EXCLUSIVE: German director Wim Wenders has scored his best box office performance in 15 years with Japan-set, comeback featurePerfect Days, according to collated figures released by sales agent The Match Factory.
The Tokyo-set drama, starring Japanese actor Koji Yakusho as man with a love of trees who mysteriously opts for a simply life by working as a toilet cleaner, premiered in Competition at Cannes last year where its star won Best Actor.
The movie, which is now on the nominee short-list in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Academy Awards, is currently playing theatrically in Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal and the Baltics.
It enjoyed a strong opening in Germany on December 21 by Berlin-based distributor DCM, achieving 19,859 admissions for a $209,014 (€190,611) gross in its first week. It has since racked up a total of 171,298 admissions for a $1.8M (€1.64M) gross.
In France, where the film is in its seventh week on release for Haut et Court, it has sold 356,109 tickets for a $2.8M (€2.57M) gross.
The film also looks set for a successful run in Italy where it opened for Lucky Red on January 4, ranking no. 2 in the charts, and has since racked up 142.007 admissions for a $1m (€962,450) gross.
“Although not all territories are out, the worldwide box office Perfect Days is $8,566,110,” announced The Match Factory in a note on the film’s box office performance.
“These numbers surpass the box office results of Wim Wenders’ feature films in the last fifteen years and mark a historical comeback of the director of Wings Of Desire and Paris, Texas,” it added, referring to his 1987 Cannes Best Director winner and 1984 Palme d’Or victor respectively.
Perfect Days opens in Spain and Sweden this weekend and is also set to launch theatrically in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, UK & Ireland, Latin America, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand in the coming weeks.
Further theatrical launches are expected across 2024 given that the film sold out for The Match Factory in the wake of its buzzy Cannes premiere..
Neon is bringing the film to U.S. theaters on February 7, 2024.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire will stomp into theaters two weeks earlier than expected, Legendary and Warner Bros. announced Tuesday.
The fifth installment in their MonsterVerse series will now open March 29 instead of April 12.
Godzilla x Kong is taking the date previously occupied by Academy Award-winning director Bong Joon-Ho‘s Mickey 17, whose release is being delayed due to post-strike production shifts. A new date is expected to be announced soon for the feature. (The shift was not exactly a surprise, as there has not been a trailer for the film yet.)
The latest feature film entry in Warner Bros./Legendary Entertainment‘s MonsterVerse follows the events of Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), where fans got to see the two apex kaijus finally fight for supremacy. A trailer for the film showsGodzilla x Kong delving deeper into the mysteries of the Hollow Earth and the reveal of a Titan menace that will necessitate the alliance of Godzilla and Kong.
Godzilla vs. Kong filmmaker Adam Wingard is back in the director’s chair, and reunites with returning castmembers Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Kaylee Hottle. Dan Stevens joins the franchise as a lead in The New Empire.
The franchise also includes Godzilla (2014), Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019). There have also been two television entries in the franchise, the anime series Skull Island (2023) released on Netflix, and the live-action series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) released on Apple TV+.
Based on Edward Ashton’s novel of the same name, Mickey 17 stars Robert Pattinson, Steven Yeun, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette and Mark Ruffalo. Bong penned the adapted script based on the book Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton.
The book, published in early 2022, centers on a man known as an expendable on a mission to colonize a distant planet. Each colony features one crew member who takes on the most dangerous jobs on the mission — jobs that will assuredly lead to their deaths. However, their memories are backed up and they are restored to cloned bodies when they die.
Fish out of water comedy film “Jonny Keep Walking” climbed to the top of the mainland Chinabox office in its second weekend on release. Previous winner, “Shining for One Thing” dimmed quickly and tumbled to fifth place.
The first weekend of the new year and following a welter of Christmas-New Year releases, the latest weekend represented a reordering of holdover titles, rather than a session with an injection of significant fresh movies.
“Jonny,” in which a man from the countryside struggles to hold down a corporate job in a big city, earned $22.4 million (RMB159 million) from Friday to Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was a modest fall from the film’s $26.1 million opening frame and elevated its cumulative total to $77.5 million since debuting on Dec. 29.
The film is directed by Peng Da, aka Dong Pengcheng, the prolific actor-writer-director who released two other films in 2023: “Post Truth” and “One and Only.”
In second place over the latest weekend was “The Goldfinger,” which earned $8.5 million. Starring Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu-wai, the film is a throwback to the Hong Kong crime-action-drama genre of the early 2000s and represents the two stars’ first on-screen reunion since the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy. Having released on Dec. 30, “Th eGoldfinger” now has a cumulative total of $45.9 million. (On its first weekend it earned $22 million and placed fourth.)
Third spot belonged to “I Did It My Way,” another crime actioner from Hong Kong, with Andy Lau this time facing off against Eddie Peng. It earned $5.6 million over the weekend, for a running total of $31.4 million since release on Dec. 29.
Wanda Pictures and Alibaba Pictures pre-Christmas release “Endless Journey” took fourth place with $3.7 million over the weekend. Apparently based on real events, the film recounts how a disgraced former detective hunts down criminals as a private citizen. Its cumulative now stands at $87.5 million.
In fifth, “Shining for One Thing” registered $3.5 million. That represents a collapse from its $77.7 million debut weekend. Still, the film now has a cumulative of $92.7 million since releasing on Dec. 30.
Outside the top five, “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” was the top imported title. It now has a cumulative of RMB390 million ($54.5 million) according to ticketing agency Maoyan.
One notch lower, but still performing strongly “Taylor Swift The Eras Tour” now has a cumulative of RMB67.7 million ($9.5 million), according to Maoyan. Giant screen company, Imax reports that “Eras” has earned $4.3 million at its mainland Chinese venues, or 45% of its box office total in the territory.
One out of every five moviegoers has vanished since the pandemic, according to research compiled by one Hollywood studio. Whether they’ll ever return to see a film on the big screen is anyone’s guess — and, if they do, when.
It’s an alarming stat that offers some explanation as to why the box office turned on its head in 2023, leaving the film industry bewildered and befuddled. Superhero fare — the genre that helped prop up the business for well over a decade — no longer got a free pass as megabudget pics bombed, including The Flash and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, both from DC, and Marvel Studios’ The Marvels.
“Audiences’ tastes are changing, and it feels like they want more challenging fare,” says chief Comscore box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian.
The existential crisis settled in for the long term when a pair of fresh, original summer movies — Barbie and Oppenheimer — outwitted everyone and transformed into the cultural phenomenon known as Barbenheimer. While Barbie is based on known IP, there were no guarantees that filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s fresh and irreverent take would work. Barbie is the first female-led, live-action movie to top the yearly global and domestic box office chart in modern times, with more than $1.44 billion in worldwide ticket sales, while Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer ranks third on the year’s top global earners with $952 million, a record for a biopic. The two movies made up nearly 10 percent of all domestic ticket sales, and nearly 29 percent of the top 10 grossing films, according to Comscore.
Around the same time as Barbenheimer, the conservative-skewing movie Sound of Freedom took off at the box office with virtually no warning and did more business domestically — $184.2 million — than tried-and-true franchise installments Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($174.5 million) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One ($172 million). And in mid-October, Taylor Swift became another box office unicorn when her concert pic, The Eras Tour, grossed $179.6 million domestically and $250.3 million globally against a minuscule $15 million budget. Moreover, she bypassed Hollywood studios and instead asked AMC Theatres to distribute the film.
