Moana is #1 for third consecutive week

For the weekend of December 9-11, 2016, Moana remained on top, as its only new challenge was Office Christmas Party.

The afore-mentioned ensemble comedy had mixed reviews, but enough B-level star power (Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston) to get some curious people in theaters. Everyone's treading water until Rogue One gets here.

When it comes to awards season, some expansions are doing better than others. Manchester By the Sea is doing best, while La La Land had a huge opening on only 5 screens.

Opens December 16
ROGUE ONE with Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn and Forest Whitaker.
COLLATERAL BEAUTY with Will Smith, Edward Norton, Helen Mirren and Kate Winslet.

Moana remains #1 at box office

For the weekend of December 2-4, 2016, it was a week for movies to dog-paddle. The first weekend of December usually has a big drop, and new movie that opening here tend to flop, and this year was no different, as only the horror flick Incarnate was tossed in there.

Moana is continuing its box office success, and Fantastic Beasts and Doctor Strange have to be happy with the business they're doing. Oscar-bait movies like Moonlight and Loving could really use some award-nomination announcements soon to entice audiences. Manchester by the Sea is doing well in its expansion, and Jackie opened well in limited release.

Opens December 9
OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY with Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn and Jennifer Aniston.

Moana is #1 at box office

For the weekend of November 25-27, 2016, Disney's Moana was able to overcome the Potterverse and claim the #1 spot for Thanksgiving weekend. Its five-day haul of $81 million means that $150 million domestic is guaranteed, and it'll rule over the next couple weeks, as the first weekend of December is usually one of the biggest box-office drop-offs of the year. It should ultimately be about as successful as Wreck-It-Ralph.

Fantastic Beasts is chugging along nicely. It has already crossed $470 million worldwide.

Of the other new releases, Brad Pitt's WWII movie Allied doesn't look like it'll do as well as previous Pitt WWII movies like Inglourious Basterds and Fury.

Bad Santa 2 is doing about as well as one could expect for a sequel no one wanted, and if they did, they wanted it ten years ago.

Warren Beatty's Rules Don't Apply is a big bomb, even for a movie made cheaply. It was Beatty's first directorial effort since 1998's Bulworth, and maybe audiences didn't really need to go back to Howard Hughes.

Opens December 2
INCARNATE with Aaron Eckhart, Carice van Houten and David Mazouz.