Box Office: La La Land Becomes Top Specialty Release Of 2016 While Moana Remains On Top

Box Office, Top Story

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It seems like the only thing that will remove a Disney film from the No. 1 spot at the box office is another Disney film. So Moana it has been fun, but this time next week Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will have made a gazillion dollars worldwide while the Polynesian heroine will set sail down the box office totem pole. In three weeks the animated release has raked in $145 million. While its 19-day total is more than Frozen had, don’t look for Moana to skyrocket this holiday season with earnings in excess of $400 million before it leaves theaters.

Continuing the trend of bad Christmas-related comedies (seriously, did we need a sequel to Bad Santa?) we have Office Christmas Party, a comedy that is in the running for most generic film title of 2016. The Paramount release comes from the combined talents that gave us Blades of Glory and The Switch. It scored $17.5 million, and yet the comedy cost $45 million. I guess Jennifer Aniston wouldn’t get out of bed for less than $5 million.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them slips to third place with $10.7 million to bring its four-week total to just one million shy of $200 million. Worldwide it is a stellar performer with another $480 million.

Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and Kenneth Lonergan’s Manchester by the Sea get expansion and enter the top 10 box office. Animals jumped nine places to finish in seventh place with $3.19 million. Manchester was right behind with $3.15 million.

Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge rounds out the top ten with $2.3 million.

The big news at the box office was the performance of Lionsgate’s La La Land, which debuted on five screens. It scored big with this year’s best per theater average ($171k) and finished the weekend with $855k. The opening outpaced A24’s Moonlight, which averaged just over $100k when it debuted in October. Elsewhere, Fox Searchlight’s Jackie got a 21 theater expansion in its second weekend and grossed $495k.

You can read the full breakdown of the Top 10 below.

01. Moana – $18.8 Million
02. Office Christmas Party – $17.5 Million
03. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – $10.7 Million
04. Arrival – $5.6 Million
05. Doctor Strange – $4.6 Million
06. Allied – $4 Million
07. Nocturnal Animals – $3.19 Million
08. Manchester by the Sea – $3.15 Million
09. Trolls – $3.1 Million
10. Hacksaw Ridge – $2.3 Million

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!