Originally posted Sunday, December 15, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
“Jumanji: The Next Level” - shot in Atlanta, Canada, Hawaii and New Mexico - was by far the big winner this past weekend at the box office, opening at about $60 million.
That far exceeded the opener of the 2017 "Jumanji" film starring Powder Springs resident Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jack Black and Kevin Hart. That film's opening three-day weekend two years ago was $36.2 million, finishing at a robust $404.6 million domestic gross.
The sequel received an A-minus from opening-weekend fans polled by Cinemascore and a positive 66 percent score from critics at Rotten Tomatoes.
These estimates are based actual Friday and Saturday box office grosses with Sunday projections. Final figures will come out Monday.
Another film shot entirely in metro Atlanta and based on events that happened here - “Richard Jewell” - came in fourth ahead of another newcomer - the slasher film “Black Christmas.” Opening on 2,502 screens, “Jewell” finished with about $5 million while poorly received “Black Christmas” is estimated to end the weekend at about $4.4 million.
On-line box-office prognosticators had both films projected to open closer to $10 million to $12 million.
"Richard Jewell" was based on true events and focused on the falsely accused security guard who saved lives at Centennial Olympic Park in 1996 when he spotted a bomb planted by Eric Rudolph.
It was the second worst wide opening weekend for a film directed by Clint Eastwood, without inflation adjustments. His worst? 1980's "Bronco Billy," which opened at $3.7 million (which would actually equal about $11.5 million in 2019 dollars.)
In comparison, Eastwood’s last film “The Mule” - also shot in metro Atlanta - opened at $17.6 million in 2018. It ended up at $103 million in domestic gross on a $50 million budget.
Still, “Richard Jewell” - which was budgeted at about $45 million before marketing costs - received a 77 percent positive score from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and filmgoers polled by Cinemascore gave it a solid A rating.
“Frozen 2” - in its fourth weekend - came in second and could hit $1 billion in box office gross worldwide this weekend. In its third weekend, hit clever whodunit “Knives Out” came in third and will pass $75 million in domestic box office grosses once this weekend is over.
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