Warner Bros. Wins Christmas, with ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘Wonka’ in Best Shape

Tom Brueggemann
·5 min read

Warner Bros. Discovery hit an unprecedented trifecta this Christmas with not only the top three films since Monday, but likely the first time any distributor has had the top three films in any week. “The Color Purple” joined “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and “Wonka” on Monday with an excellent $18.5 million start, one of the best for a December 25 opening ever. But on Tuesday, “Wonka,” which had trailed “Aquaman” over the weekend, rebounded to be the top gross with $9.1 million.

Christmas Day grosses get the headlines, but what happens the next day, particularly if it is a weekday, is what industry experts want to know. That usually indicates how audiences are reacting to new films (word of mouth at holiday gatherings is critical).

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Though results for individual films vary, the combined heft now look to boost 2023 full year totals to about $9 billion. Calculations vary — Box Office Mojo, which records all studio reported grosses, through Monday showed a little under $8.7 billion. But Comscore, which gets grosses direct from theaters (and includes revenue for live events and other non-film presentations), put the total through Sunday at $8.725 billion. Add Monday and Tuesday, with around $110 million, and by their calculation the remaining five days will surpass $9 billion.

Though the holiday will be strong enough to reach that level, it remains a weak one. Tuesday’s $45 million take was lower, often by a substantial amount, of any December 26 from 2019 and before. With increased ticket costs, it likely had an even lower attendance mark (although since Tuesday is reduced priced day, it could have been closer to normal).

“The Color Purple” at $18.1 million Monday ranks with some of the best openings for Christmas Day ever, though with the caveat that higher ticket prices now lower its overall ranking. It dropped 61 percent Tuesday. “Les Miserables” grossed the same on December 25, 2012 when it opened, but dropped 31 percent its second day (a Wednesday).

Timothée Chalamet on the "Wonka" set
Timothée Chalamet on the “Wonka” setGC Images/Getty

With “Wonka” best on Tuesday, it appears to be in good shape to lead through next Monday (New Years Day), though its family appeal may have given it some extra boost that could lessen over the weekend. It has the best shot at best holiday release this year, easily over $140 million by Monday with a good few weeks left after that.

“Purple” opened with very strong first day Black audience interest boosting its start. But it should increasingly see wider audience interest, particularly with likely strong Oscar attention ahead. “Aquaman” though will struggle to do much more than a third of the $335 million its predecessor grossed in 2018.

Among other openers, George Clooney’s “The Boys in the Boat” (Amazon MGM) did best with $8.7 million for its first two days, fifth best overall (behind Universal’s “Migration,” getting a big boost from weekday matinees). Michael Mann’s “Ferrari” (Neon) is lagging with $4.5 million its first two days, #8 overall. (“Purple” and “Boys” both got A Cinemascores, “Ferrari” B).

For the record, again with a boost from matinees, Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” (GKids) was #10 Tuesday with around $900,000, bringing its total to a very impressive $32 million.

December 25-26 Top 10

This list gives the Top 10 for the combined Christmas Day and December 26 grosses. After that gross, Monday and Tuesday’s approximate grosses are listed, then each film’s ranking for that day, then the cumulative for the entire engagement so far. The grosses come both directly from distributors as well as industry sources.

The Tuesday rankings are the best barometer for relative results for each film over the rest of the holiday more than Christmas Day (the films that opened then got a bigger boost). “Aquaman” and “Wonka” were a very close 1-2, with “Purple” #3 for Tuesday.

After the combined two-day gross, both Monday and Tuesday’s grosses are listed (rank each day), then their total so far.

1. The Color Purple (WB) – 3,152 theaters

Combined: $25.2 million; Mon: $18.2 million (1), Tues: $7.0 million (3); Cumulative: $25.2 million

2. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (WB) – 3,706 theaters

Combined: $18.925 million; Mon: $10.6 million (2), Tues: $8.3 million (2); Cumulative: $46.6 million

3. Wonka (WB) – 4,213 theaters

Combined: $18.9 million; Mon: $10.0 million (3), Tues: $8.9 million (1); Cumulative: $94.4 million

4. Migration (Universal) – 3,761 theaters

Combined: $12.1 million; Mon: $5.4 million (5), Tues: $6.7 million (4); Cumulative: $24.5 million

5. The Boys in the Boat (Amazon MGM) – 2,557 theaters

Combined: $8.7 million; Mon: $5.7 million (4), Tues: $3.0 million (5); Cumulative: $8.7 million

6. Anyone but You (Sony) – 3,055 theaters

Combined: $4.7 million; Mon: $2.1 million (7), Tues: $2.6 (6); Cumulative: $10.7 million

7. The Iron Claw (A24) – 2,774 theaters

Combined: $4.6 million; Mon: $1.9 million (8), Tues: $1.7 million (7); Cumulative: $8.5 million

8. Ferrari (Neon) – 2,330 theaters

Combined: $4.5 million; Mon: $2.9 million (6), Tues: $1.6 million (8); Cumulative: $4.5 million

9. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (Lionsgate) – 2,509 theaters; also on PVOD

Combined: $2.4 million; Mon: $1.1 million (9), Tues: $1.3 million (9); Cumulative: $154.6 million

10. Dunki (Yash Raj) – 686 theaters

Combined: $1.7 million; Mon: $1.0 million (10), Tues: $.7 million (14); Cumulative: $5.3 million

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