‘Ralph 2’ Continues Box Office Dominance As ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Flops Hard In China

Last week, the box office report featured several major storylines with just a large amount of movement over the Thanksgiving holiday. However, this weekend saw the release of only one major wide release and one limited release. So, as you might expect, there weren’t any broken records. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few standout storylines we’ve been following.

First, we need to take a look at last weekend’s major releases and see how they’ve handled themselves in their second weekends. “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” which broke records last weekend, dropped -54% for a second #1 showing in a row and a 3-day total of $25.8 million. The drop is a bit more than Disney would have liked, but the animated film is on track to still post some great numbers this fall. ‘Wreck-It Ralph 2’ currently sits at $119 million domestically and $207 million worldwide after just under two weeks.

Last week’s other major debut was the record-breaking “Creed II.” While the film wasn’t able to hold onto its #2 slot (thanks to the incredible legs of “The Grinch,” which keeps holding on strong and passed a milestone domestically this weekend with $203 million grossed total), the Michael B. Jordan boxing film scored another $16.8 million, good for only a -53% drop. The film’s $81 million domestic total still has it pacing comfortably ahead of the original “Creed” and should lead to the sequel perhaps becoming the biggest ‘Rocky’ film to date.

Now, onto the bad news. In its third weekend in theaters, “Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” dropped another -62% for a 3-day total of $11.2 million at #4. After the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise’s lowest domestic debut, ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ just continues to post big drop after big drop. At this point, it’s almost a guarantee that the film will finish well below the original ‘Fantastic Beasts’ film’s domestic total, which itself was the lowest Wizarding World film released.

READ MORE: ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ Disappoints In The U.S. But Is Magical Overseas In Its Box Office Debut

However, the worldwide total for ‘Fantastic Beasts 2’ did eclipse the half-billion mark, with a total of $519 million. That being said, the latest film in the franchise has a long way to go if it hopes to beat the lowest ranking Wizarding World film, which is ‘Prisoner of Azkaban,’ which only had a worldwide gross of $797 million.

The only major wide release this weekend was for “The Possession of Hannah Grace.” That’s right, this weekend saw the release of a horror film that you probably didn’t know exists. And that’s pretty much why the film did so poorly, debuting at #7 with a weekend total of $6.5 million. Thankfully for Screen Gems, ‘Hannah Grace’ carries that micro-budget price tag, so it’s not a terrible loss.

Remember, “Crazy Rich Asians?” The late-summer rom-com that grossed $174 million domestically, and $238 million worldwide, finally made its debut in China. You would think that a film with a primarily Asian cast, with a storyline focused on Chinese culture would be a sure-thing hit in the Middle Kingdom. Well, not so much.

READ MORE: ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ Dominates Final Weekend Of Summer Box Office As Milestones Are Crossed

In a surprising twist of fate, ‘Crazy Rich’ debuted in China over the weekend to a dismal total of only $1 million. The film was performing so poorly that theaters across the country were pulling the film and replacing it with other, more profitable titles. According to Variety, there were many on Chinese social media that took offense to the Western portrayal of Chinese culture, thinking the film focused on the negative stereotypes. No matter the reason, the massive worldwide hit is a complete flop in the one country that folks assumed would embrace it.

The bad news keeps on coming, as we change topics to “Anna and the Apocalypse.” The Christmas-themed zombie-comedy-musical debuted in 5 locations this weekend and only grossed a total of $50,163, for a per-theater-average of $10,033. For a film that has been fairly well marketed and should be an easy sell to North American audiences, this is not a strong total.

READ MORE: Christmas-Themed Zombie-Musical ‘Anna & The Apocalypse’ Tackles Multiple Genres But Not Very Well [Review]

However, when we talk about limited releases that are doing well, we’d be silly not to again mention “The Favourite.” After breaking 2018 per-theater-average records last weekend, the Yorgos Lanthimos period film once again impressed after expanding to 34 locations. This weekend, “The Favourite” earned $1.1 million, with a PTA of $32,500. That’s nothing short of incredible and bodes well as the film expands wider in the coming weeks. To put the $1.1 million number into perspective, “The Favourite” fell less than $200,000 behind “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” which earned $1.3 million in 1,392 locations.

Next weekend is a bit of a change of pace for the box office report. Instead of focusing on major releases, there are a number of limited releases we’ll want to keep an eye on. “Ben is Back” (starring Lucas Hedges and Julia Roberts), “Mary Queen of Scots” (starring Margot Robbie and Saoirse Ronan), “Vox Lux” (starring Natalie Portman and Jude Law), and the re-release of “Schindler’s List” all make their debuts. Better get used to hearing the term “per-theater-average” quite a bit.

Here’s the entire top 10 for November 30 to December 2:

1. Ralph Breaks the Internet – $25.8M ($119M Overall)
2. The Grinch – $17.7M ($203M)
3. Creed II – $16.8M ($81M)
4. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald – $11.2M ($134M)
5. Bohemian Rhapsody – $8M ($164M)
6. Instant Family – $7M ($46M)
7. The Possession of Hannah Grace – $6.5M (Debut)
8. Robin Hood – $4.7M ($22M)
9. Widows – $4.4M ($33M)
10. Green Book – $3.9M ($14M)