Disney continued its truly mind-melting, record-breaking year at the box office last weekend with the release of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, which earned $177.3 million. While that was lower than both The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi, it’s still easily one of the biggest December openings ever. As such, as we head into the Christmas holiday, the competition will be vying for, at best, the number two spot. Fox’s Spies In Disguise, Sony’s Little Women and A24’s Uncut Gems all arrive in theaters ahead of the weekend.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is poised to easily win its second weekend at the box office. With the family crowd heading to theaters for the holidays, and considering that the movie has fared better with audiences than critics up to this point, expect to see a drop of around 50 percent from weekend-to-weekend, somewhere in the $85 to $90 million range. The big thing here will be the five-day total from Wednesday to Sunday, since Christmas falls in the middle of the week this year. Ultimately, that will benefit just about every movie hoping to cash in this weekend.
The number two spot could be something of a toss-up. On the one hand, Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level has been raking in the dough thus far, already well past the $300 million mark globally heading into its third weekend. Meanwhile, 20th Century Fox has the animated Spies in Disguise gunning for the family crowd as well. This is one of the titles that Disney inherited in the merger with Fox, but could go on to be a hit. The flick stars Tom Holland and Will Smith, who plays a spy, ala James Bond, that winds up being turned into a pigeon. Both movies should be in the $20 million range for the weekend. Spies In Disguise is projected for around $25 million over the five-day period from Wednesday to Sunday.
Sony is looking to score again this weekend as well with Little Women. This serves as the directorial follow-up to Lady Bird for Greta Gerwig. This is viewed as a possible Oscar contender and boasts an A-list cast including Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Timothee Chalamet, Florence Pugh and Meryl Streep. The adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s novel currently boasts a stellar 97 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which could carry it to a very solid $23 million five-day start.
Last but certainly not least for the weekend’s newcomers is Uncut Gems. This is the latest from acclaimed directing duo the Safdie Brothers and stars Adam Sandler in a rare critically-acclaimed role. This is another one with Oscar hopes, as the movie currently boasts a 92 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The dark dramedy did quite well in limited release and could make as much as $7 million over the weekend. Be sure to check out our full list of weekend box office predictions below and check back with us on Sunday for the weekend estimates. Numbers used in this report were provided by Box Office Mojo.
| 1 | Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker | |
| 2 | Spies in Disguise | |
| 3 | Jumanji: The Next Level | |
| 4 | Little Women | |
| 5 | Frozen 2 | |
| 6 | Knives Out | |
| 7 | Uncut Gems | |
| 8 | Cats | |
| 9 | Bombshell | |
| 10 | Richard Jewell |
