Inside The Box Office: 'Ralph Breaks The Internet,' 'The Grinch' & 'Creed II' Hold Strong

In the post-Thanksgiving weekend, studios tend to hold back on big releases, preferring to drop what will hopefully be money-making tentpoles closer to Christmas to capitalize on the holiday. That paves the way for second- and third-weekend movies to rack up a bigger haul at the box office, and this year is no exception.

For the second weekend in a row, Disney’s Ralph Breaks the Internet reigned victorious at the top of the heap, pulling in an additional $25.8 million at the box office, a drop of only 53% from its opening weekend over the Thanksgiving holiday. This puts Wreck-It Ralph 2′s domestic total at $119 million and its cumulative total at $207 million to date. The original Wreck-It Ralph garnered $471 million globally so the sequel has quite a ways to go to match the first. But with it having a much smaller drop-off than anticipated and being yet to open in a number of countries, it’s likely to have a long tail and steadily continue to build on its total through the next few weeks.

The Grinch, from Illumination and Universal, came in second at $17.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $203.5 million, while MGM’s Creed II came in third with a respectable $16.8 million. The eighth film in the Rocky franchise (or second if you consider the Creed movies to be a separate spinoff series) has now generated $81 million to date. In fourth place was Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindewald, which brought in an additional $11.2 million for a total domestic pull of $134 million. While it’s struggling stateside, it’s doing well enough overseas to have crossed the $500 million threshold worldwide. Fox’s Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody finished out the top five for the weekend with another $8 million.

The only new wide release, The Possession of Hannah Grace, opened to $6.5 million. The R-rated horror thriller was shot on a relatively shoestring budget so its modest box office total for opening weekend doesn’t necessarily mean that it isn’t a success. Horror fans, in particular, aren’t traditionally influenced by reviews so the box office haul for Hannah Grace should continue to tick upward in subsequent weekends.

In the world of limited releases, Yorgos Lanthimos’ absurdist dramedy The Favourite brought in $1.1 million on just 34 screens for Fox Searchlight, which plans to eventually expand the film to 80s screens in total. Meanwhile, review darling Anna and the Apocalypse averaged $10,000 on five screens. The zombie-comedy-holiday-musical (yes, you read that right) has been generating positive buzz despite its very limited reach.

This is the last quiet week before the holiday push, with a 25th anniversary re-release of Schindler’s List being the only wide release of the week. But indie lovers are in for a great weekend with Vox Lux, Mary Queen of Scots and Ben is Back all hitting theaters this week.

To buy tickets to any of those upcoming indies or the movies currently tearing up the box office, head here.

(Header image: MGM)