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'Jumanji' rules at the weekend box office, bumps 'Last Jedi'

Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson sat down with USA TODAY's Bryan Alexander and shared the inspiration behind his 'Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle' character, Dr. Smolder Bravestone, and how his own teenage past helped him master the role. USA TODAY

Move over, Star Wars, there are some new box office champs this weekend. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle has topped the charts after three weekends in theaters, and newcomer Insidious: The Final Key opened in second, pushing The Last Jedi into third place.

Columbia Pictures estimated Sunday that the Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart-led Jumanji earned an additional $36 million this weekend, bringing its total to $244.4 million.

"This is all about Jumanji's staying power," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for box office tracker comScore. "This is a movie that was overshadowed by all the excitement around The Last Jedi, and yet Jumanji just kept plugging away and drawing audiences throughout the holiday. ... This is kind of unheard of for a movie this size."

In second place is the horror film Insidious: The Final Key, the fourth in the franchise, which earned $29.3 million. The Universal and Blumhouse Pictures film even outperformed the third chapter in the series. That film launched to $22.7 million in June of 2015.

"We could not be more thrilled with that debut. It's a fantastic result," said Jim Orr, Universal's president of domestic distribution. "The release date worked in our favor. There hasn't been a similar film in a couple of months."

Young audiences drove the Insidious box office with 59% under the age of 25. Whether or not they enjoyed the film is another question: It got a scary B-minus CinemaScore.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi fell to third place with $23.6 million in its fourth weekend in theaters. The space blockbuster has grossed $572.5 million domestically to date.

Daisy Ridley as Rey in 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi.' (Photo: AP)

The Greatest Showman took fourth place with $13.8 million and Pitch Perfect 3rounded out the top five with $10.2 million.

Awards season films continue to expand throughout January, too, including Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut Molly's Game, which added more than 1,300 theaters this weekend and took in $7 million. Jessica Chastain stars as real life "poker princess" Molly Bloom.

The Winston Churchill film Darkest Hour starring Gary Oldman also added 790 theaters and took in $6.4 million.

The weekend was up around 18% from the same weekend last year, which Dergarabedian sees as a sign that perhaps the 2018 box office will be stronger and more steady than 2017.

"2017 was not consistent. It was volatile, it was a roller coaster," Dergarabedian said. "This sets the tone for what we're hoping is a consistent and strong 2018 box office."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Final domestic figures are expected Monday.

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, $36 million

2. Insidious: The Last Key, $29.3 million

3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, $23.6 million

4. The Greatest Showman, $13.8 million

5. Pitch Perfect 3, $10.2 million

6. Ferdinand, $7.7 million

7. Molly's Game, $7 million

8. Darkest Hour, $6.4 million

9. Coco, $5.5 million

10. All the Money in the World, $3.6 million

Source: USA Today:

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