The family marketplace also remained incredibly fragile post-pandemic, particularly for original animated fare, such as Disney’s Wish or Illumination/Universal’s Migration. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, another Illumination/Universal title that’s based on the beloved video game, was a major exception to the animation downturn. Superhero fatigue and animation woes leave a void that no one is quite sure how to fill.
“Everything is so lopsided,” says Wall Street analyst Rich Greenfield of LightShed Ventures. “The number of big-budget movies in 2023 that didn’t make money felt like an all-time high. Consumer interest in moviegoing has been permanently altered. The question is, can theaters survive another horrific year?”
Notes a top studio executive: “We are definitely going through an evolution, and we can’t just keep cranking out the same old franchise fare. We have to do better. The ways we did things for decades don’t work anymore; now you have to hit the bull’s-eye or get close to it. And a lot of that has to do with the abundance of streaming product. When there’s a multitude of options for audiences to watch at home, there had better be a special reason to go to the theater.”
Some Wall Street analysts are confident the box office can weather the year’s changes, as well as a potentially tough 2024 with a lean release calendar because of strike-related delays. “We do believe the industry can overcome its near-term hurdles and should be well positioned for improved results in 2025-26,” says Eric Handler of Roth MKM Partners.
Observers also note that domestic revenue was ultimately able to cross $9 billion in 2023 for the first time since the pandemic thanks to a diverse Christmas menu and better-than-expected performances from films including The Color Purple, Wonka and The Boys in the Boat. The tally isn’t entirely official yet, but Comscore is estimating a domestic haul of $9.05 billion, a 21 percent gain over 2022. However, that’s still down roughly 21 percent from 2019, the last year before the pandemic.
“The sure bets are no longer sure bets,” says Dergarabedian. “We’re living in a parallel universe.”
Asteroid City
Courtesy of Pop/87 Productions/Focus Features
The traditional platform release for art house pics is once again showing signs of life — but with a twist.
In the heyday of the indie film boom, a platform release could allow a film to grow its footprint in cinemas over the course of many months without having to spend a fortune on advertising. Such a run usually begins in New York and Los Angeles; if a film is lucky, it will end up playing nationwide. But the traditional platform release was decimated by the pandemic, and streaming didn’t help either.
And yet the tactic is back, with a twist. After sending Wes Anderson’s new movie to the Cannes Film Festival in May, Focus chose to release Asteroid City in six theaters mid-June. The film scored an opening weekend average of $132,111 — the best showing since La La Land seven years earlier (this factoid made for many a headline). The next weekend, Focus expanded Asteroid City nationwide, or into more than 1,620 locations, in part because Focus wanted the title to be fresh in the minds of consumers when becoming available to rent on premium VOD after only three weeks.
A24, Searchlight and Neon are just a few of the other indie distributors playing around with a similar hybrid platform model whereby they go wide fairly quickly after starting off in only a handful of cinemas. For A24, it worked with Priscilla, while The Holdovers has done nicely by Focus.
“The one that brought back a lot of confidence for me was Asteroid City because it showed you can still do a movie like this theatrically,” says Focus chief of distribution Lisa Bunnell. “We are seeing a stronger marketplace now for specialty film, and I think you’re starting to get younger folks coming to the movies to see specialty film. It’s not just the established art crowd showing up now.”
MGM/Amazon theatrical distribution chief Kevin Wilson concurs. His 2023 slate included such platform releases as Saltburn and Bottoms (he’s also handling the specialty pic The Boys in the Boat, which did far better than expected when opening nationwide over Christmas). “I do think the adult audience is starting to come back to theaters in earnest. And I also think there’s a young cinephile audience out there that’s paying attention to movies like Saltburn or Poor Things [Searchlight] or Bottoms. It’s exciting to get this young audience excited about going to the movies for smaller films.”
After seven years, the Mouse House was dethroned by the Donna Langley-led studio in a close race for total receipts
Universal’s film empire is taking a bow after placing No. 1 in market share at the 2023 global box office, a feat no studio has been able to pull off since Disney rose to dominance in 2016.
The 24 movies released by Universal generated an estimated $4.91 billion in worldwide ticket sales, compared to an estimated $4.83 billion from the 17 titles released by Disney in what made for a relatively close race both in North America and at the foreign box office. Warner Bros. — home of Barbie, the year’s top earner with $1.44 billion in worldwide ticket sales — was No. 3 in global market share with $3.84 billion, including $1.43 billion domestically and $2.4 billion overseas. Sony came in No. 4 with $2.09 billion globally, including an early domestic estimate of $1.01 billion and $1.08 overseas.
The transfer of power is a big win for Donna Langley, who is chairman of NBCUniversal Studio Group and chief content officer. She is known for her close ties to top filmmakers, and had the necessary skills and standing to lure Christopher Nolan into the Universal fold when he grew dissatisfied with Warners after it announced plans to release its 2021 slate day-and-date on streaming. From 2016 to 2022, Disney placed first in global market share (it lost the domestic race to Sony in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 box office collapse). Universal hasn’t ranked No. 1 on a global basis since 2015, when its revenue reached $6.9 billion, but has consistently ranked high up on the market share chart. “In 2023, Universal once again found success at the box office with our eclectic slate of films,” says Jim Orr, president of domestic distribution.
Ceding the crown to Universal caps a difficult year for Disney, one in which Marvel and its animation studios stumbled badly. “Being the No. 1 studio globally for seven consecutive years out of the last eight is pretty remarkable by any measure and is something of which we are all incredibly proud,” says Tony Chambers, Disney’s chief of global distribution.
Elsewhere, Lionsgate had a notable milestone to celebrate in that its movies generated north of $1 billion in global ticket sales for the first time in five years thanks to the successful runs of John Wick: Chapter 4, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and the latest Saw franchise, among other titles. John Wick was a standout in particular, earning $440.1 million worldwide and north of $187 million domestically, the ninth-best showing of the year.
“The good news is that if the audience feels like there’s something fresh or exciting, they still love seeing movies in movie theaters,” says Lionsgate Motion Picture Group’s vice chair, Adam Fogelson. “There are definitely genres that are more challenged now than they have ever been, and that’s an issue. Whether a short-term trend or a long-term reality, it’s definitely going to require everyone to be hypervigilant about what we decide to make and at what price point.”
A version of this story appeared in the Jan. 4 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
Sources YouTube: IGN Movie Trailers, Miss Americana and You Guys
The human trafficking movie Sound Of Freedom, which was previously praised by the former President Donald Trump, managed to knock Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour from the top ten domestic box office for 2023 despite not having the backing of mainstream Hollywood.
Sound Of Freedom Takes Top 10 Spot From Swift
The Washington Examiner reported that after earning over $184 million in North America, Sound of Freedom took the final spot in the top ten films to earn the most at the domestic box office for 2023. This knocked Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, which only earned just under $180 million, out of the top ten for the year.
Despite not having the support of the liberal world of Hollywood, Sound of Freedom became the surprise hit of the summer after it was released on July 4 of last year. Distributed by Angel Studios, the movie tells the true story of Tim Ballard, the former Homeland Security agent who quit his job to devote himself to stopping child sex trafficking
“The vast majority of tickets are being bought by human, everyday people in a normal purchase flow,” Jared Geesey, Angel Studios senior VP of global distribution, told The Hollywood Reporter back in August.
