mixed bag, with A Dog’s Way Home performing solidly in third place while Replicas missed the Top 10 completely thanks to a weaker-than-expected performance.

After scoring a hit last fall with Universal’s Night School ($27.2 million opening, $77.3 million total), Kevin Hart worked his box office magic again with The Upside, which managed an opening weekend nearly double what many had predicted. While that’s no small feat, it’s worth noting that the feel-good film (a remake of the massive international hit The Intouchables) actually falls on the lower end of the spectrum for a typical Hart release, close to what The Wedding Ringer opened with in 2015. That said, the film (which also stars Bryan Cranston and Nicole Kidman) isn’t a typical release for the comedian given its intermingling of comedy with more serious dramatic themes, so the comparison isn’t particularly fair. Reviews weren’t great – its Rotten Tomatoes score currently hovers at 40% – but the film’s “A” Cinemascore and 86% Flixster Audience Score help account for its better-than-expected performance this weekend.

It’s worth mentioning that Hart has been a ubiquitous presence on the promotional trail for The Upside despite the recent controversy surrounding his past homophobic jokes and tweets, which led him to resign his post as this year’s Oscar host. That said, it’s difficult to assess how the kerfuffle may have affected the film’s performance. Notably, this is the first No. 1 movie in STX’s more than three year history, partly thanks to the studio’s decision to cut the film down from an R to a PG-13 rating, thereby opening it up to a broader cross-section of moviegoers.

Falling to second place after a three-week reign at the top of the chart was Aquaman, which brought in an estimated $17.2 million in its fourth weekend of release, a drop of 44% from last weekend. The total for the Warner Bros. title is now $287.8 million in North America, just a hair shy of Man of Steel‘s $291 million but still a ways off from the the likes of fellow DCEU entries Suicide Squad ($325.1 million), Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.3 million) and Wonder Woman ($412.5 million). While the film certainly won’t reach the heights of the latter title domestically, it may well surpass the former two by the end of its North American run if it can continue to demonstrate strong legs. That said, it may take a bigger hit than normal next weekend with the release of Universal’s Glass, which is the closest to a direct competitor it’s seen since hitting theaters on December 21.

In third place, newcomer A Dog’s Way Home brought in an estimated $11.3 million, a respectable finish that nonetheless ranks significantly lower than the $18.2 million opening of 2017’s A Dog’s Purpose (also based on a book by author W. Bruce Cameron, who additionally co-wrote the screenplays for both movies). In fairness, Purpose had less competition for the family audience in its opening weekend, while A Dog’s Way Home had to contend with still-relevant holdovers including Mary Poppins Returns, Bumblebee, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Reviews for the Sony release were the film were mixed (it currently sits at a barely-“Fresh” 60% on Rotten Tomatoes), though the Cinemascore was an “A-” and the Flixster score was an excellent 88%, indicating positive word-of-mouth could propel it to a healthy total when all is said and done.

In fourth was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which continued its strong run with an estimated $9 million in its fifth weekend of release. The Sony release (which won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature last weekend) continues to hold up amazingly well, with a drop of around 31% this weekend. Its domestic total now stands at a solid $147.7 million.

Falling to fifth place was last weekend’s surprise hit Escape Room, which fell 51% to an estimated $8.9 million in its sophomore frame. The total for the Sony release now stands at a very good $32.4 million after ten days, which is excellent when considering its reported budget of just $9 million.

Dropping a relatively hefty 54% in its fourth weekend was Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns, which brought in an estimated $7.2 million in sixth place. When factoring in healthy international grosses, the musical sequel can be counted as a modest success, though its $150.7 million domestic total to date is nonetheless quite a bit lower than what many had predicted.

In seventh place, Bumblebee brought in an estimated $6.7 million, off roughly 48% from last weekend. The Transformers prequel now stands at $108.4 million domestically after four weeks of release.

After playing in limited release for two weekends, Focus Features’ On the Basis of Sex expanded to 1,923 theaters and brought in an estimated $6.2 million in eighth place, giving it an okay per-screen average of $3,238 and a total of $10.5 million in North America so far. The Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic has received mixed reviews but garnered an encouraging “A” Cinemascore from audiences, so there’s some potential there for the film to hold up well in subsequent weeks.

Ninth went to the leggy Clint Eastwood drama The Mule, which brought in an estimated $5.5 million in its fifth weekend. Off just 39% from last frame, the Warner Bros. release now has a healthy $90.5 million in the bank.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Vice, which brought in an estimated $3.2 million in its third weekend of release. The Annapurna release dipped about 43% from last weekend and has $35.9 million to date.

Debuting outside the Top 10 was Entertainment Studios’ Replicas, which underperformed even relative to already-modest predictions with just $2.5 million in its opening weekend. The Keanu Reeves sci-fi/thriller (which was actually shot way back in the summer of 2016) wasn’t helped by extremely negative reviews (its Rotten Tomatoes average is just 12%) and a minimum of buzz. The Cinemascore on this one was a not-great “C.”

Also landing outside the Top 10 was If Beale Street Could Talk, which expanded to 1,018 locations this weekend after playing for several weeks in limited release. The Golden Globe nominee (and winner for Regina King’s supporting performance) brought in $2.3 million and now has a total of $7.6 million in North America.

Overseas Update:

Aquaman became just the third DC film to cross the $1 billion global mark (after The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises) and the first ever in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) to cross the threshold after bringing in an estimated $27.9 million in 79 overseas markets this weekend. The film was greatly helped by its success in China, where it’s taken in a fantastic $287.3 million – far better than any other DC movie to date. Its international total is now the 2nd highest ever for Warner Bros. at $732.4 million, while its global tally stands at a whopping $1.02 billion.

Bumblebee enjoyed a strong weekend overseas with $35.6 million from 64 markets, including $24.8 million in its sophomore frame in China. Country totals include $105.7 million in China, $13.5 million in the U.K., and $11 million in Mexico. The film’s international cume currently stands at $256.3 million while its worldwide tally is $364.7 million.

After debuting in Australia and New Zealand last weekend, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World rolled out in an additional six international markets and brought in an estimated $7.7 million, good for an overseas total of $15.2 million as it slowly unfurls across the world ahead of its North American premiere on February 22.

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates (Domestic)

FRI, JAN. 11 – SUN, JAN. 13