Box office: Timothee Chalamet’s ‘Wonka’ wins a pre-Christmas weekend with $39 million
The weekend before Christmas only saw one new nationwide studio release, and while it may have underperformed compared to expectations, it’s likely to add to the holiday business as theaters fill up in the week following Christmas Day. Read on for the weekend box office report.
Ahead of the holiday business boom, Warner Bros. opened the family musical comedy “Wonka,” starring Timothée Chalamet as Roald Dahl‘s Willy Wonka, into 4,203 theaters on Friday after it racked up a respectable 83% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics. Directed by Paul King (“Paddington”), the movie co-starred Olivia Colman, Hugh Grant, Kagan Michael-Key, Rowan Atkinson, relative newcomer Calah Lane and more.
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“Wonka” made $3.5 million in Thursday previews and $14.4 million on Friday (including those previews) with an estimated $39 million for the weekend. That may be below some expectations but is par for the course over the past few weeks. “Wonka” received an “A-” CinemaScore, the same as Hayao Miyazaki‘s “The Boy and the Heron” last week and Disney’s “Wish.” Despite being a PG-rated family film, the largest demographic were between 18 and 24 or younger, helping prove Chalamet’s draw among younger moviegoers. “Wonka” added another $53.6 million overseas to bring its global total to $151.4 million.
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Although “Wonka” won the weekend by a long shot, things ended up being much more cut and dry than expected for the next few placements. “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” ended up making an estimated $5.8 million this weekend, down 38%, as it brought its domestic total to $145.2 million, remaining in second place for a third weekend in a row.
“The Boy and the Heron” dropped to third place with $5.2 million, a massive drop of 60%, though one has to take into account that its #1 opening last weekend was bolstered by advance previews. So far, it has grossed $23.1 million just in North America, which is the highest amount made by a Miyazaki movie domestically.
Another prequel, “Godzilla Minus One,” dropped to fourth place with $4.9 million, down 43% as it brought its domestic total to $34.3 million, a definite hit for Japanese distributor, Toho International.
DreamWorks Animation’s “Trolls Band Together” made $4 million in its fifth weekend, down 34% to take fifth place at the box office. It has grossed $88.7 million just in North America.
“Trolls” was once again followed by Disney’s animated “Wish,” which fell to sixth place with $3.2 million (down 40%) and $54.3 million total. It added another $12.2 million overseas, including a $4.4 million launch in Japan, to bring its international total to $71.9 million and global total to $126.2 million.
SEE Box office: All time domestic top-grossing movies
Note that the Fathom Events release of “Christmas with the Chosen: Holy Night” did not report box office, even though reportedly, it was playing in more than 2,000 theaters over the weekend.
Ridley Scott‘s historical epic “Napoleon” took seventh place with $2.2 million, down 47%, as it brought its domestic gross to $57 million. It added another $8 million overseas to bring its global total to $188.4 million.
Yorgos Lanthimos‘ “Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone, managed to sneak into the bottom of the Top 10 with $1.3 million in 82 theaters (averaging $15.6k per location) with plans for Searchlight to expand it into more theaters this coming Friday.
Jonathan Glazer‘s Holocaust drama, “The Zone of Interest,” which won four prizes at this year’s Cannes Film Festival was released into four theaters in New York and L.A. by A24 on Friday. It ended up making $125,000 over the weekend, averaging $31,199 per location, a good start but with no announced plans for an expansion.
MGM’s Orion Pictures opened Cord Jefferson‘s critically-acclaimed “American Fiction,” starring Jeffrey Wright, into seven theaters, where it grossed $227k or $32,411 average per location. It will expand into 40 theaters on Friday.
Most players had “Wonka” winning the weekend with between $25 and $50 million in this week’s box office prediction game, though there was far more indecisiveness about second through fourth place. (Almost 170 players still had Beyoncé‘s “Renaissance” in the top 5 as it actually dropped to eighth place with just $2 million this weekend.)
No players went 6 for 6 or even 5 out of 6 for the December 8 game, but “MellowDrama” was one of 23 players that got 4 for 6, and they also added to their lead against “DLBartlett127,” who only had three correct, but ended up with 101,148 points to “MellowDrama’s” 40,205 for the week. With just two more weeks to go in the season, “MellowDrama” is only ahead of “DLBartlett” by 27,343 points but still has the best accuracy, so it could be a tight race to win the season.
There are four new wide releases this coming Friday and then another three on Monday, Christmas Day, so check back on Wednesday for an super-sized weekend preview.
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