| No | Movie Title | Weekend Gross | Overall Gross | Week # |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Midway | $17,500,000 | $17,500,000 | 1 |
| 2 | Doctor Sleep | $14,100,000 | $14,100,000 | 1 |
| 3 | Playing With Fire | $12,800,000 | $12,800,000 | 1 |
| 4 | Last Christmas | $11,600,000 | $11,600,000 | 1 |
| 5 | Terminator: Dark Fate | $10,799,870 | $48,457,000 | 2 |
| 6 | Joker | $9,200,000 | $313,491,507 | 6 |
| 7 | Maleficent: Mistress of Evil | $8,002,000 | $97,301,901 | 4 |
| 8 | Harriet | $7,230,000 | $23,463,140 | 2 |
| 9 | Zombieland: Double Tap | $4,315,000 | $55,655,483 | 4 |
| 10 | The Addams Family | $4,200,000 | $91,467,705 | 5 |
Even though it’s based on a best-selling novel and even though it’s the sequel to a wildly popular horror classic and even though Stephen King adaptations seem to be all the rage right now, Doctor Sleep, the sequel to The Shining, came in cold this weekend. I wouldn’t say it’s as cold as Jack Nicholson frozen in the snow but it definitely wasn’t a warm reception.
The horror film garnered positive reviews from critics and seemed to have decent buzz but, alas, audiences didn’t turn out for the film, instead opting to see Roland Emmerich’s World War II epic (the word “epic” and Roland Emmerich go hand-in-hand) Midway. That film took the top spot and pulled in $17,500,000 while Doctor Sleep scared up $14,100,000, which is about half of what studio estimates predicted. Midway was a little under expectations too though by not as much. Everyone assumed Sleep would be number one and Midway would come in at number two but audiences saw it another way. They gave studio predictions the ol’ flip-a-roo!
Midway was definitely helped by the Veterans Day holiday tomorrow, putting people in a much more patriotic mood. Meanwhile Doctor Sleep was hurt by the fact that it was bizarrely released a week AFTER Halloween and was a sequel to a movie that came out decades ago. You have to remember that most horror audiences are younger folks. And while The Shining is a damn classic, not a lot of young people were pining for a sequel. The sad truth is that a lot of horror’s biggest consumers these days probably don’t hold The Shining in the same regard as us and the film fans that came before us. Plus the marketing was a tad confusing and didn’t sell the plot so a lot of people didn’t know what the film was about aside from the fact that it is a Shining sequel. The movie just had a hard time connecting with audiences.
A couple of other new released populated the chart this weekend. Playing With Fire, which honestly looks scarier than Doctor Sleep for completely different reasons, hopped into the third place spot. The family comedy was made on the cheap and will likely get its budget back, giving John Cena a win and more reason to keep making that transition from muscular, intimidating wrestler to muscular, intimidating actor. Last Christmas, the Paul Feig-directed romcom snatched up the number four spot. I don’t know about you but I feel a bit odd seeing a Christmas movie in theaters just a week after Halloween but that’s the world we live in.
Meanwhile, last week’s sob story Terminator: Dark Fate crashed down 62% to the number five spot. Anyone who hoped and prayed that maybe, possibly, perhaps Dark Fate could have legs should just put that baby to bed. There is no fate darker than this movie’s box office haul. Ouch.
Since we have been talking about it for weeks now, how did Joker do this weekend? Well, it brought in a smidge over $2 million at number six. It’s no longer in the top five but the film is still a juggernaut and now the most profitable comic book movie ever made. Over $300 million and counting…
Next weekend we have Ford v. Ferrari, The Good Liar, The Report and Charlie’s Angels so there is a bit of something for everyone. Except for Arnold Schwarzenegger fans. They get nothing but misery next weekend.
