With Joker and now Frozen 2, the last few months of 2019 have consisted of films that have serious staying power for the top spot of the box office chart. It feels like just yesterday when I was writing, week after week, that Joker was the number one film in the country. And now I am saying the same thing about Frozen 2, which has just entered it third week atop the chart. This weekend, the Disney flick brought in $34,670,00 and raised its domestic total to $337,594,901. Globally the movie has garnered $920 million, which means it’ll likely crack the $1 billion mark this week or next. That’s extraordinary, the movie has only been out for three weeks. One billion in three weeks, those are numbers that make even Warren Buffett say “Wow.”
When Frozen 2 crosses the $1 billion threshold (and it will unless some massive asteroid comes crashing into our poor planet) it will be the sixth Disney movie to do so in 2019. I know I say words like “bonkers” and “incredible” and “crazy” a lot but that feat is bonkers and incredible and crazy. Wow.
This film was always going to be a massive hit but these numbers are definitely making Disney ecstatic. They have had an amazing year and Frozen 2 is really just more confirmation that they are the biggest name in town. It’s wild and somewhat scary that one movie studio has released six damn movies that will make $1 billion in 2019. Wild because, damn, that is impressive. Scary because it feels like they absolutely run Hollywood and that often doesn’t create a fostering environment for original and daring cinema. However, we see other movies on the chart that are original and daring so I am trying not to panic too much. I feel uncomfortable with Disney being such a massive monopoly of creativity but the smaller fries are still getting a chance to prove themselves too…at least for now.
A lot of returning favorites populate the rest of the box office chart. Knives Out shows serious holding power as do Ford V. Ferrari, Queen & Slim and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. These are movies that were released at the perfect time and have been bringing in new and reoccurring audiences. All three of them also have the ability to keep impressing as the holiday season brings more shoppers into theaters and word-of-mouth continues to grow. There is a lot on this chart that is making multiple movie studios feel very happy.
Dark Waters finally made a splash on the charts, coming in at number 6. Aside from that, we see more of the usual suspects fill out the other spots. Surprisingly, Joker managed to hold on for another week, coming in at number 10 with $1,040,000. That means this will be the film’s last weekend with us but you can’t call its run anything but astonishing. Clown Prince of Crime? More like Clown King of Crime! (Yeah, sorry, I know that wasn’t funny)
Next weekend brings in a few heavy hitters. Jumanji: The Next Level stands the best chance at kicking Frozen 2 out of the top spot but you can bet Richard Jewell, Black Christmas and Uncut Gems will also make some noise. So while the chart has felt a little stagnated lately, don’t expect that same feeling this time next week. And the week after that? A certain Skywalker will be rising then so you can expect that atomic blast of box office to really shake things up in a couple weeks.
