Box Office Breakdown: Escapism Buoys Doctor Strange, Trolls, and Arrival

You know it's an odd week when the highest-placing new release gets shut out of the top two spots and yet still exceeds expectations.  Amy Adams' new hard sci-fi film Arrival slid into third with $24 million, which is well above the $15 million to $20 million most media outlets were predicting.  Given the great reviews (currently 93% on Rotten Tomatoes with an average rating of 8.3 out of 10) this isn't all that surprising, but the secret sauce here (as well as last week) is also what propelled the rest of the box-office to better than expected results: escapism.  Most people were looking for a break from reality, and luckily there were a few titles out there that fit the bill.

Doctor Strange is shaping up to be Marvel Studios' biggest non-Iron Man related hit.  According to boxofficemojo.com, the film dropped less than 49% compared to its opening weekend, a feat unmatched in the last ten Marvel Studios films.  Internationally, it has already crushed the final tallies of The Incredible Hulk, Captain America: The First Avenger, and Thor, with Ant-Man just around the corner.  Domestically, Guardians of the Galaxy's $333 million is going to be hard to beat, but if Doctor Strange continues with these kinds of legs, over $300 million domestic and more than $700 million worldwide is not at all out of the question.  However, next week will be extremely telling as Strange faces extremely stiff demographic competition with the new Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Moving on to Trolls, the kiddie crowd-pleaser opened fairly well last week, but is proving to have some strong staying power.  The animated comedy only dropped a shocking 29% from last week, and with a ten-day total standing at an impressive $94 million, its $125 million budget looks almost reasonable.  A lack of family friendly competition and the aforementioned escapism likely pushed this one over the top, although solid reviews and word-of-mouth haven't hurt either.

A few other notes:

• Almost Christmas proves its never to early to beat a dead horse.  
• Hacksaw Ridge had some strong holdover because of patriotic Veterans' Day film-goers.
• If you've been following their face-off, The Accountant has now handily won out over Jack Reacher as the latter drops to ninth and the former impressively holds at sixth.  Is Ben Affleck the new Tom Cruise?  Naaah.
• Shut-In certainly is a movie that exists.
• Madea, the black christian community's Ernest P. Worrell, pulls into second on Tyler Perry's all time highest grossing list with Boo! A Madea Halloween.
• Tom Hanks' and Ron Howard's limp Inferno refuses to die with dignity and latches onto last place.  So long, Robert Langdon.

Check out the full estimated top ten:*

1. Doctor Strange - $45 million
2. Trolls - $35 million
3. Arrival - $24 million
4. Almost Christmas - $15.5 million
5. Hacksaw Ridge - $10.77 million
6. The Accountant - $4.57 million
7. Shut-In - $3.7 million
8. Boo! A Madea Halloween - $3.5 million
9. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back - $3.3 million
10. Inferno - $3.2 million

Wide-releases coming next week: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, The Edge of Seventeen, Bleed for This.

*Box office stats courtesy of boxofficemojo.com