There was probably not a better weekend to launch Roland Emmerich's World War II epic Midway across the pond than this one, featuring as it does the Veteran's Day holiday (and Remembrance Sunday here). Fighting off some decidedly negative reviews, the film scored a surprise win at the Stateside box office, besting Doctor Sleep with an estimated $17.5 million for the first three days.
Given the extra day for the holiday, Midway is expected to land around $20.5 million, exceeding industry tracking which had put it around $12-14 million. It's a big win for the director even if it might not go down in the history books as one of the best war movies ever made.
That meant that Mike Flanagan's latest horror, the Shining sequel/hybrid Stephen King adaptation had to make do with second place, though it still earned $14.1 million for the three days. That put it ahead of new John Cena comedy Playing With Fire, which launched third on $12.8 million, and Paul Feig's latest, as Last Christmas didn't seem to connect with the heart of audiences, who gave it away the very next day, leading to the festive rom-com's disappointing $11.6 million kick-off.
In fifth place, we find Terminator: Dark Fate, which continues to underperform, and made just $10.8 million in its second weekend. With a $48.4 million domestic total and worldwide earnings scraping to the $200 million mark, it remains a big disappointment.
Joker, which is the exact opposite of that, fell to sixth place, but still made $9.2 million after six weeks in the charts. Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil was seventh on $8 million, while Harriet Tubman dramaHarriet took $7.2 million at eighth.
Ninth was Zombieland: Double Tap, adding $4.3 million, ahead of The Addams Family, which rounded out the top 10 on $4.2 million.