Am not that surprised that Midway is estimated to take the #1 spot this weekend because of Veteran’s Day on Monday 11/11/19. I always wonder how they know how the weekend will turn out before it’s even over, but will have to trust their estimates, I guess.
Here are the top 10 with my ratings and reviews (click the title to read)
- Midway⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Doctor Sleep ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Playing With Fire ⭐️½
- Last Christmas ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
- Terminator: Dark Fate⭐️⭐️½
- Joker ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
- Maleficient: Mistress of Evil⭐️⭐️½
- Harriet⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
- Zombieland: Double Tap ⭐️⭐️⭐️
- The Addam’s Family ⭐️⭐️
Then again, there was a time (different set of experts, admittedly) when experts said Hilary Clinton couldn’t lose the presidency and yet look what happened there.
Heading into the weekend we were anticipating a top ten that would deliver around $110 million, as it turns out the top ten currently falls just short of a combined $100 million as Lionsgate’s Midway delivered a surprise #1 finish, topping WB’s Doctor Sleep, which slipped to second and well below expectations. Paramount’s Playing with Fire joined Midway in outperforming expectations while Universal’s Last Christmas fell below Mojo’s forecast, but well within studio expectations.
‘Midway’ Scores Surprise #1 Finish as ‘Doctor Sleep’ is Caught Napping – Box Office Mojo
What is somewhat surprising is #3: Playing With Fire which is a terrible movie, but is family-oriented. Being a grandparent, I get it. You’re not taking young kids to see Doctor Sleep and maybe not even the WWII violence of Midway or the historical anti-slavery drama Harriet. Kid-friendly choices are: Playing With Fire, Maleficient and Addam’s Family. So easy to see why Disney dominates the theater. They are pretty much the only logical choice for families, regardless if the movies are any good or not (some Disney movies are great, that’s not a blanket statement)
Am also surprised that Doctor Sleep isn’t doing better. It’s a great movie and it was almost upstaged by a horrible John Cena smokejumper unfunny family movie. Guess those that can see Rated R movies either saw Midway or watched something else. I don’t know anything about the history of horror movies in November, but it seemed odd to me they weren’t releasing Doctor Sleep a month sooner in October.
Won’t make any excuses. People will pay for what they want to see, and maybe Doctor Sleep is starting slower because the word of mouth isn’t doing enough out there, so good for Midway and Playing with Fire.
Last Christmas made the top five but I’m seeing lots of bad reviews on this one. Being the first holiday movie — and not the greatest one (although we liked it) — might be a curse this early in the season. Hmm.
Terminator: Dark Fate rounds out the top five and picks up another $10 million but on 4,000+ screens. If it can hang around in the top 10 it might claw and scratch its way past $100 million, but that is probably just wishful thinking.
Joker is hanging in there, and has had an outstanding run. It will clip the billion dollar mark and that is no joke. Well done!
Nice to see Harriet in the top ten, but it deserves to be much higher up the list.
Gone from the top 10 fast? Edward Norton’s Motherless Brooklyn ⭐️⭐️⭐️½ (#14) and Arctic Dogs ⭐️⭐️½ (#16)
Movies, Movies, Movies 