‘Addams Family’ Climbs Box Office, but ‘Joker’ Stays on Top

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/13/movies/addams-family-box-office-joker.html

Version 0 of 2.

It was a good weekend for gloom.

Warner Bros. continued to rake in money with the grave supervillain origin story “Joker,” which topped the domestic box office Friday through Sunday with an estimated $55 million in ticket sales. The movie picked up an additional $123.7 million overseas this weekend according to the studio, bringing its worldwide cumulative tally to about $543.9 million after only its second weekend in theaters.

The R-rated “Joker,” which stars Joaquin Phoenix, also left room for the arrival of another, less violently somber movie (with similarly strong Halloween costume potential): “The Addams Family.” That animated film opened to about $30.3 million in ticket sales this weekend, landing it in second place, above prerelease expectations.

“The Addams Family,” distributed in the United States by United Artists Releasing, offers a new take on the macabre comics by Charles Addams. Following in the footsteps of past “Addams Family” adaptations, the computer-animated comedy begins its story with the wedding of Gomez (voiced in this version by Oscar Isaac) and Morticia (Charlize Theron). The plot involves the pair making their home in an abandoned asylum in New Jersey and, years later, confronting a planned-community development that encroaches on the family’s deliberately spooky surroundings. The voice cast also includes Allison Janney, Chloë Grace Moretz, Finn Wolfhard, Bette Midler and Snoop Dogg.

“The Addams Family” was a hit despite lackluster reviews: it currently holds a 44 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In his review for The New York Times, Ben Kenigsberg wrote that the movie “has just enough wit and weirdness to honor its source material.”

[Read our critic's review of “The Addams Family.”]

In third place was Paramount’s action thriller “Gemini Man,” which opened to around $20.5 million in domestic sales according to Comscore, which compiles box office data. That is a letdown given that the movie stars Will Smith, and was directed by Ang Lee. It also cost a reported $138 million to produce.

“Gemini Man” cast Smith as a retired sniper being hunted by his younger clone, whose appearance is achieved through digital effects. The movie currently holds a 26 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, an unenthusiastic critical response that might have veered audiences looking for star power and violent action toward “Joker,” which sits at 68 percent.

Rounding out the top five were Universal’s “Abominable,” which made around $6.2 million during its third weekend in theaters and “Downton Abbey,” distributed by Focus Features, which was in its fourth weekend and sold around $4.9 million in tickets. Lionsgate’s “Jexi,” a comedy starring Adam Devine that opened this weekend, landed further down the ranks with roughly $3.1 million in ticket sales.