{"id":235310,"date":"2019-10-20T20:42:31","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T00:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=235310"},"modified":"2019-10-20T20:42:31","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T00:42:31","slug":"maleficent-mistress-of-evil-claims-no-1-over-joker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/10\/20\/maleficent-mistress-of-evil-claims-no-1-over-joker\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Maleficent: Mistress of Evil’ claims No. 1 over ‘Joker’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Best seats in the house 💫 #maleficent2 (Photo<\/a>: joachimronning\/Instagram<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Walt Disney Co.’s \u201cMaleficent: Mistress of Evil\u201d knocked \u201cJoker\u201d out of the No. 1 spot at the box office, but just barely.<\/p>\n

Studios on Sunday say the film starring Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning grossed an estimated $36 million in North America and $117 million internationally in its first weekend in theatres. The first film had a much stronger domestic showing, opening to nearly $70 million domestically in 2014, and the sequel was expected to earn more stateside. Although<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s not as strong as we hoped domestically, but it’s a good start for October and we have a great window leading into Halloween,\u201d said Cathleen Taff, Disney’s president of theatrical distribution. \u201cMost encouraging is the fact that audiences seem to be responding very positively.\u201d<\/p>\n

The A CinemaScore \u2014 in contrast to the mixed critical reviews \u2014 suggests that the film could have a longer life at the box office.<\/p>\n

Although it fell to second place after two weekends at the top, Warner Bros.’ \u201cJoker\u201d continues to hold strong at the box office. It added $29.2 million in its third weekend in North America. The villain origin story has grossed over $247 million domestically. Worldwide, it’s earned $737.5 million, and has already surpassed the lifetime grosses of \u201cJustice League\u201d and \u201cSuicide Squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the big question is whether the R-rated film will make it to $1 billion, but with a $55 million production budget, it’s already a massive hit for the studio and will likely also become director Todd Phillips’ highest-grossing film too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s already in territory that nobody thought it would get to. It’s achieved a box office that is above the wildest expectations of the studio and analysts,\u201d said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. \u201cEven if the box office stopped right now it’s an absolute, unqualified success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third place went to another new sequel, Columbia Pictures’ \u201cZombieland: Double Tap\u201d with $26.7 million. The R-rated comedy comes 10 years after the original, reuniting Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Woody Harrelson with director Ruben Fleischer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree films earning over $25 million, that doesn’t happen very often,\u201d Dergarabedian noted, although the weekend is down from last year when \u201cHalloween\u201d opened to over $76 million.<\/p>\n

In notable landmarks, \u201cHustlers\u201d crossed $100 million domestically this weekend. It’s the second STX film to do so this year after \u201cThe Upside.\u201d<\/p>\n

And buzzy, awards-friendly indies are continuing to thrive. \u201cParasite,\u201d which opened last weekend, added $1.2 million. This weekend, Taika Waititi’s Nazi satire \u201cJojo Rabbit\u201d opened in five theatres with a strong $350,000, the black and white Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe mindbender \u201cThe Lighthouse\u201d earned $419,764 from eight theatres, and \u201cJay & Silent Bob Reboot\u201d grossed $93,520 from one screen this weekend.<\/p>\n

But the year is still down 5% from last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great weekend for sequels and great weekend for indie movies,\u201d Dergarabedian said. \u201cBut we’re still struggling to get ahead of last year. We’re racing to the finish line here. We’ve only got 11 weekends left to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.<\/p>\n

1.\u201dMaleficent: Mistress of Evil,\u201d $36 million ($117 million international).<\/p>\n

2.\u201dJoker,\u201d $29.5 million ($77.8 million international).<\/p>\n

3.\u201dZombieland: Double Tap,\u201d $26.7 million ($5.3 million international).<\/p>\n

4.\u201dThe Addams Family,\u201d $16.1 million.<\/p>\n

5.\u201dGemini Man,\u201d $8.5 million ($33.4 million international).<\/p>\n

6.\u201dAbominable,\u201d $3.5 million ($9.2 million international).<\/p>\n

7.\u201dDownton Abbey,\u201d $3.1 million ($2.5 million international).<\/p>\n

8.\u201dJudy,\u201d $2.1 million ($1.3 million international).<\/p>\n

9.\u201dHustlers,\u201d $2.1 million ($3 million international).<\/p>\n

10.\u201dIt: Chapter Two,\u201d $1.5 million.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theatres (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Comscore:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cMaleficent: Mistress of Evil,\u201d $117 million.<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cJoker,\u201d $77.8 million.<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cGemini Man,\u201d $33.4 million.<\/li>\n
  4. \u201cOne Piece: Stampede,\u201d $21.9 million.<\/li>\n
  5. \u201cThe Captain,\u201d $17.8 million.<\/li>\n
  6. \u201cAbominable,\u201d $9.2 million.<\/li>\n
  7. \u201cMy People, My Country,\u201d $8.4 million.<\/li>\n
  8. \u201cZombieland: Double Tap,\u201d $5.3 million.<\/li>\n
  9. \u201cA Witness Out of the Blue,\u201d $4.6 million.<\/li>\n
  10. \u201cA Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,\u201d $3.1 million.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    LOS ANGELES \u2014 The Walt Disney Co.’s \u201cMaleficent: Mistress of Evil\u201d knocked \u201cJoker\u201d out of the No. 1 spot at …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":235311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-lindsey-bahr","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235310"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235312,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235310\/revisions\/235312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}