Coco is set to top the box office for the third weekend of its release. Disney-Pixar's latest beat out Justice League in its first three days, becoming the third-biggest Thanksgiving release ever. The film also drew rave reviews and looks lined up for big-time success come awards season. In its third and final weekend at the top of the box office before Star Wars: The Last Jedi takes over, the acclaimed animated adventure continues to go strong amid relatively weak, limited competition in theaters.
Coco, which follows a young boy in Mexico who learns more about his ancestors' ban on music as he aspires to become a musician himself, has benefited from early December's typical lack of major wide releases. That's about to change with The Last Jedi and other tentpoles on the horizon. But along with the massive success of Thor: Ragnarok, Coco has also helped Disney pass $5 billion at the global box office - and now it can take one more victory lap.
Related: Disney Passes $5 Billion at Global Box Office For Third Year Straight
THR reported on Saturday that Coco is set to earn another $20 million domestically to hold on to the No. 1 spot for a third weekend in a row, bumping its total to $137 million. Justice League and Wonder are expected to again finish No. 2 and 3, respectively, but did not release weekly numbers. In fourth place is James Franco's potential Oscar contender The Disaster Artist, which grossed an impressive $6.7 million at just 840 theaters. Ragnarok is also hitting a milestone this weekend, passing the $300 million mark in the U.S. to add to its $822 million worldwide total.
Even as it approaches a sharp drop in its box office totals as attention shifts to The Last Jedi, Coco has a good chance to continue going strong for an animated outing. At $137 million it blows by The Good Dinosaur ($123 million) and it's very likely to eventually pass Cars 3 ($152 million) in the Pixar rankings. With the awards attention poised to come its way, Coco is still positioned to put up healthy overall numbers.
While it won't be among the most commercially successful Pixar releases, Coco's acclaim and winning box office performance counts as another triumph for the studio and a solid rebound from the aforementioned Cars 3. It was released with good-enough timing to top the market in its first three weeks before the biggest year-end releases came out. The Last Jedi is about to knock Coco way off its perch, but Pixar can at least say they had their moment of victory.
Even in a down year for the box office overall, Disney has essentially been impervious to the decline. Coco is simply the latest example of the company pulling the right strings with most of its major releases. And for some, the movie's third straight weekend at the top is yet another reminder of Justice League's underwhelming performance in the U.S. But for Coco, a win is a win.
Source: THR
