Weekend Box Office: 'Moana' Holds Off 'Office Christmas Party'

The week's only new wide release didn't have much to celebrate this weekend, and last week's number-one movie took home the top honor again this week. The other significant movie news of the week involved a new movie in limited release that had a very impressive debut.

The R-rated comedy Office Christmas Party performed according to its studio's estimates but not as well as some industry observers had thought it might do. The film took in about $17.5 million for the weekend, falling a little bit short of predictions that had it earning closer to $20 million.

The animated Moana, which had been in the top spot for the past two weeks, stayed there this week, too, with earnings of $18.8 million. That was enough to edge past Office Christmas Party and stay well ahead of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which took third place with $10.8 million.

The weekend's biggest success was the musical La La Land, which opened in only five theaters in New York and Los Angeles and took in a record-setting $855,000. The film will expand into about 300 theaters next week and go into full-fledged wide release in January.

Also new next week will be Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which will end Moana's run at number-one.