By: Keaton Marcus

Diving into the weekend, for the third time, Frozen II has led the weekend, and with ease, I may add, dropping more than expected but continuing its extraordinary performance both domestically and internationally. Otherwise, there was a number of holdovers that took the top spots, including Knives Out, Ford v Ferrari, Queen & Slim and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, while newcomer Playmobil: The Movie flopped far outside.

For the third time straight, Disney’s animated sequel Frozen II has swept the top charts with an estimated 34.6M, sliding a more-than-expected 59.7% from last week’s booming Thanksgiving showing, now topping 337.5M after 17 days in theatrical release. Currently, it’s still set to top its predecessor’s 400.7M North American finish, with estimates saying that 420M seems possible. Really, it all depends on how it holds during the upcoming weeks after its stellar hold last weekend, and the underwhelming drop this one.

Overseas, things are going extremely well. Frozen II added an estimated 90.2M overseas for a foreign gross of 582.1M and a worldwide bout of 919.6M. While its still over 300 million from its predecessor’s global close, it still has sufficient stamina, and we are thinking it will surpass the one billion mark by next weekend. This will make it one of the biggest animated films of all-time, which just adds to a big list for Disney.

In runner-up we see Lionsgate’s hit murder-mystery Knives Out, which generated an estimated 14.1M, dipping a reasonable 47.1% from its impressive opening weekend, resulting in North American sales tallying to 63.4M after 10 days in release. Internationally, the production added another 18.7M for an overseas total of 60.6M and a global gross of 124M, already breaking even with its 40M budget.

Thirdly, Fox’s Ford v Ferrari earned an estimated 6.537M, with a drop of 50.4% and a domestic total now reaching 91.1M after 24 days in release. Internationally, the pic added 8.3M, resulting in a foreign round-up of 76.5M and a global total of 167.6M.

Just $7,000 dollars behind in fourth was Universal’s Queen & Slim which generated 6.530M, dipping 45.1% and topping 26.8M domestically after 10 days.

Rounding out the top five was Sony’s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood which slowed to 5.2M, indicating a sharp drop of 55.8% for a domestic total of 43.1M.

Outside even the top ten was STX Entertainment’s animated feature Playmobil: The Movie which after many push-backs, has finally debuted to a horrible 660K from 2,337 locations, averaging a terrible $282 dollars per-screen, one of the worst for a pic debuting to over 2,000 screens.

Next weekend, we see three new nationwide releases hit the theaters. This includes the anticipated sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (45-55M projections), R-rated teen-horror-flick Black Christmas (10M expectations) and Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewell.

TOP FIVE:

Frozen II
Knives Out
Ford v Ferrari
Queen & Slim
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood