Weekend Box Office: Can ‘The Grudge’ Survive An ‘F’ Cinemascore?

The top three films at this weekend’s box office were not changed from the top three films on Christmas Day, or the top three films last weekend. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker continues its imperial march to $1 billion worldwide, adding another $33.7 million domestically to bring its three-week total to $450 million. It’s about three days and 13 percent behind where The Last Jedi was at this point in its run. It has, however, kicked past the $900 million mark ($913 million) worldwide this weekend on its way to the $1 billion mark.

Skywalker is followed again by Jumanji: Next Level, which also continues to play very well, despite being behind where Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was at the time in its run. It adds another $26.5 million in its fourth weekend to bring its overall total to $236 million. In third place is Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, with a solid $13.5 million and $60 million since it opened on Christmas Day. Not bad for a $40 million film, particularly since it is also playing well overseas, where it’s already earned over $20 million in only 6 territories. Skywalker, Jumanji and Little Women all combined to help the box office outpace last year’s on the same weekend by 10 percent.

The bad news, however, is that The Grudge opened in fourth place with only $11.3 million, one of the poorer showings for the traditional first weekend of the year horror movie (last year’s Escape Room opened with $18 million). Don’t expect The Grudge to hold well in subsequent weekends, either, because word of mouth is very bad, as the film received an ‘F’ Cinemascore.

I’m not sure why audiences failed to connect with The Grudge, but when a movie receives an F Cinemascore, it’s usually because it’s not the movie that audiences expected. I’m not sure what audiences expected here, but when the name of the film is the exact same as the name of the first movie in 2004, I’d expect a remake or a reboot. The 2020 The Grudge is apparently a sidequel. Events from the film take place before and after the 2004 film, so it may not have been what audiences expected. It also got a 16 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, so it probably wasn’t the movie that critics expected, either. The RT audience score wasn’t much better (19 percent). It’s rare that I have seen an audience score that low.

Meanwhile, holdovers fill the rest of the top 10. Frozen 2 still has some giddyup, scoring another $12 million to bring its domestic total to $450 million. Spies In Disguise, meanwhile, had a very small drop of only 16 percent, adding $11.2 million to bring its total to $47 million. Rian Johnson’s Knives Out is also still humming, scoring another $$9.02 million to bring its total to $130 million domestic, and an equally impressive $247 million worldwide on a $40 million budget. It’s time to start thinking sequel!

Adam Sandler’s Uncut Gems was in eighth place but it still earned an impressive $7.8 million to bring its total to $36 million, making it the third highest grossing film ever for A24. Bombshell — which features two Golden Globe nominees (Charlize Theron and Margot Robbie) maintained its 9th position, scoring $4 million to bring its total to $24 million, while Cats clings to the bottom rung of the top ten, registering another $2.6 million. It’s earned $24.7 million, and it looks headed toward a $100 million loss.

Next weekend is a crowded one, as awards contenders 1917 and Just Mercy go wide. They will compete against Like a Boss with Rose Byrne, Salma Hayek, Tiffany Haddish and Underwater with Kristen Stewart.

Source: Deadline, Box Office Mojo