Box office: The Star has a decent second-weekend hold

The Star stayed bright with a little help from the American Thanksgiving this week.

The film, which depicts Mary and Joseph’s journey to Bethlehem from the animals’ point of view, earned an estimated $6.9 million between Friday and Sunday.

That’s a drop of 29.9% from the film’s opening weekend — and while it might be one of the bigger drops percentage-wise among the week’s top ten films,¹ it is also better than the second-week drops for many other “faith-based” films that have opened in wide release, such as Miracles from Heaven (34.6%), Heaven Is for Real (36.3%), The Shack (38.1%), Risen (42.3%), God’s Not Dead 2 (44.4%), Ben-Hur (59.3%) and Son of God (59.5%).

And considering that The Star had new animated competition from Disney-Pixar’s Coco — which topped the week’s chart with $49 million for the weekend and $71.2 million since Wednesday — one could argue that it held up as well as could be expected.

The question now is whether The Star — which is, after all, about the first Christmas — can stay afloat until Christmas Day itself arrives four weeks from now.

The Star had the tenth-best opening of any “faith-based” film last week, and this week, if the estimates hold, it will have the ninth-best second weekend:

1. 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $53.2 million
2. 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $14.4 million
3. 2014 — Son of God — $10.4 million
4. 2017 — The Shack — $10.1 million
5. 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $9.7 million
6. 2015 — War Room — $9.5 million
7. 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $8.8 million
8. 2011 — Soul Surfer — $7.3 million
9. 2017 — The Star — $6.9 million
10. 2016 — Risen — $6.8 million

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The Star has earned $22 million in total after ten days, and it thus now ranks 16th among “faith-based” films in terms of total North American gross…

1. 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 million
2. 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $91.4 million
3. 2015 — War Room — $67.8 million
4. 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $61.7 million
5. 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $60.8 million
6. 2014 — Son of God — $59.7 million
7. 2017 — The Shack — $57.4 million
8. 2011 — Soul Surfer — $43.9 million
9. 2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 million
10. 2016 — Risen — $36.9 million
11. 2011 — Courageous — $34.5 million
12. 2008 — Fireproof — $33.5 million
13. 2014 — When the Game Stands Tall — $30.1 million
14. 2016 — Ben-Hur — $26.4 million
15. 2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $25.6 million
16. 2017 — The Star — $22 million
17. 2016 — God’s Not Dead 2 — $20.8 million
18. 2005 — The Gospel — $15.8 million

…and 14th among Bible-themed films released in the past 40 years:

1. 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 million
2. 1998 — The Prince of Egypt — $101.4 million
3. 2014 — Noah — $101.2 million
4. 2014 — Exodus: Gods and Kings — $65 million
5. 2014 — Son of God — $59.7 million
6. 2017 — The Shack — $57.4 million
7. 2009 — Year One — $43.3 million
8. 2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 million
9. 2016 — Risen — $36.9 million
10. 1981 — History of the World, Part I — $31.7 million
11. 2016 — Hail, Caesar! — $30.5 million
12. 2016 — Ben-Hur — $26.4 million
13. 2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $25.6 million
14. 2017 — The Star — $22 million
15. 1979 — Monty Python’s Life of Brian — $20 million
16. 1980 — Wholly Moses! — $14.2 million
17. 2006 — One Night with the King — $13.4 million
18. 1988 — The Last Temptation of Christ — $8.4 million
19. 2016 — The Young Messiah — $6.5 million
20. 1985 — King David — $5.1 million
21. 2003 — The Gospel of John — $4.1 million

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Meanwhile, in other box-office news…

Justice League earned $40.7 million and ranked second in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $171.5 million. The film has earned another $309.8 million overseas, for a global total of $481.3 million.

Wonder earned $22.3 million and ranked third in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $69.4 million. The film has earned another $894,603 overseas, for a global total of $70.3 million.

Thor: Ragnarok earned $16.8 million and ranked fourth in its fourth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $277.5 million. The film has earned another $512.6 million overseas, for a global total of $790.1 million.

Daddy’s Home 2 earned $13.3 million and ranked fifth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $72.7 million. The film has earned another $15 million overseas, for a global total of $87.7 million.

Murder on the Orient Express earned $13 million and ranked sixth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $74.2 million. The film has earned another $122.6 million overseas, for a global total of $196.8 million.

A Bad Moms Christmas earned $5 million and ranked eighth in its fourth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $59.8 million. The film has earned another $33.1 million overseas, for a global total of $92.8 million.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. earned $4.5 million and ranked ninth in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $6.3 million. The film does not appear to have been released overseas yet.

And Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri earned $4.4 million and ranked tenth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $7.6 million. This film does not appear to have been released overseas yet, either.

Next week brings us The Shape of Water, Wonder Wheel and several other limited releases.

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1. Only Justice League, which plunged 56.6% — from a $94 million opening last week to $40.7 million this week — had a bigger drop in this week’s top ten, while Jigsaw, which was in last week’s top ten, fell 64.9% and landed in 14th place in its fifth week at the box office.