Coming in on top for the third weekend in a row, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker started off 2020 by taking in $34.5 million, to bring its total to $451.6 million. That's enough to edge past studio stablemate Frozen II, Toy Story 4, and Captain Marvel to become the third highest-grossing film released in 2019. It finished the weekend just under $90 million below The Lion King. Skywalker has a decent shot of passing King, but probably won't make it to $600 million unless its January legs are much stronger than expected. Given that, on a weekend when most films's drops didn't exceed 30%, Skywalker dropped over 50%, that is a tall order.
Coming in second for the third weekend in a row, Jumanji: The Next Level took in to $26.2 million, bringing its gross to $235.9 million. There's a decent chance it could make more than Skywalker this coming weekend, but with all the newcomers, it is unlikely to finish 1st, even if it does pass Star Wars.
Little Women had been largely shut out of precursor awards Golden Globes and SAG, which released its list of nominees well before the film had opened, but the film's glowing box-office will almost certainly guarantee Oscar will pay closer attention. This weekend, it took in $13.6 million, to bring its total since Woman's Christmas Day opening to $60.1 million. With strong legs highly likely, there's no reason to think Greta Gerwig's adaption won't be above $100 million by Oscar night. That won't help it actually win Oscars, but that much money will help it get nominations, quite possibly for Best Picture and Best Actress.
Frozen II continues to chug along, earning $11.9 million and taking advantage of kids being out of school for the past two weeks to bring its total to $450.4 million. It's now less than $40 million below Finding Dory. With new family options until mid-February mostly limited to Dolittle in a couple of weeks, Frozen has a chance to glide through the month and pass Dory to become the second-highest-grossing animated film of all time (assuming you don't categorize The Lion King '19 as one).
Opening in fifth is the remake/reboot/sort-of sequel The Grudge. The long-dormant franchise did not exactly kick off the 2020 movie year in high fashion, grossing a disappointing $11.4 million and, even worse, earning a rare F from Cinemascore. Horror movies tend to have very bad legs, and this one could have even worse ones than usual. It's not completely out of the question that this could end with less than $20 million.
In sixth, Spies in Disguise held up better than expected, taking in $10.4 million. Like Frozen II, it took advantage of kids being out of school to run its gross to $47 million, though its still a long way from $100 million. Knives Out continues a most impressive run, taking in $8.9 million for a total of $130.1 million. A final gross over $150 million now seems likely.
Uncut Gems also held up very well, as the Adam Sandler drama took home another $7.6 million for a total of $36.5 million. This one seems likely to finish above $50 million, and if Sandler can snag an Oscar nomination, it could get above $60 million and maybe even $70 million. Bombshell is also looking for some major Oscar nominations, but its chances might be fading with its box office. It took in $4.1 million for a total of $24.6 million. In tenth is the holiday season's biggest Cats-astrophe, as it grossed $2.6 million for a total of $24.7 million.
Four films open wide this weekend, two of them going wide after limited, Oscar-qualifying releases and two brand new (or "new", for one of them) films. The big release is Sam Mendes's World War I film 1917, which goes national ahead of the numerous Oscar nominations it will undoubtedly get Monday morning. Also going wide is the legal drama Just Mercy, which frankly will be lucky to get any nominations. The brand new films are the comedy Like a Boss, where Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne swear revenge on Salma Hayek after she steals their company, and the sci-fi thriller Underwater, where a bunch of scientists on a deep sea research pod are menaced by something evil. This one has been sitting on the shelf for a while, made so long ago that TJ Miller is the male lead. I expect Underwater to end up all wet, but 1917 should take over #1, and Just Mercy and Like a Boss could challenge Star Wars and Jumanji for #2. We'll find out next weekend.
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