Producer Eduardo Verastegui previously told Fox News that it took him over eight years to get this movie made, and that he put his own life on hold during that time to make it happen.
“I put my life in this movie because this movie is bigger than ourselves,” Verastegui explained.
“I was praying to God for an angel to come and rescue this film,” he added. “And what are the odds that from all the studios, the one that picked this movie is called Angel Studios?”
Trump praised Sound Of Freedom after hosting a screening of the movie last summer.
“I hope you enjoyed it. It’s something I’m not sure if you’re supposed to enjoy or learn — it’s a combination. But that was a great movie,” Trump said afterwards. “Now I understand why it’s doing so well.”
Addressing the film’s star Jim Caviezel, Trump added, “it was an honor getting to know you.”
“I hope everyone had a fantastic time,” the former president concluded. “It’s an incredible inspiration.”
Watch Trump’s full comments that he made about the film in the video below.
While Sound of Freedom has found success as one of the few movies that conservatives can enjoy, the singer Taylor Swift has outed herself as being a radically liberal member of the elite in recent years. Back in 2020, she accused then-President Donald Trump of trying to “blatantly cheat” to win the election.
“Donald Trump’s ineffective leadership gravely worsened the crisis that we are in, and he is now taking advantage of it to subvert and destroy our right to vote and vote safely. Request a ballot early. Vote early,” she said at the time, according to Fox News. “We will vote you out in November.”
In honor of Taylor Swift being named Time’s Person of the Year, let’s revisit the time she took a stand against Donald Trump, Marsha Blackburn, and all of the terrible things they stood for.pic.twitter.com/0lEvPOlDIG
The success of Sound Of Freedom just goes to show what kind of movies audiences really want to see right now. Had Swift not shamelessly caved to the radical left with her politics, perhaps her movie would have ended the year on the domestic box office top ten list.
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An Ivy leaguer, proud conservative millennial, history lover, writer, and lifelong New Englander, James specializes in the intersection of culture and politics.
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Domestic box office revenue was able to clear $9 billion after all, despite a dismal fall season at the multiplex, according to Comscore. That’s the best showing of the post-pandemic era, with revenue in U.S. and Canada up 20 percent over 2022’s $7.5 billion.
But movie ticket sales are still down sharply from pre-pandemic times, when domestic revenue crossed $10 billion every year beginning in 2009 and $11 billion every year beginning in 2015 and ending in 2019, the last year before COVID-19 struck. Comscore believes 2023 domestic revenue will come in at $9.03 billion-$9.05 billion for 2023, a drop of roughly 21 percent from 2019’s $11.4 billion.
In terms of box office trends, 2023 will be remembered as a year of enormous change as audiences spurned tried-and-true staples, such as superhero fare — The Marvels was the biggest stumble in the history of Marvel Studios — and instead embraced originality or genres that had previously struggled.
The marquee example of the new world order was the Barbenheimer phenomenon. The one-two-punch of filmmaker Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie and Universal‘s Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan, saw box office revenue for July and August reach pre-pandemic levels.
“Another box office target was set and hit in 2023 as the domestic year surpassed the $9 billion threshold, owing much to a notable Barbenheimer-powered $4 billion summer movie season and a unique year in which alternative content, specialized film and international cinema made their mark in an unprecedented show of strength adding to the bottom line,” says Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian.
He’s referring to such films as Angel Studios’ hit indie pic Sound of Freedom, which drew much of its strength from faith-based and conservative audiences. The pic came out of nowhere to earn $184.1 million domestically, putting it at No. 10 on the list of top-grossing 2023 movies.
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour was another unicorn. The superstar pop singer decided to bypass the Hollywood studio system and bring her concert pic directly to cinemas via a deal with AMC Theatres. In an unimaginable feat, Eras Tour earned $179.6 million domestically to land at No. 11 on the top 20 list, ahead of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny ($174.5 million) and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 ($172.1 million).
Barbie, from Warner Bros., was far-and-away the year’s biggest earner and the only film to cross the $600 million threshold domestically on its way to topping out at $636.2 million. It was also the No. 1 pic globally after strutting to $1.44 billion.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in the spring, was the year’s first major surprise. It earned $574.9 million domestically and $1.36 billion globally to become the top-grossing video game adaptation of all time in a huge win for Universal.
There was more good news in store for Universal, culminating with the studio ending Disney‘s long-running winning streak and narrowly winning the domestic marketshare race with an estimated $1.94 billion in ticket sales between Jan. 1-Dec. 21, 2023, according to unofficial estimates. (Universal may also be first in global marketshare after Disney had ranked No. 1 for seven consecutive years).
Disney’s 2023 domestic revenue was an estimated $1.9 billion, although final numbers for all of the studios won’t be revealed until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Among other 2023 Universal titles, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer — an adult-skewing biographical drama running just over three hours — earned an eye-popping $326 million domestically and $952 million globally, while Fast X grossed $704.9 million worldwide (it was soft in North America but did well internationally).
Back on the chart of top-grossing films domestically, Sony’s Spider-Man: Across the Universe placed No. 3 ($381.3 million), followed by Disney and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($359 million). Disney also took spots No. 6 and No. 7. with The Little Mermaid ($298.1 million) and Avatar: The Way of Water, which, while released at the end of 2022, raked in $283.1 million in 2023.
Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4 ranked No. 9 on the top 10 list domestically with $187.1 million in ticket sales.
If Hollywood execs aren’t exactly setting off fireworks over 2023, it’s because they’re bracing for a tumultuous ride at the 2024 domestic box office after a slew of high-profile tentpoles were pushed to 2025 because of the lengthy writers and actors strikes.
In a major blow to the post-pandemic recovery effort, domestic box office revenue in 2024 could come in behind that of 2023. If projections are right, domestic box office in 2024 could top out at $7.5 billion to $8 billion, say multiple studio executives who spoke with The Hollywood Reporter(a few are more bullish in thinking $8 billion to $8.5 billion is possible).
Wonka is winning the long New Year’s weekend box office race as a tumultuous 2023 comes to a close.
The Warner Bros. origin pic — starring Timothée Chalamet as young candymaker Willy Wonka — is on course to gross $31.8 million for the four-day holiday weekend, putting its domestic tally at a sweet $142.5 million through Monday. And it wasn’t the only musical from Warners to hit the right note. The Color Purple, produced by Oprah and Steven Spielberg, has been doing better-than-expected business since opening on Dec. 25, and placed No. 4 on the New Year’s weekend chart with an estimated $17.7 million for the four days. The film’s estimated domestic tally through Monday is an impressive $50 million.
Two weeks ago, box office pundits weren’t sure whether domestic revenue could clear $9 billion after a brutal fall season. But thanks in particular to mid-range and smaller films that overperformed over Christmas, revenue was able to eke past $9 billion in a post-pandemic era first. That marks a 20 percent gain over 2022. The bummer: Revenue is still down 20 percent to 21 percent from 2019, the last year before the COVID-19 crisis.
Wonka, which launched in mid-December, emerged as this year’s Christmas box office winner when Warners’ very own Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sunk in its box office debut over the Dec. 22-25 weekend and failed to recover in a meaningful way even though it stayed high up on the chart. The DC superhero sequel is looking at a No. 2 finish over New Year’s weekend with an estimated Friday-Monday gross of $26.3 million.
That would put Aquaman 2‘s domestic tally through Monday at a lackluster $84.7 million — compared to $215.4 million earned by the first Aquaman through New Year’s Day over the year-end holidays in 2018. Both films were directed by James Wan and star Jason Momoa in the titular role.
After a sluggish start over Christmas weekend, Illumination and Universal’s Migration held in steadily for an estimated domestic total of $59.4 million through New Year’s Day after placing No. 3 for the long weekend with a four-day gross of $22.3 million. Its domestic total is ahead of the $55 million earned over the 2022 year-end holidays by Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, which topped out with a strong $186.1 million domestically. Globally, Migration has earned $100 million (it’s been soft overseas).
The Color Purple, from Warners and Amblin, got off to a dazzling start Christmas Day with $18 million, the second-best opening ever for a film launching Dec. 25 and the best since 2009, not adjusted for inflation.
Wonka and The Color Purple appear to reverse the musical curse of recent times, and their success is good news for Paramount’s upcoming Mean Girls and Universal’s 2024 Christmas event pic Wicked.
The troubled rom-com genre also got a boost with Sony’s edgy holiday entry Anyone but You, which rounded out the top five with an estimated $11.5 million for the four days to push its domestic tally to $27.6 million.
MGM and Amazon’s George Clooney-directed The Boys in the Boat followed at No. 6 on the four-day holiday chart with $11 million for an estimated domestic total of $24.6 million through Monday.
A24’s wrestling dramaThe Iron Claw placed No. 7 with an estimated $6.9 million for the four days. The Zac Efron-led pic’s cume through Monday is a pleasing $18.2 million.
Neon’s Ferrari placed No. 8 over New Year’s weekend with an estimated $5.2 million for the four days for an early domestic tally of $12.1 million. Like The Color Purple and Boys in the Boat, Ferrari opened Christmas Day.
The 2024 box office isn’t looking good. Due to a lack of major blockbuster movies next year, it is estimated the box office could lose billions.
The box office already had a rough year in 2023. While some films like Barbie and Oppenheimer prevailed, there were multiple surprising box office flops from Disney, Marvel, and DC. Many factors played into the box office struggles, including franchise and superhero fatigue and the fact that theaters have been contending with streamers since the pandemic. However, another major factor in box office performance was the dual strikes from the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Actors and writers were forced to strike over the summer because studios refused to adequately compensate them or protect their jobs from AI.
Since studios dragged their feet during negotiations, the actors’ strike didn’t conclude until November. During the months that the strikes lasted, multiple projects got delayed into the following year, including some that would’ve been major box office players, like Dune: Part Two. The strikes also impacted promotions and advertising for the films that did premiere, further driving down box office numbers. In total, it is estimated that the box office gross at the end of 2023 will be around $8.8 to $8.9 billion, despite earlier predictions that it would surpass $9 or even $10 billion. However, this disappointment pales in comparison to what might be in store for the 2024 box office.
2024 box office estimated to lose at least $1 billion
While the 2023 box office is very close to reaching $9 billion, according to a report by Deadline, the 2024 box office gross is estimated to top off at just around $8 billion. Hence, it’s expected to see a staggering loss of $1 billion, an 11% decrease. This is just an estimate, so the final results could be better—or they could be even worse. The problem with next year’s box office is actually quite simple: there just aren’t a whole lot of movies coming out.
While 2023 boasted 124 movies with wide releases, 2024 only has 107 lined up. There are going to be six weekends next year that completely lack major theatrical releases. The beginning of the year will be especially bare, with only 30 wide releases slated between January and April compared to the 44 wide releases in 2023. In addition to fewer movies, the fear of disinterest continues to build. Granted, there are a few major releases that could make up for the losses, especially with Deadpool 3, Joker: Folie à Deux, Dune: Part Two, Inside Out 2, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga on the horizon.
However, even without looking at the hard numbers, the lack of movies is fairly noticeable. While the MCU had three films premiere this year, Deadpool 3 will be the lone MCU film released in 2024. Similarly, after three releases this year, the DCU will release no films next year. Some of the most highly anticipated 2024 films, like Avatar 3 and Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, are no longer on the 2024 slate due to delays. If viewers can already feel the lack of films next year, the box office will surely feel it more significantly.
At the same time, responsibility for the anticipated losses will fall squarely on the studios. The lack of films next year is a direct result of the dual strikes this year. Even though the strikes concluded, Hollywood will be experiencing the aftershock for quite some time. The industry can’t just shut down for months and somehow still maintain its output and profits. It’s difficult to imagine that the studios didn’t foresee this issue, making it all the more frustrating that they allowed the strikes to go on for so long. Both moviegoers and the industry will feel the toll of the lack of movies next year, and it’s something that could’ve been avoided if Hollywood had simply fairly compensated its workers.
The musical — whose producers include Oprah and Steven Spielberg — opened to $18.1 million from 3,142 theaters on Monday, the second best showing ever for a movie opening on Christmas Day and the best since 2009. Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks and Colman Domingo star in Blitz Bazawule’s retelling of the beloved Alice Walker novel, adapted from the Tony-winning Broadway show.
The record-holder for biggest Christmas Day opening belongs to 2009’s Sherlock Holmes ($24.6 million), not adjusted for inflation.
The George Clooney-directed The Boys in the Boat, another film opening on Christmas Day, also did notably better than expected with $5.7 million from 2,557 locations. The MGM and Amazon adult drama, starring Joel Edgerton and Callum Turner, joined The Color Purple in earning an A CinemaScore. Michael Mann’s Ferrari, also opening on Dec. 25, earned $2.9 million from 2,330 sites after receiving B CinemaScore.
While The Color Purple easily trounced James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom‘s Monday gross of $10.6 million, Aquaman 2 is the overall winner of the long Christmas weekend with a four-day opening of $38.3 million from 3,706 theaters domestically. But the superhero sequel — which was also slapped with a meh B CinemaScore — doesn’t have much to crow about after posting one of the lowest starts in the history of the DC Cinematic Universe. The Jason Momoa-led superhero sequel fared better overseas with $80.1 million from 72 markets, with the largest chunk, or $30.4 million, coming from China.
In 2018, the first Aquaman was the king of the year-end holiday when swimming to a three-day opening of $67.9 million over the Dec. 21-23 weekend. Through Christmas Day, which fell on a Tuesday that year, its domestic tally was a rousing $105.4 million (it earned $22 million on Dec. 25). The movie went on to earn $335.1 million domestically and $1.15 billion globally, the best showing ever for a DCEU title, not adjusted for inflation.
Wan’s movie lends further credence to the superhero fatigue theory. Aquaman 2‘s opening trails the recent $46.1 million start of box office debacle The Marvels from rival Marvel Studios.
This year’s Christmas box office feast was a mixed blessing. Revenue for the four-day weekend was up 11 percent over the same stretch in 2022, but down 46 percent from 2019, which is considered a key pre-pandemic benchmark. And revenue for the three-day weekend (Dec. 22-24) was up 1 percent over 2022, but down 62 percent behind 2022. Making year-over-year comparisons can be tricky when it comes to the year-end holiday, since Dec. 25 is a moving target.
Warners definitely dominated this year’s holiday marquee, between Aquaman 2, Wonka (also a musical), and The Color Purple.
Wonka, which opened the weekend before the holiday, placed No. 2 on the four-day holiday chart with a take of $28.4 million from 4,213 sites for a domestic cume of $85.9 million. The Timothée Chalamet-led movie is dazzling overseas, where it has earned $171.3 million to date, for a global tally of $257.2 million through Monday. Wonka and Color Purple are proving that musicals may not be an endangered species after all, and it’s no small feat that The Color Purple placed No. 3 on the holiday chart considering it played just one day.
