'Frozen II' ices out 'Playmobil' for weekend box office

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Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for Dec. 8

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“Frozen 2” dominated box office charts for the third weekend in a row as Disney’s animated sequel scored another $34.7 million in North America.

Those ticket sales, a 60% decline from its massive Thanksgiving haul, boost its domestic tally to $337 million. “Frozen 2” earned $130 million in its inaugural outing and another $123 million the following weekend, cementing new high-water marks for Disney Animation. It’s now the third movie this year behind Universal’s “Glass” and Disney’s “Avengers: Endgame” to win the box office for three consecutive weekends.

Overseas, “Frozen 2” continues to enchant moviegoers as the fantasy follow-up powers to the $1 billion mark at the global box office. It brought in $90 million internationally this weekend, pushing box office receipts to $920 million globally. “Frozen 2” is expected to join the billion-dollar club soon and will be the sixth Disney film this year to hit that milestone. This weekend’s box office winnings will propel Disney past $10 billion in global ticket sales, the biggest haul in history for a single studio. When accounting for Fox titles it has released since inheriting the Murdochs’ film empire, receipts wind up at $11.9 billion. All that dough is still before “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” the culmination of the Skywalker saga, debuts Dec. 20.

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The only new film to grace movie theater marquees this weekend was STX’s “Playmobil,” a cartoon based on the European children’s toys. Since “Frozen 2” is still enticing ticket buyers with young kids and the plastic toy company is relatively unknown compared to a brand like Lego (which Warner Bros. successfully mined into multiple feature films), “Playmobil” sputtered in spectacular fashion. The animated adventure landed at No. 13 on box office charts, collecting just $668,000 from 2,337 theaters in what is one of the worst nationwide opening weekends of all time. Unless the movie resonates in a big way at the international box office — where it has generated $12.5 million to date — the $75 million film stands to be a major money loser for co-financiers Wild Bunch, Pathe, Dimitri Rassam and the Paris-based On Animation. Lucky for STX, the company only paid to distribute the movie and doesn’t have a financial stake.

In a distant second place, Lionsgate and Rian Johnson’s whodunit “Knives Out” added another $14.5 million in its second weekend of release. The acclaimed murder mystery — starring Daniel Craig, Jamie Lee Curtis, Chris Evans and Don Johnson — has pocked $63.5 million in North America and a strong $124 million globally to date.

Holdovers rounded out box office charts. Disney-Fox’s “Ford v Ferrari” claimed third place, nabbing $6.58 million from 3,746 venues. After a month in theaters, the racing drama with Christian Bale and Matt Damon has amassed $91 million at the domestic box office. Universal’s “Queen and Slim” landed at No. 4, bringing in $6.53 million and lifting its North American revenues to $26.8 million. In fifth place, Sony’s “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” earned $5.2 million in its third outing. The Mister Rogers film starring Tom Hanks has generated $43.1 million so far.

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Focus Features’ legal thriller “Dark Waters” expanded to 2,012 screens, placing sixth on domestic charts with $4.1 million over the weekend and $5.28 million to date. A24’s “Waves” also bolstered its nationwide footprint, adding $421,625 while playing in 570 theaters. The emotional drama has made $1 million after four weeks in limited release.

New to the specialty box office, Neon’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” launched with a solid $67,105 from two theaters ($33,552 per location). Those box office receipts represent one of the strongest theater averages for a French film, behind “Amelie” and “Coco Chanel.” The movie, which won a screenwriting award at Cannes, is only in theaters for a week before it’s set to return to the big screen on Feb. 14, 2020.

Amazon Studios, taking a page from its rivals at Netflix, isn’t reporting box office grosses for “The Aeronauts,” a biographical adventure starring Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones.

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Overall, ticket sales are still pacing 5.6% behind last year, according to Comscore. Upcoming tentpoles like “Jumanji: The Next Level” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” are expected to help close that gap.