Disney’s animated adventure, which opened on Nov. 22 and is playing at 4,440 locations, will wind up with a 10-day total of around $320 million by the end of the weekend — making it the eighth-largest domestic release of 2019 behind “Joker.”
A pair of holdovers are performing respectably with Disney-Fox’s third frame of “Ford v Ferrari” taking in about $22 million at 3,585 venues for the five days, followed by Sony’s second session of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” in the $18 million range at 3,325 locations. “Ford v Ferrari” will wind up the holiday weekend with around $84 million.
Universal’s launch of the romantic drama “Queen & Slim,” starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, is also beating forecasts with about $15 million at 1,690 sites for the five days. The film, which sees its leads on the run after a traffic stop gone wrong, is connecting with audiences with an A- Cinemascore. Melina Matsoukas, the filmmaker behind Beyonce’s “Formation” music video, directed from Lena Waithe’s script.
“Queen & Slim” has an 87% Rotten Tomatoes score. Production companies include Makeready and Bron Creative.
The solid performances are providing a badly needed jolt to the domestic box office, according to Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with Comscore. As of Wednesday, the 2019 total of $9.99 billion trailed 2018 by 7% or about $740 million at the same point.
“The increased foot traffic brought to theaters courtesy of ‘Frozen 2’ should spark renewed interest in the big screen experience as enthusiastic moviegoers are exposed to in-theater marketing and trailers for the upcoming slate of films on a greater level due to the popularity of this one massive blockbuster,” Dergarabedian said. “And that’s good for the industry as a whole that could certainly need a boost after a very slow November start.”