Box Office: ‘Napoleon’ and ‘Wish’ Take Their Seats at the Thanksgiving Table

Pamela McClintock
·2 min read

The Thanksgiving box office feast is underway.

Disney Animation Studios’ holiday tentpole Wish opens everywhere across North America on Wednesday after starting off its domestic run with $2.3 million in Tuesday previews. The music-infused movie is tipped to win the Thanksgiving stretch with at least $45 million to $50 million for the five-day corridor, including $30 million to $35 million for the weekend.

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Disney is in sore need of a box office win after a rocky year at the box office, capped by recent bomb The Marvels, and is hoping that Wish delivers the best opening for an original animated film since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apple and Sony enter the fray today with Ridley Scott’s historical epic Napoleon, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the infamous French emperor. The event pic — which grossed $3 million in Tuesday previews — is pacing to open to at least $22 million for the five-day holiday corridor, including $16 million for the weekend.

Like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon was fully financed by Apple Original Films. Sony is Apple’s global distribution and marketing partner.

Both films go up against The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes and Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls Band Together. Those two films opened last weekend to get a jump on Thanksgiving week, which can be one of the most lucrative stretches of the year for moviegoing.

Lionsgate’s Hunger Games prequel opened to a subdued $44 million but is counting on being a strong draw throughout the holiday frame. The film topped Tuesday’s chart with an estimated $6.6 million for a domestic total north of $57 million.

Trolls Band Together opened to $30 million, in line with expectations. The pic earned $4.7 million Tuesday for a domestic tally of $39.2 million. All of Hollywood will be watching the contest between Trolls and Wish; historically, Disney has owned the Thanksgiving frame in terms of animated fare.

There’s plenty of action at the specialty box office, as well as various Oscar contenders vying for attention, with both The Holdovers and Saltburn using the holiday corridor to expand nationwide.

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