It was a pretty muted weekend at the box office, as none of the major films were able to put up big numbers, but the competition has still remained interesting thanks to a particularly close battle for the top spot. Right now, it's looking like Joker will narrowly prevail and reclaim the top spot with a narrow win over Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil in its second weekend. Those final figures can and likely will change once estimates turn into final totals; however, so there's a not insignificant chance that we could actually get a different winner.
You can check out the current estimates below, per Box Office Mojo...
Regardless of who ends up taking the top spot here, the larger box office stories from Joker and Maleficent are very different. The former can't be viewed as anything but a complete and utter success. It got a giant opening weekend earlier this month. Because it was considered to be a riskier story with a more uncertain outcome, the budget for Joker was intentionally kept on the lower side, and there's a very real chance it could end up with a billion dollars at the global box office. It's such a victory, in fact, that it seems all but guaranteed DC/ Warner Bros will begin trying to line up more unexpected filmmakers to try out different takes with its stockpile of characters. So, whether or not it wins this weekend is inconsequential.
Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, however, is being viewed through a very different lens. The sequel debuted in its first weekend with an extremely soft $36M and change. Its predecessor made almost $70M during its debut, and while the fall here to a bit less than $20M isn't a disaster as second weekend holds go, it's not really good enough to right the narrative surrounding the film. That's the downside of having a production budget rumored at $185M. What would be viewed as a success for other movies can be a borderline disaster for yours.
There's also a close race going on for third place this weekend between The Addams Family and Zombieland: Double Tap. No doubt studios had higher expectations for each of the movies, but with reasonable budgets and the type of subject matter that typically does well on home video/ streaming services, it's hard to find too much to complain about. In fact, there are even some rumblings that Addams Family could get a sequel.
Finally, it seems necessarily to give a shoutout to The Lighthouse. Anytime a film finds its way into the Top 10 with less than a thousand screens, it's a really solid feat. Look for the movie to continue expanding wider. If the positive word of mouth continues, it could find itself on the charts for several more weeks to come.
