Box Office Round-Up ~ 12/18/24

By: [email protected] on

Sequels and spinoffs dominated the box office this past weekend, some more successful than others. Moana 2 and Wicked reigned in the top two spots once again, grossing $26.4 million and $22.6 million respectively. Moana 2 passed the $300 million mark to join the top five most successful movies of the year, while Wicked moved to third on the annual list with a domestic total of $359 million.

Kraven the Hunter debuted in third place with a disappointing $11 million. It’s the weakest opening of Sony’s Spider-Man spinoff series, lower than Madame Web and Venom: The Last Dance from earlier this year, and likely spells the end of the extended Sony/Spidey universe (outside the animated Spider-Verse series).

Gladiator II wrapped up its fourth weekend in theaters in fourth place, grossing $7.6 million to close in on $150 million overall in the U.S. Another new release took fifth place, as the animated spinoff The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The film is something of a stopgap for Warner Bros/New Line to retain the Lord of the Rings rights, in anticipation for the more ambitious The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum in 2026. That doesn’t make The War of the Rohirrim’s $4.5 million debut any less underwhelming.

1.  Moana 2 ($26.4 MM)
Director: David G. Derrick Jr., Jason Hand, Dana Ledoux Miller (UTA)
Writers: Jared Bush, Dana Ledoux Miller (UTA), Bek Smith (Verve), Bryson Chun (Verve)
Cast: Auli'i Cravalho (Gersh)
        Dwayne Johnson (WME)
      Hualalai Chung

2.  Wicked ($22.6 MM)
Director: Jon M. Chu (UTA)
Writers: Winnie Holzman (CAA), Dana Fox (UTA)
Cast: Cynthia Erivo (UTA)
        Ariana Grande (CAA)
      Jeff Goldblum (CAA)

3.  Kraven the Hunter ($11 MM)
Director: J.C. Chandor (CAA)
Writers: Richard Wenk (Gersh), Art Marcum (CAA), Matt Holloway (CAA)
Cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson (WME)
      Ariana DeBose (CAA)
Fred Hechinger (WME)
       

4.  Gladiator II ($7.6 MM)
Director: Ridley Scott (WME)
Writers: David Scarpa (Verve), Peter Craig (CAA)
Cast: Paul Mescal (CAA)
        Denzel Washington (WME)
      Pedro Pascal (CAA)

5.  The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim ($4.5 MM)
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Writers: Jeffrey Addiss (WME), Will Matthews (WME), Phoebe Gittins (Key Creatives), Arty Papageorgiou (Key Creatives), Philippa Boyens (Key Creatives)
Cast: Brian Cox (Paradigm)
        Gaia Wise (Hamilton Hodell)
      Miranda Otto (Gersh)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers