Fox’s The Maze Runner: Death Cure (read our review here) finished atop the US box office, with a 25% decline compared to its predecessor, understandable considering standard franchise fatigue, and the fact that filming was delayed when Dylan O’Brien suffered an on-set injury.
One of the only breakout YA adaptations amongst a slew of films that failed to make it past book one (I Am Number 4, Beautiful Creatures, Cirque Du Freak, Ender’s Game, The 5th Wave), The Maze Runner never really convinced audiences to stick around once the labyrinth gimmick was abandoned, so a result of $23.5m is pretty decent.
Dropping to the runner-up spot, but not exactly losing a life was Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which declined a meagre 16%, offering audiences an antidote to the awards heavy fare clogging up cinemas, and adding $16.4 million to a huge $338 million domestic total.
In third we find Christian Bale and Rosamund Pike Western, Hostiles, which expanded nationwide to earn a respectable $10.2m. Not bad for a notoriously uncommercial genre.
Once again the real story of the top ten is The Greatest Showman, which is threatening to become the cinematic equivalent of Bryan Adam’s Everything I Do by refusing to budge from the upper echelons of the chart. The Hugh Jackman singalong dipped 11% for $9.5 million, higher than its opening weekend figure of $8.8 million, and with word-of-mouth and repeat business, there’s no indication that this sustained earning will dwindle any time soon. It appears that once is Never Enough.
The Post rounded out the top five with $8.5 million ($58.5m total), while elsewhere in the chart The Shape of Water made the most of its 13 Oscar nominations to raise its fishy haul to $37.6 million. Following suit in the Academy Award bump category were Three Billboards ($3.6m, $37m total), I, Tonya ($2.9m, $18.8m total), Phantom Thread ($2.89m, $10.6m total), and Lady Bird ($1.9m, $42m).
Next week the box office should take a substantial hit from the Super Bowl; until then you can find all of the statistics over at BoxOfficeMojo.
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