Battle at the Box Office 1/13

World War I finally knocked Star Wars from the top of the box office as 1917 was the big winner at theaters over the weekend.

Sam Mendes’ critically acclaimed war film took in $37 million as it expanded nationwide over the weekend, bringing its domestic total to $39.7 million.  It is now a major Oscar front-runner and won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, so it should remain strong all the way to the Oscar ceremony.  Its worldwide total is currently at $60.9 million.

Rise of Skywalker fell 56% from last weekend, making another $15.2. million for second place.  It has just over $478 million domestic and is closing in on $1 billion worldwide with $989.6 million.

Jumanji: The Next Level dropped to third with another $14 million, bringing it to just over $257 million domestic and just over $671 million worldwide.

Like a Boss opened to fourth place with $10 million.  It’s one of the lower openings ever for both Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne as lead actresses and low compared to similar movies like Little, What Men Want and The Boss, all three of which opened to over $15 million.

Just Mercy rounded out the top 5, as it expanded wide alongside 1917 but it doesn’t have the awards buzz like 1917 and didn’t get any Oscar nominations this morning.  It made $9.7 million and has made $10.1 million so far for three weeks out.

Underwater bombed in seventh place, opening to $7 million.  It’s the second recent high-profile bomb starring Kristen Stewart after last year’s Charlie’s Angels reboot crashed and burned as well.

Speaking of bombing, The Grudge nosedived out of the top 10 in its second weekend, dropping 69% with only another $3.4 million.  The only saving grace is that its budget was around $10 million and it has made almost double that already but it will probably just barely break even.

The Per Theater average went to 1917 as well, which made $10,775 in each of the 3,434 theaters it played in over the weekend.