Coming in No. 4 on the four-day chart was Illumination and Universal’s animated family pic Migration. The tentpole is reporting a four-day opening of $17.5 million, the lowest start in Illumination’s history. The movie is doing muted business so far overseas, for a projected foreign tally of $22 million from 43 markets through Sunday.
The final verdict on Migration won’t be rendered until New Year’s weekend, as there is no more lucrative stretch of the movie going year than the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Still, Disney was skewered when Wish posted a five-day start of $32.5 million over Thanksgiving last month.
As with the superhero genre, there is concern across Hollywood about the animated theatrical marketplace.
Columbia/Sony’s edgy romantic-comedy Anyone But You unwrapped a fifth-place finish with an estimated $8 million from 3,055 theaters for the four days. The new pic, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, earned a B+ CinemaScore. (No studio likes anything other than some variation of an A grade for most movies.)
Females made up nearly 80 percent of all patrons buying tickets to see Anyone But You, while males made up at least 66 percent of A24’s Zac Efron-led wrestling drama The Iron Claw, which placed No. 6 with a better-than-expected $6.8 million from 2,774 cinemas.
At the specialty box office, Searchlight Pictures opened Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed All of Us Strangers in four locations in New York and Los Angeles. The awards contender is looking at an estimated location average of $36,000 for four days, the highest of any film on the Christmas weekend chart.
Christmas revenue at the domestic box office is running behind 2022, a sobering stat as Hollywood studios and theater owners prepare to ring out a topsy-turvy year.
As it stands now, combined ticket sales in North America for the marquee holiday weekend (Dec. 22-Dec. 25) are down 7 percent from last year, although the gap could close somewhat if traffic picks up in earnest on Christmas afternoon once presents are unwrapped. (Studios never like it when Dec. 25 falls on a Monday, since many consumers use the weekend to finish final yuletide preparations.)
Either way, James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is headed for one of the lowest starts in the history of the DC Cinematic Universe with a projected four-day domestic gross of $38 million to $40 million, including $27 million to $28 million for the three days (numbers will be updated Monday morning.) The good news: It can still claim a No. 1 finish. Overseas, it took in $80.1 million from 72 markets — including a promising $30.4 million in China, where it turned in the biggest start of the year for a Hollywood superhero pic.
The big-budget tentpole, reteaming Wan and star Jason Momoa, has been largely rebuked by critics and only earned a B CinemaScore from audiences. The sequel, which faced a troubled road to the big screen, marks the end of an era as new DC chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran are set to reboot the DC Universe with 2025’s Superman: Legacy. (Momoa himself has all but said there won’t be an Aquaman threequel.)
In 2018, the first Aquaman was the king of the year-end holiday when swimming to a three-day opening of $67.9 million over the Dec. 21-23 weekend. Through Christmas Day — a Tuesday that year — its domestic tally was a rousing $105.4 million (that included several million in special sneak peeks the previous weekend). The movie went on to earn $335.1 million domestically and $1.15 billion globally, the best showing ever for a DCEU title, not adjusted for inflation.
Wan’s movie lends further credence to the superhero fatigue theory. Even the most ardent fanboys are weary. Aquaman 2 is also trailing the recent $46.1 million opening of box office debacle The Marvels from rival Marvel Studios.
A slew of other films also opened Friday, and the Warners empire is feeling particularly giving. The studio has no fewer than three year-end holiday event movies: Aquaman2; Wonka, which opened last weekend; and The Color Purple. It’s a daring feat, to say the least, as the latter two are musicals. (Like The Color People, several other holiday titles waited until Monday to unfurl, including The Boys in the Boat and Ferrari.)
In yet another test of the appetite for theatrical animated fare, and especially original stories, Illumination and Universal are contributing Migration to the holiday mix for families.
The animated tentpole, which earned an A CinemaScore, is expected to earn $12.5 million for the weekend proper from 3,761 theaters and $17.2 million for the four days, ahead of what some tracking services had predicted but still the lowest start in the history of Illumination, not adjusting for inflation. The movie is doing muted business so far overseas, for a projected foreign tally of $22 million from 43 markets through Sunday.
The final verdict on Migration won’t be rendered until New Year’s weekend, as there is no more lucrative stretch of the movie going year than the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
Migration is looking at a No. 3 weekend finish behind Aquaman and Wonka. Starring Timothée Chalamet, Wonka is on course to earn an estimated $28 million.
Columbia/Sony’s edgy romantic-comedy Anyone but You is unwrapping a fourth-place finish with an estimated $8 million from 3,055 theaters for the four days. The new pic, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, earned a B+ CinemaScore. (No studio likes anything other than some variation of an A grade for most movies.)
Females make up nearly 80 percent of all patrons buying tickets to see the rom-com, while males make up at least 66 percent of A24’s Zac Efron-led wrestling family drama The Iron Claw, another title on the Christmas marquee movie. Iron Claw is pacing to open to $6.1 million, also slightly ahead of tracking.
At the specialty box office, Searchlight Pictures opened Andrew Haigh’s acclaimed All of Us Strangers in four locations in New York and Los Angeles. The awards contender is looking at an estimated location average of $43,000 for four days, one of the best averages of the year.
Final numbers for the four-day weekend will be released on Tuesday.
Dec. 24, 8 a.m.: Updated with revised weekend estimates. Dec. 24 8:10 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published on Dec. 23 at 8:23 a.m.
DC’s James Wan’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is headed for one of the lowest starts in the history of the DC Cinematic Universe with a projected four-day Christmas weekend gross in the $40 million to $45 million range. The good news: It can still claim a No. 1 finish and is faring slightly better than leading tracking services had predicted.
The movie earned an estimated $13.7 million Friday from 3,706 theaters, including $4.5 million in Thursday previews. Hollywood studios are never happy when Christmas Day falls on a Monday since the weekend box office has to compete with final Christmas preparations, including travel and gift buying.
However, Aquaman 2 has larger issues than just that. The big-budget tentpole, reteaming Wan and star Jason Momoa, has been largely rebuked by critics and only earned a B CinemaScore from audiences. The sequel, which faced a troubled road to the big screen, marks the end of an era as new DC chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran reboot the DC Universe with 2025’s Superman: Legacy. (Momoa himself has all but said there won’t be an Aquaman threequel.)
In 2018, the first Aquaman was the king of the year-end holiday when swimming to a three-day opening of $67.9 million over the Dec. 21-23 weekend. Through Christmas Day — a Tuesday that year — its domestic tally was a rousing $105.4 million (that included several million in special sneak peeks the previous weekend). The movie went on to earn $335.1 million domestically and $1.15 billion globally, the best showing ever for a DCEU title, not adjusted for inflation.
Wan’s movie lends further credence to the superhero fatigue theory. Even the most ardent fanboys are weary. Aquaman 2 is also trailing the recent $46.1 million opening of box office debacle The Marvels, from rival Marvel Studios.
A slew of other films also opened Friday. Warners has no fewer than three year-end holiday event movies — Aquaman, Wonka, which opened last weekend, and The Color Purple — a daring feat (to boot, two are musicals).
In yet another test of the appetite for theatrical animated fare, and especially original stories, Illumination and Universal are contributing Migration to the holiday mix for families.
