'The Grinch' is Smiling with $66 Million Opening; 'Venom' Debuts with $111M in China

The 2018 box office continues to usher in hits as Universal and Illumination's Dr. Seuss' The Grinch debuted with a chart-topping $66 million this weekend. However, it wasn't all roses for the weekend's new wide releases as neither Overlord nor The Girl in the Spider's Web managed to catch on with audiences. Yet, holdovers such as Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born continued their strong performances while Sony's Venom delivered a massive $111 million debut in China.

With an estimated $66 million, Universal and Illumination's Dr. Seuss' The Grinch topped the weekend box office. The performance currently ranks as the third largest opening weekend for an animated title in November behind The Incredibles ($70.4m) and Frozen ($67.39m). The film should play well over the coming weeks and throughout the holidays as it is the only predominantly Christmas-themed wide release on the docket. While reviews for the film trended more mixed-to-negative, audiences gave the film an "A-" CinemaScore to go along with what currently stands at a 71% audience score on RottenTomatoes. The Grinch played to a crowd that was 53% female.

Internationally, The Grinch opened in 23 locations with an estimated $12.7 million for a $78.7 million global debut. Leading the way was a $6.5 million debut in the UK and Ireland followed by Brazil ($1.3m), Norway ($747k) and Sweden ($668k). The film has yet to open in 48 territories including key marketplaces such as France (Nov 28), Australia (Nov 29), Italy (Nov 29), Germany (Nov 29), Spain (Nov 30), Mexico (Dec 7), Japan (Dec 14), China (Dec 14), Korea (Dec 20) and Russia (Dec 22).

Fox's Bohemian Rhapsody performed just ahead of Mojo's pre-weekend expectations, which means the film's estimated $30.85 million sophomore session pushed it over $100 million domestically after ten days in release. The film performed equally strong overseas, bringing in an estimated $63 million, for an international total over $185 million and a global cume that now tops $285 million. The film's top market remains the UK where it dipped just 16% in its third weekend of release for a cume that now tops $38 million. Upcoming markets include releases in India (Nov 16), Italy (Nov 28) and South Africa (Nov 30).

Disney's The Nutcracker and the Four Realms played as expected in its sophomore frame, delivering an estimated $9.56 million, pushing the film's domestic cume over $35 million. Internationally the film added another $13.5 million from 45 markets for a global cume that currently stands at $96.7 million.

In fourth place is Paramount's release of Overlord, an R-rated, supernatural horror film from producer J.J. Abrams and his Bad Robot banner. The film delivered an estimated $10.1 million for the weekend. While the performance is within the range of Mojo's pre-weekend expectation, it's a bit shy of the low teens debut the studio was anticipating. The film received a "B" CinemaScore and played to an audience that was 69% male.

Internationally, Overlord debuted in 52 markets, grossing an estimated $9.2 million for a global cume coming up shy of $20 million. Given this represents 84% of the international footprint this is a bit light for the $28 million production, which will be looking to a November 21 debut in France and December 6 opening in Australia to help bolster the global performance.

Rounding out the top five is Sony's The Girl in the Spider's Web, which delivered a disappointing $8 million. While this is on par with studio expectations heading into the weekend it isn't an encouraging performance for anyone hoping the studio might return to the second and third books in Stieg Larsson's Millennium series, and bring those back to life following the original Swedish adaptations. The film received a "B" CinemaScore from opening day audiences while playing to a crowd that was 52% female with 74% of the overall audience coming in aged 25 years or older.

Internationally, The Girl in the Spider's Web began its wider roll-out this weekend, expanding to 49 markets where it brought in an estimated $6.2 million for a current international cume that stands at a weak $8.3 million. Among the weekend's new openings, Russia led the way with an estimated $1.3 million followed by Mexico ($710k), Australia ($605k), Spain ($535k) and Brazil ($415k). To put those performances into perspective, 2011's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo debuted with $3.7 million in Russia, $1.2 million in Mexico, $2.4 million in Australia and $1.1 million in Spain. Upcoming key market releases for Girl in the Spider's Web include France (Nov 14), UK (Nov 21), Germany (Nov 22) and South Korea (Nov 28).

Just outside the top five, Bohemian Rhapsody and A Star is Born were once again able to peacefully coexist with the latter dropping just 27% for an estimated $8 million this weekend, pushing the film's domestic cume over $178 million. The performance bumps the film up a couple spots on the list of films that never finished #1 at the weekend box office where it now ranks as the twelfth largest and it's certainly not done yet.

Additionally, Sony's Venom brought in an estimated $4.85 million this weekend for a domestic cume that now stands at $206.2 million. The story for this film, however, is its $111 million opening in China this weekend, the 2nd highest debut ever for a superhero film in the market and Sony's largest debut in China ever. The overall international performance added $118.2 million this weekend for a global cume that now stands at nearly $675 million.

Outside the top ten, Amazon Studios's expanded the reach of Beautiful Boy into 776 theaters (+236) where it brought in an estimated $1.4 million for a domestic cume that now totals $5.18 million.

Sony's The Front Runner debuted in four theaters on Tuesday of this past week and continued in those four locations this weekend, bringing in an estimated $56,000 for a cume of $76,000. The film is set to expand into ~48 locations next weekend followed by a continued expansion on November 21.

In limited release, China Lion's Last Letter debuted in 18 locations with an estimated $70,000 ($3,889 PTA); The Orchard's El Angel brought in an estimated $25,473 from two theaters; and The Film Arcade's The Long Dumb Road opened with an estimated $5,000 in one theater.

Next weekend will see Warner Bros. deliver Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald into over 4,000 theaters along with Paramount's Instant Family and Fox's Widows, both of which will be opening in over 3,000 locations. Additionally, CBS Films will release the Venice Film Festival standout At Eternity's Gate and Universal will begin the platform release of Green Book, which will open in 25 locations next weekend before going wide the following Wednesday.