Box Office: ‘Lady Bird,’ ‘Darkest Hour’ Lead Awards Contenders

Saoirse Ronan’s “Lady Bird” and Gary Oldman’s “Darkest Hour” are racking up the top cumulative performances at the domestic box office among awards-season contenders.

A24’s “Lady Bird” is pegged to take in $2 million at 652 sites during the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, raising its 11-week take to $37.2 million. The coming-of-age comedy won Golden Globes as best comedy or musical and for Ronan as best actress in a comedy or musical on Jan. 7. Writer-director Greta Gerwig received Directors Guild and Writers Guild nominations for the film this past week.

Focus Features’ eighth weekend of “Darkest Hour” will take in a projected $5.7 million at 1,693 venues this weekend for a 10th place finish, pushing its domestic total to $36.9 million. Oldman won the Golden Globe for best actor for his portrayal of Winston Churchill during his first weeks as prime minister in 1940.

Fox Searchlight’s 10th weekend of “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” generated $2.8 million at 1,022 sites this weekend to hike its domestic total to $29 million. The studio added 712 locations in the wake of a trio of Golden Globe wins for top drama, lead actress in a drama for Frances McDormand, and best supporting actor for Sam Rockwell, along with Martin McDonagh receiving a DGA nomination.

Searchlight’s seventh session of “The Shape of Water” pulled in $3.3 million at 723 venues this weekend, pushing the fantasy-drama’s total to $27 million. Guillermo del Toro won the Golden Globe for top director and received DGA and WGA nominations.

Fox’s “The Post” topped forecasts with $22.2 million at 2,819 locations for the Friday-Monday holiday weekend after expanding from 36 sites. The journalism drama has a total of $26.7 million. The National Board of Review named “The Post” the best film of 2017 with Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep winning the acting awards, and the Producers Guild nominated it as one of its top 11 films. It received six Golden Globes nominations, but was shut out and was denied nominations from the Directors Guild and Writers Guild.

Sony’s “All the Money in the World” continued to fade quickly at the domestic box office with$1.4 million at 1,408 locations for the four-day holiday weekend, bringing the domestic total to $23.2 million by Monday. The studio reduced its number of runs by more than 700 sites. “All the Money in the World” was shut out at the Golden Globes, where it came in with three nominations.

Source: variety.com