• Box Office

World Box Office December 23-29, 2019

At the end of a stratospheric year for the film industry worldwide we find a familiar figure ahead of the global charts and ready to lead the way into 2020. Disney’s The Rise of Skywalker finished its second frame taking first place in the US with $72 million dollars and doing the same on the international chart with $94.3 million. Global sales for the final chapter of the main Star Wars saga now total $724.8 million and put it roughly on pace with previous series installment The Last Jedi. One major market, South Korea, is still slated for January 8 and could provide a decent boost as the film makes its way into the New Year.

The only serious competitor for Star Wars at the moment is Jumanji: The Next Level and Sony’s adventure comedy is proving to be a very attractive second choice for theatergoers. Third frame showings in the US came in around half of The Rise of Skywalker’s tally this week at $35.3 million but that was after a 33% gain compared to Star War’s rather steep 59% drop off from last weekend. Going overseas The Next Level had a strong showing of $61 million. It beat Skywalker in new markets Australia and Italy ($9.6 million and $6.7 million) and dropped just 1% overall in all of its holdover territories compared to last week, with gains similar to its domestic resurgence in big countries like the UK, France, and Germany underpinning a terrific overseas frame. Argentina bows on Thursday and Brazil, the last major left in Jumanji’s lineup, starts on January 16.

One more for Sony, their Greta Gerwig directed Little Women started off well with $16.52 million over the weekend and $29 million since it opened on Christmas day. Golden Globe Best Actress nominee Saoirse Ronan leads a cast that includes Meryl Streep, Laura Dern, Emma Watson, Timothée Chalamet and Chris Cooper. This is the eighth feature film adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1868 coming of age drama about four girls trying to hang onto their places in the upper society after their father loses his money. It opened in Spain and the UK as well, taking $6.3 million between the two countries.

Disney’s Fox-labeled Spies in Disguise started with $13.2 million at home and reached $38 million worldwide. Frozen 2 meanwhile had something of a resurgence at home, jumping up 27% from the last frame to $16.5 million and fourth place. It now sits at $1.217 billion global and is rapidly closing in on Frozen’s $1.274 billion all-time animated records set in 2014.

See the latest world box office estimates: