Box office: The Star falls out of the top ten while Star Wars: The Last Jedi has the second-biggest opening of all time

The Star fell out of the top ten in its fifth week at the box office.

The animated film — which tells the story of the first Christmas from the animals’ point of view — lost over a third of its theatres this week and saw its weekly revenue slide to slightly less than half of what the film made last week. This week, The Star landed in 11th place with an estimated $1.8 million between Friday and Sunday.

Many of the theatres that dropped The Star were presumably making room for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which earned an estimated $220 million between Thursday and Sunday nights — the second-biggest domestic opening of all time, behind the $247 million that Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned in its first weekend two years ago.

But some of those theatres may also have been making room for another animated film, Ferdinand, which, despite ranking second for the weekend with an estimated $13.3 million, had the weakest opening of any film produced by Fox / Blue Sky (their previous worst start was the $21.4 million that Ice Age: Collision Course opened to last year).

It is highly doubtful that The Star will return to the top ten. The box office will become a lot more competitive over the next eight days as six new movies open in wide release, and after that the Christmas season will be over and The Star will lose its seasonal hook.

But until then, the theatres will be busy and the Christmas season will be in full swing, so The Star should be able to rake in a little extra money over the next two weeks.

Among “faith-based” films, The Star had the eighth- to tenth-best first, second, third and fourth weekends. This week, it had the tenth-best fifth weekend:

1. 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $12.6 million
2. 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $4.6 million
3. 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $4.4 million
4. 2015 — War Room — $4.2 million
5. 2011 — Soul Surfer — $2.3 million
6. 2008 — Fireproof — $2.2 million
7. 2017 — The Shack — $2.0 million
8. 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $1.9 million
9. 2011 — Courageous — $1.84 million
10. 2017 — The Star — $1.78 million
11. 2006 — The Nativity Story — $1.51 million
12. 2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $1.49 million

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The Star has earned $35.4 million in total after thirty-one days, and it thus now ranks 11th 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. 2017 — The Star — $35.4 million
12. 2011 — Courageous — $34.5 million

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…and it still ranks 10th 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. 2017 — The Star — $35.4 million
11. 1981 — History of the World, Part I — $31.7 million
12. 2016 — Hail, Caesar! — $30.5 million
13. 2016 — Ben-Hur — $26.4 million
14. 2002 — Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie — $25.6 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

The Star has earned another $9.4 million overseas, which is better than most “faith-based” films have done.¹ The film now ranks ninth within the genre overseas…

1. 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $241.1 million
2. 2017 — The Shack — $39.6 million
3. 2003 — Luther — $23.6 million
4. 2014 — Left Behind — $13.4 million
5. 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $12.2 million
6. 2014 — Son of God — $11.1 million
7. 2015 — Little Boy — $10.9 million
8. 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $9.9 million
9. 2017 — The Star — $9.4 million
10. 2016 — Risen — $9.2 million

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…and eleventh worldwide:

1. 2004 — The Passion of the Christ — $370.8 + 241.1 = 611.9 million
2. 2014 — Heaven Is for Real — $91.4 + 9.9 = 101.3 million
3. 2017 — The Shack — $57.4 + 39.6 = 96.9 million
4. 2016 — Miracles from Heaven — $61.7 + 12.2 = 73.9 million
5. 2015 — War Room — $67.8 + 5.5 = 73.3 million
6. 2014 — Son of God — $59.7 + 11.1 = 70.8 million
7. 2014 — God’s Not Dead — $60.8 + 3.9 = 64.7 million
8. 2011 — Soul Surfer — $43.9 + 3.2 = 47.1 million
9. 2006 — The Nativity Story — $37.6 + 8.8 = 46.4 million
10. 2016 — Risen — $36.9 + 9.2 = 46.1 million
11. 2017 — The Star — $35.4 + 9.4 = 44.8 million
12. 2011 — Courageous — $34.5 + $0.7 = 35.2 million

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Meanwhile, in other box-office news…

Coco earned $10 million and ranked third in its fourth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $150.8 million. The film has earned another $297.4 million overseas, for a global total of $448.2 million.

Wonder earned $5.4 million and ranked fourth in its fifth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $109.3 million. The film has earned another $44.4 million overseas, for a global total of $153.7 million.

Justice League earned $4.2 million and ranked fifth in its fifth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $219.5 million. The film has earned another $414.5 million overseas, for a global total of $633.96 million.

Daddy’s Home 2 earned $3.8 million and ranked sixth in its sixth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $96.6 million. The film has earned another $61 million overseas, for a global total of $157.6 million.

Thor: Ragnarok earned $2.98 million and ranked seventh in its seventh week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $306.4 million. The film has earned another $535.4 million overseas, for a global total of $841.8 million.

The Disaster Artist earned $2.6 million and ranked eighth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $12.9 million. The film has earned another $2.6 million overseas, for a global total of $15.5 million.

Murder on the Orient Express earned $2.5 million and ranked ninth in its sixth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $97.3 million. The film has earned another $200.7 million overseas, for a global total of $297.9 million.

And Lady Bird earned $2.1 million and ranked tenth in its seventh week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $25.98 million. The film does not appear to have been released overseas yet.

Next week — which will include Christmas Eve — brings us Downsizing, Father Figures, The Greatest Showman and the latest installments in the Jumanji and Pitch Perfect franchises.

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1. The foreign-gross figures at Box Office Mojo are incomplete and sometimes out of date. In some cases, a movie’s summary page will list no foreign grosses at all, but clicking on the “foreign” button will produce a list of grosses from individual countries. And sometimes, when a film does have a figure that sums up the film’s foreign grosses, that figure is less up-to-date than the information for the individual countries. So, I have clicked on the “foreign” buttons for the top 50 “faith-based” films and, when the “foreign” figure is older than the figures for the individual countries, I have tallied the foreign figures myself. But the stats could still be incomplete.