A Rare Occurrence At Box Office As ‘Ralph’ And ‘Grinch’ Deliver One-Two Punch

There was never any doubt that Disney Animation’s Ralph Breaks the Internet would hold on to its no. 1 spot at the box office for a second straight weekend, but the big surprise turned out to be Universal-Illumination’s The Grinch, which jumped back up into second place in its fourth weekend.

The one-two positions of animated films at the U.S. box office is a rare occurrence. The last time that animated films owned both top spots was in June 2012, when Disney-Pixar’s Brave launched atop the box office, and Dreamworks Madagascar 3 took second place in its third weekend.

Ralph grossed an estimated $25.7 million in it second frame. Its total — just under $120 million — is virtually identical to the performance of Disney’s Moana in 2016, which also opened during the Thanksgiving holiday. Ralph’s second weekend drop of 54% is the biggest decrease for a Disney animated film since Tangled in 2010, which raises questions about how strong its legs will be through the holiday season.

Ralph picked up an additional $33.7 million from abroad, growing its international cume to $87.7 million. Worldwide total stands at $207 million.

In its fourth weekend, Grinch ended up with an estimated $17.7 million, leading to a domestic total of $203.5 million. All eight of Illumination’s fully-animated features have topped $200 million at the box office, a feat matched only by Pixar, which had nine films, from Toy Story 2 to Toy Story 3, hit $200m domestic box office. (Cars 2 broke the Pixar streak.)

The Grinch also grew its global footprint this weekend with debuts in Germany ($3.7m), France ($3.7m), Australia ($2.9m), Italy ($2.1m), and Spain ($2m). It picked up a total of $27.1 million from 53 territories, boosting its foreign cume to $64.8 million, and a $268.3 million worldwide gross.

GKIDS also released Mamoru Hosoda’s Mirai at the box office this week. The film played a special one-night screening in 780 theaters last Thursday, which generated $210,000. It picked up an additional $62,497 from 69 theaters over the three-day weekend for a total of $272,758. Earlier this year, it grossed a robust $23.6 million from its release in Japan.