Sony’s ‘Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle’ in rare return to top spot

LOS ANGELES — Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” managed the rare feat this weekend of regaining the No. 1 spot in North American box offices on its seventh week out, industry figures showed on Monday.

Taking in $10.9 million for the three-day weekend — as competition with football’s Super Bowl depressed ticket sales — “Jumanji” became the first film since “Titanic”, in 1998, to win a February weekend following a nationwide release in December.

After holding top spot for three consecutive weekends, the film closed out January in second place.

The family flick, starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart, follows a group of teens who find themselves transported inside the video game world of Jumanji. Its domestic cumulative take of almost $338 million makes it only the third Sony film to reach that mark.

Fox’s “Maze Runner: The Death Cure”, which won the box office last weekend, finished second with $10.5 million from 3,793 locations. The weekend’s sole opener, Helen Mirren’s horror-thriller “Winchester”, launched in third with $9.3 million at 2,480 venues, topping modest expectations which had been in the $6 million to $8 million range.

Overall domestic business was typically modest for a Super Bowl weekend with $92 million overall, according to comScore, as studios remain reluctant to open major titles during the frenzy surrounding the pro football championship. The lowest recent Super Bowl weekend came in at $86 million in 2014, when the third weekend of “Ride Along” led with $12 million.

The 2018 box office has remained close to even with last year thanks to “Jumanji”, with $1.06 billion through Sunday, down 0.5 per cent from last year at the same point.

“’Jumanji’ gets the MVP box office award for Super Bowl weekend with a stunning late run ascension to the number one spot as ‘Maze Runner’ adds to its total and ‘Winchester’ enjoys a bit of counter programming success amidst a sea of Oscar contenders over what is a typically slow moviegoing weekend,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore.

“Maze Runner: The Death Cure”, the third and final installment of the “Maze Runner” series, stars Dylan O’Brien as a young man trying to survive in a dystopian universe. It declined by 58 per cent from its $24 million opening. The film’s release was delayed for a year due to injuries that O’Brien sustained on the set in 2016.

“Winchester” centres on a real-life house in San Jose, California. built by Sarah Winchester (Mirren), the heiress to the Winchester firearms fortune, over 38 years beginning in 1886. The mansion, which stands seven stories tall, contains hundreds of rooms and is meant to be an asylum for vengeful ghosts.

Fox’s seventh weekend of “The Greatest Showman” finished fourth with $7.7 million at 2,588 sites, posting the lowest decline among the top 10 films at 18 per cent. The Hugh Jackman musical has turned in an impressive $137.5 million in 45 days.

Fox’s seventh weekend of “The Post” came in fifth with $5.2 million at 2,462 sites for a $67.2 million domestic total.

Entertainment Studios’ Western drama “Hostiles”, starring Christian Bale, followed in sixth with $5.1 million at 2,934 locations, giving it $20.8 million after two weeks in wide release.

“12 Strong” ($4.7 million), “Den of Thieves” ($4.6 million), “The Shape of Water” ($4.4 million) and “Paddington 2” ($3.3 million) closed out the top 10.