The family pic, which earned an A CinemaScore, is expected to earn $13 million for the weekend proper from 3,761 theaters and $18 million for the four days, also ahead of what some tracking services had predicted.
The final verdict for Migration won’t be rendered until New Year’s weekend. There’s no more lucrative stretch of the moviegoing year than the week between Christmas and New Year’s.
Migration will come in No. 3 behind Aquaman and Wonka, as the Timothée Chalamet starrer is projected to gross a pleasing $30 million for the four days.
Columbia/Sony’s edgy romantic-comedy Anyone but You is unwrapping a fourth-place finish with an estimated $9 million from 3,055 theaters for the four days. The pic, starring Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell, earned a B+ CinemaScore. (No studio likes anything other than some variation of an A grade for most movies.)
Females made up 67 percent of Friday ticket buyers, while males made up 66 percent of A24’s Zac Efron-led wrestling family drama The Iron Claw, another title on the Christmas marquee movie. Iron Claw is pacing to open to $8 million, also head of tracking.
DC’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom started off its Christmas domestic box office run with a sluggish $4.5 million in Thursday previews, well behind the $9 million earned by the first film. The sequel, reteaming director James Wan and star Jason Momoa, caps a year in which the superhero genre has largely struggled at the box office.
The Warner Bros. tentpole may only swim to $37 million to $43 million in its domestic box office debut over the four-day holiday weekend. That would pale in comparison to 2018’s Aquaman, as well as trail the recent $46.1 million opening of box office debacle The Marvels, from rival Marvel Studios.
Aquaman 2, which faced a troubled road to the big screen, marks an end to this era of DC as new leaders James Gunn and Peter Safran reboot the DC Extended Universe in 2025’s Superman: Legacy. Momoa himself has said he’s not likely to puruse a third Aquaman movie.
In 2018, Aquaman‘s official three-day opening over the Dec. 21-23 weekend was $67.9 million. And through Christmas Day — a Tuesday — its domestic tally was a rousing $105.4 million (that included several million in special sneak peeks the previous weekend). The Warner Bros. and DC movie went on to earn $335.1 million domestically and $1.15 billion globally, the best showing ever for a DCEU title, not adjusted for inflation.
If there’s any consolation, it’s that Aquaman 2 is almost assured of winning what is shaping up to be a sluggish Christmas weekend.
A slew of other films open Friday opposite The Lost Kingdom. Warners has no fewer than three year-end holiday event movies — Aquaman, Wonka, which opened last weekend, and The Color Purple — a daring feat (and never mind that two are musicals).
In yet another test of the appetite for theatrical animated fare, and especially original stories, Illumination and Universal open the holiday animated tentpole Migration on Friday. Tracking suggests the family pic will post a four-day gross of $14 million to $15 million. In November, Disney Animation was skewered when Wish opened to $31.6 million over the five-day Thanksgiving corridor, including $19.7 million for the weekend proper.
Wonka enjoyed a healthy start at the domestic box office, earning $39 million from 4,203 theaters, per Deadline. The musical comedy held strong throughout the weekend, dipping just 3% on Saturday for an impressive $14M, following $14.4M on Thursday/Friday. Worldwide, the pic starring Timothee Chalamet has accrued $151.4M, including $8.7M from Imax.
With few obstacles throughout the Christmas season, Wonka should enjoy a nice run into January and easily surpass Paul King’s other family adventures—the Paddington films—at the worldwide box office.
Otherwise, the box office was relatively quiet, save for a handful of Indie flicks raking in some cash. Searchlight Pictures’ Poor Things landed on the Top 10 after expanding to 82 theaters and has so far grossed $2.2M after two weeks. American Fiction, meanwhile, earned $227K from seven theaters, while A24’s The Zone of Interest managed $124.8K from four theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes slipped past the $300M mark at the global box office, though it remains a great deal behind the original Hunger Games franchise. The lowest-grossing entry of that series, Mockingjay – Part 2, hauled in $646M globally, while the highest-grossing chapter, Catching Fire, hauled in a massive $864M.
Box Office Results: Domestic Top 10
1.) Wonka (WB) 4,203 theaters, Fri $14.4M, Sat $14M Sun $10.5M 3-day$39M/Wk 1
2.) Hunger Games: Songbirds & Snakes (LG) 3,291 (-374) theaters, Fri $1.7M (-37%) Sat $2.3M Sun $1.7M 3-day $5.8M (-38%), total $145.2M/Wk 5
3.) Boy and the Heron (GKIDs) 2,325 (+120) theaters, Fri $1.4M (-75%) Sat $2.1M Sun $1.6M 3-day $5.1M (-60%), Total $23.1M/Wk 2
4.) Godzilla Minus One (Toho) 2,622 (+82) theaters, Fri $1.34M (-41%) Sat $2M Sun $1.47M 3day $4.88M (-43%), Total $34.2M/Wk 3
5) Trolls Band Together (Uni/DWA) 3,157 (-294) theaters, Friday $930K (-34%) Sat $1.7M Sun 3-day $4M (-34%) Total $88.7M/Wk 5
6) Wish (Dis) 3,100 (-310) theaters, Fri $730K (-38%) Sat $1.39M Sun $1.08M 3-day $3.2M (-39%), Total $54.3M/Wk 4
7) Christmas With the Chosen: Holy Night (Fathom) 2059 theaters, Fri $875K Sat $1.05M Sun $1M 3-day $2.9M, Total $4.6M/Wk 1
8) Napoleon (Apple/Sony) 2,601 (-749) Fri $640K (-45%) Sat $955K Sun $630K 3-day $2.2M (-46%), Total $57M/Wk 4
The Timothée Chalamet-led Wonka scored an opening day gross of $14.4 million from 4,203 theaters at the Friday box office, putting it on course to earn $38 million or more in its North American opening.
That’s a promising start for a musical, a genre that has struggled in recent times. From Warner Bros. and Harry Potter franchise producer David Heyman, Wonka is a whimsical origin tale about the magical candyman Willy Wonka, who was played by Gene Wilder in the classic movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
Audiences bestowed Wonka with an A- CinemaScore, while 60 percent of Friday ticket buyers were between the ages of 18 and 34. The largest quad was 18 to 24 at 33 percent, while another 10 percent of ticket buyers were between 13 and 17, underscoring Chalamet’s star status with younger moviegoers. Wonka is skewing slightly female so far, or 54 percent.
Directed by Paul King of Paddington fame and starring Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka, the movie features a star-studded ensemble cast also including Hugh Grant, Olivia Colman, Keegan-Michael Key, Calah Lane, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton, Sally Hawkins, Rowan Atkinson, Natasha Rothwell, Rich Fulcher, Rakhee Thakrar, Tom Davis and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
Wonka hopes to sing loudly throughout the holidays. This weekend always poses a challenge for moviegoing in that many consumers are occupied with gift-buying and other preparations, but traffic at the multiplex picks up in earnest once presents are unwrapped on Dec. 25.
Warners is dominating the year-end marquee. DC superhero pic Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom opens Dec. 22, followed on Christmas Day by The Color Purple, which is also a musical. On the family front, Universal and Illumination the original animated event pic Migration comes out on Dec. 22.
The musical genre has a checkered history of late, but Wonka (and Color Purple) hopes to reverse this curse and match the success of films including the Hugh Jackman-led The Greatest Showman, which debuted to dismal numbers over Christmas in 2017 but then took hold and amassed a fortune.
