Jacob Hall

Propelled by great trailers, strong buzz, and a supremely rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, Get Out easily took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, dethroning The LEGO Batman Movie. Will the positive reaction to Get Out help it overcome the second week slump that so many horror movies suffer? We’re in uncharted waters here — critics and audiences rarely like a genre movie this much.

What do audiences want to see on President’s Day weekend? Apparently not The Great Wall, Fist Fight, and A Cure For Wellness, each of which opened to disappointing numbers. However, The LEGO Batman Movie, Fifty Shades Darker, John Wick: Chapter 2, Hidden Figures and even Split kept the box office above water, continuing to do strong business.

Last week, Split had a huge opening and everyone noted that M. Night Shyamalan was unquestionably back. But now, in week two, it feels a little more official. The second weekend saw the film holding onto its spot at the top of the box office charts, but it also did so while dropping a percentage most movies would kill for. In other words, people like Split and are telling their friends to go see it.

Is it safe to say that M. Night Shyamalan is back? He got his foot in the door a few years ago when The Visit opened to $25 million and went on to make $65 million against a budget of only $5 million, but with the release of Split, he’s officially sitting on the couch, eating your chips and drinking your beer. However, the same could not be said for xXx: Return of Xander Cage, which opened to more lackluster numbers.

After a neck-and-neck race last weekend, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has officially stepped aside to let Hidden Figures reign supreme. The crowd-pleasing drama about the black female mathematicians who assisted NASA in its early days topped the box office, leading a weekend that was otherwise all about films bursting out of limited release. The bulk of the new releases were not so fortunate.

Eventually, some movie will unseat Rogue One: A Star Wars Story from its spot at the top of the box office charts. That movie will not be Hidden Figures, but man, it sure came close. Unless the final numbers shift ever-so-slightly, the drama about the African American women behind the math that helped launch NASA's first space missions came this close to unseating the massively successful blockbuster, taking the runner-up position by less than $1 million.

The headline here is that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story held onto the number one of the box office top 10 for the third weekend in a row, which was expected. However, the real story is that the past few days made for one of the most impressive weekends of the past year, closing out 2016 (and starting 2017) with a bang.

Everyone knew that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story wasn’t going to match the opening weekend of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That film had hype on its side, drawing off the power of a lengthy dry spell for fans and the presence of the original trilogy’s cast members. It’s unlikely that any Star Wars movie will match it ever again. With all of that said, the opening weekend of Rogue One should still be considered an enormous success, especially since these numbers would be nothing short of indisputably incredible if Star Wars wasn’t in the title.

The box office success of Moana feels like destiny: an old school Disney formula plus 21st century polish plus great songs plus the mere presence of Dwayne Johnson and near-universal critical notices is a surefire recipe for success...

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them may not have Harry Potter in its title, but the first entry in J.K. Rowling and David Yates’ spin-off series did Harry Potter numbers, dominating the box office and dethroning Doctor Strange from its position at the top of the charts. The film’s success came at the expense of the other newcomers, with The Edge of Seventeen and Bleed For This both stumbling in the bottom half of the top 1