The Croods: A New Age animated sequel boosts box office weekend

Here come the Croods again!

While Americans tried to adjust to a more subdued Thanksgiving holiday during the ongoing pandemic, families willing to chance a trip to the cinema had one major option, which put THE CROODS: A NEW AGE on top at the box office with an estimated $9.7 million for the weekend.

The animated Dreamworks sequel, featuring the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds, has collected $14.2 million domestic since it opened on Wednesday. While that's not a monumental sum compared to the pre-coronavirus days, it's the best box office performance since theaters started reopening a few months ago.

Distributed by Universal (who has four of the top five movies on the chart), the PG-rated prehistoric comedy has a worldwide total of $35 million, on a reported cost of $65 million.

Critics were mixed on the new journey of the fur-wearing clan, giving it an average of 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 55 on Metacritic.

In the middle of the continuing health crisis, it's not a surprise that the remaining movies currently in release had to settle for six-figure table scraps. The R-rated Blumhouse horror-comedy FREAKY movied to second place with $770,000 for the weekend (though it did make $1.1 million over the five-day holiday period).

The Vince Vaughn/Kathryn Newton body-swap movie has a $7 million domestic total and $10.3 million worldwide before it slashes onto VOD on December 4 (as part of the new Universal 17-day window from theatrical to home release).

Following that was the Robert De Niro family comedy THE WAR WITH GRANDPA in third place, now at a domestic total of $17.2 million after two months. The R-rated Kevin Costner/Diane Lane drama LET HIM GO was in fourth place and the supernatural thriller COME PLAY was in fifth, both with domestic totals of $8.7 million.

In sixth place was the Liam Neeson thriller HONEST THIEF , now with a domestic total of $13.5 million and $22.8 million worldwide after eight weeks in release.

Studios attempted to make some holiday spirit available for willing moviegoers, with the re-release of the 2003 Will Ferrell comedy ELF in seventh place with $315,000 on 700 screens. The PG-rated Christmas tale from director Jon Favreau has a running domestic total of $175 million and $221 million worldwide.

The time-twisting Christopher Nolan thriller TENET was in eighth place as it pushed to a domestic total of $57.4 million shortly before its home video release in December.

Disney's reissue of the Tim Allen Christmas comedy THE SANTA CLAUSE was in ninth place, and Warner Bros. gave the Griswold family another round on the big screen as NATIONAL LAMPOON'S CHRISTMAS VACATION was shown on 325 screens for a $169,000 weekend.

The 1989 comedy, with Chevy Chase as the hapless dad trying to manage a nightmare holiday, has a domestic total of $72.9 million including its original theatrical run and last year's 30th anniversary re-release.

Expect more quiet weekends ahead until Christmas Day, when WONDER WOMAN 1984 hits screens (both in theaters and at home) along with the videogame adaptation MONSTER HUNTER and the Tom Hanks Western drama NEWS OF THE WORLD. (Unless things change before then…)

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