Wonka is one of the first Hollywood pics to unspool since the SAG-AFTRA strike ended. Warners and the filmmakers breathed a huge sigh of relief at being able to dispatch Chalamet to promote and publicize the PG-rated film. Young girls are particularly taken with the young actor, who next stars in Dune: Part Two, which Warners and Legendary delayed until next March so that Chalamet and co-star Zendaya would be able to do press.
Hayao Miyazaki may be a legend in the film industry, but believe it or not, The Boy and the Heron marks his first number one film at the U.S. box office. Despite having retired numerous times (he’ll never do it), Miyazaki’s latest film has been received as one of his best, and that’s saying something.
Miyazaki has been creating films for decades now, founding Studio Ghibli with fellow director Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki. Over the years, Studio Ghibli, with Miyazaki as the key driving force behind it, has produced some of the most fantastic animated stories of all time, with such notable mentions as Princess Mononoke, As the Wind Rises, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (the one that started it all), and the Oscar-winning Spirited Away.
The most recent film from Miyazaki, The Boy and the Heron, was released in the States on December 8 and debuted with $12.8 million, according to studio estimates. Sitting behind Miyazaki over the weekend is the still-going-strong The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes with $9.4 million, followed by another Japanese entry, Godzilla Minus One pulling in $8.3 million, and Trolls Band Together with $6.2 million, among others.
As reported in the Japanese publication, The Asahi Shimbun, this makes the film the third anime film ever to top the box office in U.S. and Canadian theaters. Of the success, Eric Beckman, founder and chief executive of GKIDS, the North American distributor for Studio Ghibli films, said,
“It’s really a resounding statement for what animation can be. American audiences have been ready for a lot more than what they’ve been getting, and I think this really points to that direction.”
Though Miyazaki’s work is well known in Japan and across Asia, Studio Ghibli has historically had less of an impact in North America, despite being beloved by certain groups and individuals. The film has been played in theaters both featuring the Japanese voice cast with subtitles and with the English dub cast. The latter consists of quite the who’s who of the Hollywood elite.
(Studio Ghibli)
The film was released much earlier in Japan, and despite having no marketing (Ghibli decided to simply let the name “Miyazaki” do the work), it made $56 million. The film has already been hailed as one of the director’s best, with critics responding favorably to the story about a boy who is taken to a fantastical land after the death of his mother, with moments of the film having directly taken inspiration from Miyazaki’s own childhood.
Despite rumors circulating that The Boy and the Heron would be Miyazaki’s swan song (yet again), the studio has confirmed that Miyazaki is back at work once more, with Ghibli executive Junichi Nishioka telling IGN,
Other people say that this might be his last film, but he doesn’t feel that way at all. He is currently working on ideas for a new film. He comes into his office every day and does that. This time, he’s not going to announce his retirement at all. He’s continuing working just as he has always done.
Now we just have to sit and wait to see what the master of animation will create next.
Acclaimed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki‘s Japanese film The Boy and the Heron flew to a record-breaking $12.8 million opening, making it the first original anime title in history to top the North American box office chart.
The whimsical movie wisely chose to open on a weekend when there were no new wide releases from the major Hollywood studios. The first and second weekends of December are generally quiet as the studios prepare to unwrap their big Christmas films. (This year, the year-end holiday action gets underway next weekend when Warner Bros. opens Wonka, although it is debuting in select markets overseas this weekend.)
The Boy and the Heron film shattered other records as well, including already becoming Miyazaki’s top-grossing film domestically after earning $5.6 million on Friday from 2,205 theaters, not adjusted for inflation. His previous best, 2013’s The Wind Rises earned $5.2 million in its entire North American run.
The film was fueled by younger adults, with 80 percent of the audience between the ages of 18 and 34, including 44 percent between ages 25 and 34. It earned an A- CinemaScore.
The Boy and the Heron also claims the biggest domestic opening for a Studio Ghibli film and will mark the biggest bow ever for GKIDS, the film’s U.S. distributor. It’s the first foreign production to top the North American chart this year.
Miyazaki’s movie — which has earned north of $85 million in Japan — had a high-profile presence on the fall film festival circuit, including becoming the first animated title to open the Toronto Film Festival.
Coming in at No. 2 was Lionsgate’sThe Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Songbirds and Snakeswith a projected $9 million to $10 million from 3,665 locations in its fourth outing. The film has now earned a pleasing $126.3 million domestically.
Japanese monster pic Godzilla Minus One placed third place in its second weekend with $8 million to $9 million from 2,450 cinemas. (No one can remember another time when two Japanese titles landed in the top five at the North American box office.)
Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls Band Together held at No. 4 with an estimated weekend haul of $6.2 million from 3,451 theaters for a domestic total of $83.1 million.
Disney’s Wish and AMC Theatres’ Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé found themselves in a close race for No. 5, with both currently pacing to earn $5 million to $5.5 million. The final order will be determined Monday morning.
Beyoncé‘s concert fell off steeply after opening to No. 1 last weekend and could suffer a drop of as much as 74 percent. The pic is playing in 2,542 locations, while Wish is booked in 3,450 cinemas.
Elsewhere, Bleecker Street’s Waitress: The Musical opened in 1,214 locations. The film, based on a live stage recording of the 2015 play of the same name, placed No. 9 with and estimated $3.2 million.
At the specialty box office,Yorgos Lanthimos‘ dark comedy Poor Things did rich business as it opened in nine cinemas. The Victorian era-set pic, starring Emma Stone scored a per-theater average of $72,000, the average of the fall season and the third best of the year as Searchlight Pictures ramps up the film’s awards campaign.
Poor Things, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, went on to be named one of the 10 best films of the year by both the American Film Institute and the National Board of Review.
More to come.
This story was originally published Dec. 9 at 8:50 a.m.
Japanese distributor Bitters End has confirmed it will bow Christopher Nolan’s biopic in local cinemas next year, though it did not set a specific release date.
In a statement, Bitters End said it had made the decision after screening the film and “following months of thoughtful dialogue associated with the subject matter and acknowledging the particular sensitivity for us Japanese.”
With his biopic about the brilliant physicist who led the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb, Nolan had “created a singular cinematic experience that transcends traditional storytelling and must be seen on the big screen,” the company said. “We invite the audience to watch the film with their own eyes when it comes to Japan.”
Oppenheimer, a Universal release, starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. and Florence Pugh, has been a phenomenal critical and commercial success, grossing more than $950 million worldwide and is a frontrunner for next year’s Oscars. But the subject matter has meant the film was always highly controversial in Japan.
This summer, Warner Bros. Japan was forced to apologize after Warners’ U.S. Twitter account posted memes featuring mashups of Warners’ Barbie with Nolan’s Oppenheimer film, something many Japanese took to be making light of the more than 200,000 killed in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The phrase #NoBarbenheimer trended in Japan and it was not clear whether Oppenheimer would get a local release.
Nolan has defended his choice to not explicitly depict the bombings and the Japanese victims, arguing his film is on told subjectively from Oppenheimer’s point of view and that the physicist never witnessed the devastation he helped bring about. “He learned about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the radio — the same as the rest of the world,” Nolan told NBC.
This isn’t the first Universal title Bitters End has released in Japan, having previously handled the local bow of Joe Wright’s Churchill biopic Darkest Hour and Paul Thomas Anderson’s 70s dramedy Licorice Pizza.
