He may have garlic in his soul, but The Grinch brought in plenty of green over the weekend,Box Office Mojo is reporting. The update of the Dr. Seuss classic earned a jolly $66 million, and could be in for a very strong run as the holiday season arrives. Though it split the critics, audiences liked what they saw, giving The Grinch a healthy “A-” CinemaScore.
This isn’t the first time the tale of How the Grinch Stole Christmas was brought to the big screen, of course, with the 2000 Ron Howard film also being a huge box office hit, with that film opening to $55 million (at a time when no film had ever debuted to more than $100 million). That Jim Carrey tentpole eventually made it to $260 million, becoming the biggest film of the year. No one is expecting for the Benedict Cumberbatch Illumination film to beat Black Panther, mind you, but it could certainly show some sturdy legs as Christmas draws nearer.
Christmas, however, probably won’t be enough to save Disney’s The Nutcracker & the Four Realms, as it continued its disappointing run and now has a total of only $35 million (which is what many people expected it to make during its first weekend). The fantasy epic carries a $120 million price tag, but the Mouse House is still having a record-breaking box office year regardless (in addition to Black Panther, they also had Avengers and Incredibles 2 this year, and they still have Wreck-It Ralph 2 and Mary Poppins Returns on the way), so they should be fine.
Final figures are due tomorrow.