Jumanji bests Insidious 4 at box office

For the weekend of January 5-7, 2018, Jumanji: WTTJ finally managed to dethrone The Last Jedi. It's the first non-Fast & Furious movie starring Dwayne Johnson to pass the $200 million domestic mark.

The one new wide release was Insidious: The Last Key. It's a financial hit, to the point where I have to imagine the studio's trying to figure what they can spin off from it like the Conjuring universe.

I'm a little bummed The Disaster Artist isn't doing better. Most of the Globes winners were from movies that are already on their way out. Darkest Hour might have expanded at the right time.

Opens January 12
PADDINGTON 2 with Hugh Grant, Hugh Bonneville and Sally Hawkins.
PROUD MARY with Taraji P. Henson, Neal McDonough and Danny Glover.
THE COMMUTER with Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson.
(exp) THE POST with Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks and Sarah Paulson.

Insidious Chapter 2 is #1

1.  Insidious 2 - $41.05 million - 1 wk (FD)
 . . . 3049 screens / $13,463 per screen
2.  The Family - $14.5 - 1 wk (Rel)
 . . . 3091 / $4691
3.  Riddick - $7.01 ($31.28) - 2 wks (U) -63.1%
 . . . 3117 / $2250
4.  The Butler - $5.58 ($100.04) - 5 wks (Wein) -33.6%
 . . . 3239 / $1723
5.  We're the Millers - $5.42 ($131.6) - 6 wks (WB) -29.6%
 . . . 3238 / $1672
6.  Instructions Not Included - $4.25 ($26.58) - 3 wks (LG) -47.8%
 . . . 933 / $4555
7.  Planes - $3.07 ($82.98) - 6 wks (BV) -25.6%
 . . . 2739 / $1119
8.  One Direction: This Is Us - $2.4 ($26.89) - 3 wks (TS) -40.7%
 . . . 2300 / $1043
9.  Elysium - $2.05 ($88.39) - 6 wks (TS) -34.7%
 . . . 1720 / $1192
10. Percy Jackson 2 - $1.83 ($62.04) - 6 wks (Fox) -24.8%
 . . . 1638 / $1114

Insidious Chapter 2 had the second-highest September opening ever.  Patrick Wilson and director James Wan really know how to make money together.  The Family was modestly budgeted so its opening isn't surprising. I'm sure megaplex chains wish they'd get more wide releases this time of year when stuff like Getaway can't leave theaters fast enough.

In limited release, a couple Christian titles (The Investigator, Final: The Rapture) did well.

Insidious - Movie Review

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Starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Lin Shaye, Barbara Hershey, Ty Simkins and Leigh Whannell.
Directed by James Wan.

The writer and director of the original Saw have come together for a different type of horror movie, one co-produced by Oren Peli (Paranormal Activity) and demonstrated that less can be more. What we have then is an old-fashioned haunted house movie that is more concerned with spooks than severed limbs.

The first hour or so of this movie is great. It has all the familiar trappings (creaking stairs, objects moving mysteriously) and the trappings work when done well. In a nod to Poltergeist, we eventually have a paranormal expert (Lin Shaye) show up to exorcise the dark beings surrounding this family. As the movie explains more and more what's going on, I grew less interested, and yet there was something trippy-wonderful about the way it turned "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" into a haunting tune.