Age of The Nerd
Seven weeks after its debut, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is back on top as king of the box office. The domestic box office no doubt has its surprises, but for the most part it’s fairly predictable. There are numerous studios and websites that predict box office results with a high degree of accuracy. This is all to say – rarely do we see a film do what Jumanji has done. During the first two weekends, Jumanji finished second overall at the box office. The film made $55 and $66 million respectively amongst heavy competition, and was doing quite well. It went on to finish number one the next three weeks, with a second place finish last week behind The Maze Runner: The Death Cure last weekend. With a expectedly slow Super Bowl weekend Jumanji has nudged past The Maze Runner to regain the top position.
Jumanji earned an estimated $11 million this weekend, bringing its domestic total to just over $352 million and its worldwide total to $855 million. Not too shabby. Sure the movie is facing weaker competition, but what Jumanji is doing is interesting to see. Just behind Jumanji, The Maze Runner earned an estimated $10.2 million in its second frame. The film has earned $142 million in foreign markets, which brings its cumulative box office to just over $182 million. Maze Runner has earned triple its reported budget of $62 million, so even after production delays marketing costs, the film will turn a profit.
The only new wide release this weekend was the horror film Winchester, which opened third with an estimated $9.2 million. The Helen Mirren/Jason Clarke film is currently sitting at 9% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rounding out the top five we have The Greatest Showman with an estimated $7.8 million and Hostiles with $5.5 million. Next weekend will most likely see Jumanji drop to the lower half of the box office top five with three new wide releases. Check back next week to see how new competitors Fifty Shades Freed, The 15:17 to Paris, and Peter Rabbit fare against the box office juggernaut that is Jumanji.
Here’s the weekend box office top five via Collider.com:
| Title | Weekend Domestic BO | Total Domestic BO |
| 1. ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ | $11,000,000 | $352,642,752 |
| 2. ’Maze Runner: The Death Cure’ | $10,200,000 | $39,760,199 |
| 3. ‘Winchester’ | $9,250,000 | $9,250,000 |
| 4. ‘The Greatest Showman’ | $7,800,000 | $137,475,172 |
| 5. ‘Hostiles’ | $5,523,000 | $21,237,413 |
