Rogue One‘s time at the top of the box office has come to a close, and the new champion is a worthy successor. Hidden Figures, the story of three women who were essential to the U.S winning the space race against the Soviet Union surpassed Rogue One with $22.8 million. Rogue One finished in second with $22,063,570, bringing its total worldwide gross to $927,464,924.
The rest of the Top 5 had one new entry: Underworld: Blood Wars. It ended up at #4 for its opening weekend with $13,688,751. At #3 was Sing with $20,712,365 and La La Land at #5 with $10,132,213.
A Monster Calls (from director J.A. Bayona) also opened this weekend but only ended up making $2 million total, earning the #13 spot. This certainly has to be disappointing for everyone involved as the film is getting plenty of critical praise, but not enough on the financial side. Here’s hoping this film doesn’t become a Kubo and the Two Strings where the film itself is great but not enough people end up seeing it.
When it comes to films leaving mainstream theaters, there’s The Girl on the Train (which ended up with $172,302,065 at the box office), Queen of Katwe (ending with $10,093,487), and Edge of Seventeen (ending with $14,904,410 total).
Recommendation of the week: If you’re a fan of sci-fi and you’d like to see a fresh take on the “alien invasion” genre, then I’ve got to recommend Arrival. The visuals are great, the story is interesting throughout, and everyone in the film offers up a great performance (with Amy Adams being the standout). It remains unpredictable and although it’s a slow burn, it’s a worthy payoff.
