A ”Bad” title has a good second weekend and a war epic continues an explosive run.

This January is running exactly according to plan; cast-off titles from studios are among the new releases that were easily ignored, as a hit film and an Oscar contender dominated the business, with some holiday holdovers continuing to also collect their share.

With little interest made by any new arrivals, it led to a windfall for those at the top. If it was not awards-worthy then the established hit films got the attention. To this point the month has been operating at +13% over last January and expected to end at least that much ahead.

1.  BAD BOYS FOR LIFE – $34.0 Million
A very strong second weekend beat expectations as there has been proven hunger for this reconstituted franchise. This is a strong hold of -45% and places the film already at $120 million, which makes it on pace to be the most successful of the franchise. It is now destined to become one of the most successful titles to be released in January, and by the end of the month it has the chance of beating the all-time record for the month, held by ‘’Paul Blart Mall Cop’’.

2.  1917 – $15.8m
The raved war epic is continuing to have an impressive run, and it will only help its chances at the Oscars in a couple of weeks. This one, and ‘’Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’’ feel like the two primary contenders for Best Picture, so given this is still in theaters and therefore on top of the mind of voters helps. So does director Sam Mendes winning for Best Feature at the Director’s Guild Awards this Saturday night. The healthy weekend return has now brought the film to become the second already to earn $100 million this year.

3.  DOLITTLE – $12.5m
After a very poor opening this family lark has managed to right itself, although only marginally. The MLK holiday, and a surprisingly strong Tuesday performance, has helped boost this one a bit, managing to double its opening weekend total and bringing it to $45 million. That said it is still a long way off to seeing profitability with a monstrous $175 million budget.

4.  THE GENTLEMEN – $11.03m
The highest debut of the weekend this Guy Ritchie action piece did not electrify the theaters. It was a slightly better than predicted return, but that is not to say it was impressive. It is a continuation of bad returns for STX Studios, a matter of bad timing with an unexpectedly strong ‘’Bad Boys’’ in the market.

5.  JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL – $7.9m
Gradually working its way to the $300 million level. Overseas it has earned over $450 million.

6.  THE TURNING – $7.06m
So far in this young year it has been a tough time for horror releases. ‘’The Grudge’’ has already faded from view, and ‘’Underwater’’ has dropped over 1,100 screens and dropped off the top-10 in just its third weekend. This release has been hammered by almost all who have seen it. It sports a dismal 13% on Rotten Tomatoes, the CinemaScore was graded as ‘’F’’, and PostTrack ratings were ½ star. Let’s just say people have hated it, and let it wander off…

7.  STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER – $5.173m
As this one has lagged well behind the main canon of films we have been tracking this final title along with the offshoot film ‘’Rogue One’’, and now it is starting to trail even that title. ‘’Rise’’ has made it to the $500 million mark, and $1 billion global, so it has managed to just be somewhat disappointing and avoid being deemed a disaster.

8.  LITTLE WOMEN – $4.7m
Definitely helped by the awards season attention this actually picked up 25 more screens after 5 weeks. It is looking to become the third movie to earn $100 million.

9.  JUST MERCY – $4.055m
The courtroom drama with Jaime Foxx has had an entirely calculated release; open in a handful of theaters before the year was up, garner a few awards nominations, go into wide release to maximize MLK Day, and see if you can generate interest. It has taken in a respectable $27 million.

10.  KNIVES OUT – $3.65m
The drama that just will not go away has now made it to $150 million.