Each week on Atom Insider, we break down the box office numbers for all of the biggest films opening in theaters. This week, Frozen 2 remained #1 for the third week in a row, while Playmobil: The Movie debuted with one of the worst opening weekends in box office history.

This Week’s Top Earner (For The Third Week In A Row) – ‘Frozen 2’

Despite sizable competition from other mainstream films like Knives Out and Ford v Ferrari, Disney’s Frozen 2 has managed to outperform expectations yet again and collect $34.7 million domestically in its third weekend, more than double the next film on the charts. One reason for the animated film’s continued success is its dominance in family programming, as Playmobil: The Movie (STX) was dead on arrival this weekend with just $660,000 in over 2,300 theaters. 

Frozen 2 has now made $337.6 million domestically, and worldwide it’s at $919.6 million, so not far away from becoming Disney’s next billion-dollar movie. The sequel had a tremendous early run pointing at the possibility of actually outgrossing its predecessor, which was the highest-grossing animated film of all time until The Lion King arrived this past summer. At this point, Frozen 2 is beginning to show signs of melting, as other major event movies are just a week away from upending the holiday box office.

Rounding Out The Rest Of The Box Office

Just like a few weeks ago, this week’s Box Office Insider is truncated. Due to a lack of new releases, the Top 10 chart looks strikingly similar to last week. Knives Out (Lionsgate), Ford v Ferrari (Fox), Queen & Slim (Universal), and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Sony) all stayed in their respective positions while each dipping somewhere between 45-56% (the strongest hold from last week was, in fact, Queen & Slim). 

The true outlier on the charts this week was Dark Waters (Focus Features), which expanded to wide release and is now playing in over 2,000 theaters. Elsewhere, The Aeronauts debuted in just 50 theaters but appears to be a theatrical dud with just $30,000 collected thus far before its release on Amazon Prime Video next week.

And then there’s Playmobil: The Movie (STX), which debuted at #14, not even besting Parasite (Neon), a film that has been in theaters for over nine weeks. STX inherited the animated attempt to recapture the financial success of The LEGO Movie, and it’s clear the lack of marketing and poor reviews led to this playdate getting stood up by just about everyone.

And They’re Out

Only one film fell off the Top 10 from last week to this week, and it was almost Joker (Warner Bros). In a photo finish of just $30,000, Last Christmas (Universal) dipped from #9 to #11 with $1.01 million in its fifth weekend. Assuming marketing costs were well-contained, the romantic holiday comedy looks to be a modest hit with $84 million worldwide off an estimated budget of $30 million.

That’s it for this weekend. Check back with Atom Insider next week as we recap all the newest releases vying for the top of the box office.

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