‘Jumanji,’ ‘Insidious’ top ‘Star Wars’ in its fourth weekend

LOS ANGELES >> Move over, “Star Wars,” there are some new box office champs this weekend. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” has topped the charts after three weekends in theaters, and newcomer “Insidious: The Last Key” opened in second, pushing “The Last Jedi” into third place.

Columbia Pictures says Sunday that the Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart-led “Jumanji” is estimated to have earned an additional $36 million this weekend, bringing its total to $244.4 million.

“This is all about ‘Jumanji’s’ staying power,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. “This is a movie that was overshadowed by all the excitement around ‘The Last Jedi,’ and yet ‘Jumanji’ just kept plugging away and drawing audiences throughout the holiday … This is kind of unheard of for a movie this size.”

In second place is the horror film “Insidious: The Last Key,” the fourth in the franchise, which earned $29.3 million. The Universal and Blumhouse Pictures film even outperformed the third chapter in the series. That film launched to $22.7 million in June of 2015.

“We could not be more thrilled with that debut. It’s a fantastic result,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution. “The release date worked in our favor. There hasn’t been a similar film in a couple of months. “

Young audiences drove the “Insidious” box office with 59 percent under the age of 25. Whether or not they enjoyed the film is another question: It got a scary B- CinemaScore.

“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” fell to third place with $23.6 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. The space blockbuster has grossed $572.5 million to date.

“The Greatest Showman” took fourth place with $13.8 million and “Pitch Perfect 3” rounded out the top five with $10.2 million.

Awards seasons films continue to expand throughout January, too, like Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut “Molly’s Game,” which added over 1,300 theaters this weekend and took in $7 million. The Jessica Chastain-starrer about the real life “poker princess” Molly Bloom is up for two Golden Globe awards Sunday evening — best actress and best screenplay.

The Winston Churchill film “Darkest Hour” starring Gary Oldman (who is up for a best actor Golden Globe) also added 790 theaters and took in $6.4 million.

The weekend is up around 18 percent from the same weekend last year, which Dergarabedian sees as a sign that perhaps the 2018 box office will be stronger and more steady than 2017.

“2017 was not consistent. It was volatile, it was a rollercoaster,” Dergarabedian said. “This sets the tone for what we’re hoping is a consistent and strong 2018 box office.”