Ridley Scott’s historical epic “Napoleon” was cruelly defeated at the mainland Chinese box office, where it opened in only fifth place on its opening weekend.
Chinese crime thriller “Across the Furious Sea” headed the mainland China charts for a second weekend, earning $20.0 million (RMB142 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway.
“Napoleon” earned just $2.8 million ($19.6 million) in China, according to the firm whose figures are generally considered as final, not estimates.
The film earned generally mixed to positive reviews, but only a middling score of 6.6 out of 10 from users of the Douban movie fan site. But it appears that Chinese audiences found the travails of an ancient French emperor to be too much of a specialist topic. Ticketing firm and data provider, Maoyan showed that “Napoleon’s” viewers in China were two thirds male. It also forecasts that the film will end up with final revenues short of $5 million.
“Across the Furious Sea,” on the other hand, is mainstream Chinese fare. It is adapted from a well-known novel, directed by Cao Baoping and stars Huang Bo and Zhou Xun. After nine days on release (it was only given a Saturday outing, a week earlier), “Furious Sea” has a $64 million cumulative.
Second place was taken by “So Long for Love,” a sentimental drama about a young woman coming to terms with her father’s death, supported by her pet dog and slowly coming to understand her mother’s choices. Directed by Wang Xiaolie, it earned $11.9 million (RMB84.4 million) in its opening three days.
Third spot was taken by “Trending Topic,” which had a Thursday release. The iQiyi-backed drama, directed by Xin Yukun and starring Zhou Dongyu, Yuan Hong and Song Yang, earned $5.7 million between Friday and Sunday and $6.5 million over its opening four days.
Japanese animation, “New Dimension! Crayon Shinchan The Movie: Battle of Supernatural Powers – Flying Sushi” held on to fourth place in its second weekend. It earned $4.5 million for an $11.4 million nine-day cumulative.
Aggregate nationwide cinema revenues were $55.1 million over the weekend. That lifts the year-to-date total to $7.23 billion. Artisan Gateway calculates that to be an 80% increase over a COVID-stricken 2022 and 14.9% behind the same point in 2019.
November was worth $237 million (RMB1.7 billion), a 200% increase on November 2022, but 10% below November 2021. “The Marvels” was the top Hollywood film of the month, earning just $15.5 million (RMB110 million).
Beyoncé’s new concert film is delivering the goods at the box office, where it’s headed for the biggest early December opening in two decades.
Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé— which Beyoncé wrote, directed and produced — could now earn $21 million to $24 million in its debut after it was graced with glowing reviews and a coveted A+ CinemaScore. The film earned $11.5 million on Friday, including $5 million in Thursday previews
Distributor AMC Theatres — also home of blockbuster Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour— is remaining more conservative in suggesting a $20 million opening.
More than 70 percent of Friday’s audience was female, while 50 percent of the audience were Black moviegoers, in a win for diverse programming.
The weekend after Thanksgiving is notoriously sluggish, and Renaissance is a welcome gift for exhibitors. To date, the biggest opening for the first weekend of December belongs to Tom Cruise’s The Last Samurai ($24.3 million), not adjusted for inflation.
Similar to Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and her team decided to bypass Hollywood studios and struck a pact with AMC Theatres to distribute Renaissance, which chronicles her recent world stage tour, while including behind-the-scenes footage detailing the planning and execution of the concert.
Swift and AMC made history in October when Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour opened to a staggering $92.8 million domestically, by far the biggest launch ever for a concert movie. No one expected Renaissance to do the same sort of business, considering her audience is older.
Before Eras Tour, 2008’s Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana: The Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour held the record for the top domestic opening for a concert film with $31.1 million, not adjusted for inflation. That was followed by 2011’s Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, which opened to $29.5 million.
Renaissance is also rolling out overseas, where it is likewise tracking to open in the $20 million range for a global start of $40 million.
The concert pic isn’t the only gift for exhibitors this weekend. The Japanese film Godzilla Minus One looks to come in No. 3 behind Renaissance and holdover The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes with a hefty $9 million to $10 million thanks to younger men. Males made up 77 percent of ticket buyers on Friday, with 63 percent of all ticket buyers between the ages of 18 and 34.
Coming in No. 4 is the newest offering from Angel Studios, home of sleeper hit Sound of Freedom. The sci-fi, faith-based The Shift is looking at a muted start in the $4.5 million range.
Elsewhere, the news was bleak for Thanksgiving entries Napoleon, from Apple Original Films and Sony, and Disney Animation’s Wish.
Trolls Band Together, Wish and Napoleon are in a three-way race for fourth-place. The trio of films is pacing for a weekend gross in the $7 million range. For Wish, that would mean a steep drop of 63 percent, although Disney is more hopeful in giving a $7 million to $9 million range.
Napoleon is an even worse position, and could fall off as much as 66 percent after opening ahead of expectations over Thanksgiving. The steep decline isn’t a surprise to Hollywood insiders, considering the biographical epic got dinged with a B- CinemaScore by audiences, coupled with poor exits on PostTrak.
Wish, conversely, earned an A CinemaScore and strong exits, meaning it could have legs thanks to strong word of mouth.
Local crime thriller Across the Furious Sea, directed and co-written by Cao Baoping, dominated China’s box office over the weekend with a $24.7 million two-day opening kicking off on Saturday. The film’s strong start continues a recent market trend of Chinese moviegoers favoring well-told local crime stories.
But it was another weekend of struggle for Hollywood filmmaking in China. Disney Animation’s Wish opened in fifth place with only $3.5 million in ticket revenue, according to data from Artisan Gateway. Lionsgate’s prequel The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, meanwhile, plummeted in its second frame, earning a little under $1 million. Disney’s The Marvels likewise continued its decline, slipping off of China’s top ten list for the weekend (the film’s total sits at $16 million and it is unlikely to earn much more — making for an all-time low for an MCU tentpole).
Across the Furious Sea marks a long-coming culmination for Cao, who is highly esteemed in China but whose films are somewhat less traveled than other major directors of his generation. He has said he views Across the Furious Sea as the final film in a loose trilogy of crime thrillers. Unfortunately, the middle installment in this saga has been seen by almost no one.
Cao’s series got off to a strong start in 2015 with The Dead End, a crime drama starring Deng Chao that earned a healthy $47.6 million. His follow-up The Perfect Blue (aka She Kills) wrapped shooting in May 2018 but then ran into serious trouble when its co-star, Fan Bingbing, was detained by Chinese authorities in a major tax evasion scandal. Fan was eventually fined tens of millions of dollars and slapped with a de facto ban from appearing in mainland Chinese films and TV series. The Perfect Blue was a collateral industry casualty — the film never saw release in mainland China despite abundant curiosity and good buzz about its quality.
Cao finished shooting Across the Furious Sea in 2020, but the film took far longer than usual to find its way to theaters. China’s lengthy lockdowns during the pandemic were one factor, but some Chinese fans also speculated that the movie’s producers were probably hoping to gain permission to release ThePerfectBlue prior.
Based on a Chinese crime novel of the same name, Across the Furious Sea is a murder mystery that centers on a father (Huang Bo) who vows revenge when his daughter is murdered while studying abroad in Japan. The story is complicated by the victim’s boyfriend and biggest suspect, who has escaped persecution by returning to China with the help of his mother (Zhou Xun). The has garnered strong social scores and Maoyan projects it to earn over $80 million.
