Box Office Briefing: 'Shut-In' Gets Shut-Out of an Otherwise Strong Weekend

Doctor Strange held on to the number one spot at the North American box office with an impressive hold. Dropping just 49.5% in its second weekend (the third-best second week hold of all the MCU features), the film brought in a total of $42 million. This brings it to a global total just shy of $500 million, meaning it is fast-approaching Ant-Man's lifetime gross after only three weeks of release. Don't be surprised to see a Doctor Strange sequel announcement in the coming months.

Meanwhile, Denis Villeneuve's thoughtful sci-fi feature Arrival also came out of the gates strong. The film, which stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, opened with $24 million. This is the highest debut for a Villeneuve picture to date (his previous work includes Sicario and Prisoners), while this is also a better-than-average opening for Amy Adams. Indeed, this is her biggest opening weekend since The Muppets which opened to $29 million back in 2011.

While Arrival had a healthy opening it still found itself settling for number three, thanks to a very impressive hold for Dreamworks' Trolls. While the critical reception for the film has been lukewarm at best, with a second week drop of just under 25%, it appears there is much audience interest in this film loosely based on the iconic toys of the 1980s.


Hacksaw Ridge and The Accountant also performed well in their second and fifth weekends respectively, while the low budget holiday-themed comedy Almost Christmas had a solid opening of $15 million. The only other wide release was Naomi Watts' Shut-In, which proved to be the weekends one sore spot. It pulled in just $3.6 million, proving to be another disappointment for Europa Corp following the summer's bizarre comedy Nine Lives.

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