Box Office: ‘Abominable’ Eyes $20 Million Opening

Variety.com: “Abominable” is edging out its box office competition, following $5.69 million in Friday’s domestic ticket sales.

If estimates hold, the DreamWorks Animation and Pearl Studio’s co-production should take home around $20 million come Sunday — the biggest opening for an original animated film this year and only the third original film to open at No. 1 in the North American box office (Universal’s “Us” and “Good Boys” also opened in first place).

Written and directed by Jill Culton, “Abominable” follows Chinese teenage Yi who embarks on a journey to the Himalayas after discovering a lost Yeti named Everest on the roof of her apartment building. Chloe Bennet voices Yi alongside fellow cast members Joseph Izzo, Tenzing Norgay Trainor, Albert Tsai, Eddie Izzard, Sarah Paulson, Tsai Chin and Michelle Wong.

Coming in second place is last weekend’s winner “Downton Abbey,” which continues to hold strong in its sophomore outing with $4.3 million in Friday’s ticket sales. That should lead to another $14 million come Sunday, a 54 percent decrease from last weekend where the the feature film version of the popular British television show scored Focus Features biggest opening ever with $31 million.

STX Films’ “Hustlers” is opening in third with another $3.7 million from Friday as it heads toward an $11.6 million third weekend followed close behind by “Ad Astra” and “It: Chapter Two,” which are both eyeing a box office finish around $10 million.

Other newcomer, Roadside Attraction’s “Judy,” finished outside the top five, although the film opened in just 461 theaters, taking in $900,000 Friday for a projected $2.97 million come Sunday. “Judy” is also seeing some substantial Oscar buzz surrounding Renée Zellweger’s turn as the film’s titular Judy Garland. Rupert Goold directed the biopic which also stars Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell and Michael Gambon.