Well, this weekend’s box office has good news and bad news. Good news if you’re a Disney executive and bad news if you had anything to do with Cats. Because now that the dust is settling we can see that Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker easily took the number one spot and dominated theaters this weekend while Cats most certainly did not. Don’t get me wrong, there was never a chance that these two films would actually compete against each other but the returns for Cats just makes you say me-ouch.
So let’s look at the numbers now that the year’s most anticipated film has hit screens. The Rise of Skywalker took in $175,500,000 since its debut Thursday night. That obviously is a ton of money and is indeed a resounding success. Yes, it isn’t as strong as the opening numbers for The Force Awakens or The Last Jedi but you can’t deny the power of this franchise. And you have to remember that Skywalker had some contributing factors that the previous two films did not, namely that it’s the third film in a trilogy and third films rarely open to the same heights as their predecessors. Secondly, critics were not kind to Skywalker. In fact, it is currently the worst-reviewed Star Wars films. And while audiences mostly ate it up, the CinemaScore was B+ which is just slightly lower than the A’s that Force and Jedi earned. So everything about Skywalker is just a little weaker than the two films that came before it. Everything is just a little softer, including the opening weekend gross.
It’s unlikely that The Rise of Skywalker will end up bringing in the numbers that Force and Jedi did but it’s still going to be a behemoth of the box office — and for awhile too. Christmas is going to be very kind to Disney’s crown jewel. In fact, one could argue that Skywalker’s slightly lower-than-expected opening is partly due to people waiting to see the movie this coming week, when family and friends come to town and the holiday allows more free time from shopping and work. So I reckon Star Wars will do better-than-expected in the next few days. The bottom line is that this movie is going to make a massive amount of money, just not as much as some had hoped. It’s still a success. Now, is it good? Well, the jury is decidedly mixed on that one. You’d wish that Skywalker could have ended its opening weekend with both huge numbers AND unanimous critical acclaim but, hey, J.J. Abrams can apparently only do so much.
Speaking of movies that critics ravaged, let’s move onto Cats. Look, I take no pleasure in a movie doing poorly. Even bad movies. Lots and lots of people worked really hard on Cats and I don’t want to take away from their dedication to the project. But holy shit, folks. Cats is a bomb. Cats is a massive bomb. Cats clawed up just $6,500,000, landing at fourth place. The budget on this film was around $90 million and there is just no way on Earth this thing has the legs to make that up. It’s true that some recent musicals (The Greatest Showman comes to mind) ended up hanging around at the box office way longer than expected and turned into long-running hits. That won’t happen here. Why? Because it’s not just critics who hated Cats, audiences rejected it too (C+ via CinemaScore). So who is going to recommend this film to others in the weeks ahead? Well, director Tom Hooper might but that’s about it.
You can’t blame Universal for taking the chance on Cats. Musicals have been doing fairly well at the box office lately and Cats is a film that could bring in big crowds, it has on Broadway for years. Yes, Cats looked weird and maybe there was never a way to make it more palatable to the masses but that could have been part of its appeal. Its weirdness could have attracted viewers — if the movie was good. You see, Universal put so much effort into signing the right cast and budgeting the film correctly that they forgot to, you know, actually make it watchable.
Well, it’s no surprise. Americans are more of dog people anyway.
The rest of the chart held some stand outs like Knives Out, which just keeps chugging along and is going to break $100 million within a week or two, which is kind of wild. Bombshell came in soft in its first weekend of wide release. Estimates had it raking in more but it debuted with just $5,075,000. Despite medium-rare reviews, the movie is still an awards contender and may drum up more business in the weeks ahead because of that. So don’t count Bombshell out completely.
The other usual suspects remained on the chart, all doing their best to gulp for air as Skywalker made its triumphant debut. Jumanji crossed the $100 million mark while Frozen 2 slid closer to $400 million in just 5 weeks. Next week has a couple of wide releases — Little Women and Spies in Disguise — while Uncut Gems goes nationwide after weeks of impressive limited release and even more impressive reviews for Adam Sandler’s performance. Just Mercy and 1917 will also start their limited runs. But we all know Star Wars will rule next week too, unless Cats somehow makes a deal with the devil and rises from the dead like Church from Pet Sematary.
