Weekend Box Office Report: December 7-9, 2018

Another win for Ralph!

For a third weekend, Disney's WRECK-IT RALPH sequel stayed on top as RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET placed first at the box office with an estimated $16.1 million!

The second animated adventure of the endearing goon (John C. Reilly) and his princess pal (Sarah Silverman) has gathered a domestic total of $140.8 million and a worldwide total of $258.1 million, on a reported $175 million cost.

There was little change in the remaining chart positions on a relatively slow weekend as crowds otherwise engaged in holiday festivities, went Christmas shopping, dealt with winter weather or simply waited for something new to hit screens.

Despicable holiday bandit THE GRINCH once again took the runner-up spot with $15.1 million, which brings the animated update of Dr. Seuss' notorious green grump to a domestic total of $223.4 million and $322 million worldwide after five weekends.

With a couple of weeks left to go before Christmas, the new version from Illumination still has a chance at catching the $260 million domestic total of the 2000 live-action THE GRINCH WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS (although it will have to contend with the arrival of some superheroes, a Transformer, and one Mary Poppins).

The boxing drama CREED II continued swinging in third place with $10.3 million on its third weekend. With a domestic total of $96.4 million, the $50 million ROCKY spinoff sequel is now within an arm's reach of the $109 million finish of the original CREED in 2015.

In fourth place again was FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES OF GRINDELWALD  with $6.8 million. The $200 million Harry Potter/"Wizarding World" tale has a domestic total of $145.2 million and is up to $568.5 million worldwide (still a significant distance from the $814 million global finish of 2016's FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM).

Queen biopic BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY was in fifth place with $6 million, persisting on the top half of the chart now for a month and a half. The $52 million drama focusing on singer Freddy Mercury (Rami Malek) has hit a high note of $173.5 million domestic, and has rocked the world with a global total of nearly $600 million.

Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne's foster family challenges held onto sixth place as the PG-13 comedy INSTANT FAMILY brought home $5.6 million for its fourth weekend. The $48 million adoption story is now at a domestic total of $54.1 million, with a worldwide total of $60.4 million.

Cruising up to seventh place was Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali's road trip GREEN BOOK with $3.9 million. Director Peter Farrelly's fact-based PG-13 drama has driven to a domestic total of $19.9 million (on a reported $23 million cost).

Endlessly retold folklore legend ROBIN HOOD stuck in eighth place with $3.5 million, giving the $100 million Taron Egerton / Jamie Foxx period action movie a domestic total of $27.2 million and a worldwide total of $65.7 million on its third weekend.

R-rated horror movie THE POSSESSION OF HANNAH GRACE writhed in ninth place with $3.1 million, exorcising 50% of business from its opening last weekend. The demonic thriller has a domestic total of $11.5 million and $23 million worldwide, on a reported cost of $9.5 million.

Closing out the list was director Steve McQueen's heist thriller WIDOWS with $3.1 million, bringing the $42 million R-rated drama to a domestic total of $38.1 million and a worldwide total of $65 million.

Outside the chart, the Bradley Cooper / Lady Gaga musical drama A STAR IS BORN may have left the Top 10 last week but still seems sure to hit $200 million domestic, while Queen Anne drama THE FAVOURITE continues doing brisk business in limited release with $1.4 million for the weekend on just 91 screens (a $15k per-screen average).

Of the week's limited releases, the Saoirse Ronan / Margot Robbie period drama MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS made the strongest impression with a per-screen average of $50k, followed by the Natalie Portman music drama VOX LUX with an average of $27k per-screen, and the Julia Roberts addiction drama BEN IS BACK with a $20k per-screen average.

However, the 25th anniversary reissue of Steven Spielberg's WWII drama SCHINDLER'S LIST clearly wasn't an attraction for audiences this weekend, taking in only $551k from over a thousand screens for one of the lowest per-screen averages of any movie currently in release.

And although AQUAMAN doesn't swim into North American theaters until December 21st, DC Comics' oceanic superhero has already harpooned an impressive $93.6 million from its release in China (collecting the same figure as CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR's debut there).

Next weekend has a whole bunch of interdimensional webheads in the animated SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE, post-apocalyptic cities roam the lands in MORTAL ENGINES, Clint Eastwood carries narcotics in THE MULE, and Deadpool takes aim at families in the PG-13 remix ONCE UPON A DEADPOOL (on Wednesday).

What is your favorite "non-traditional" Christmas movie? VOTE HERE!