It was a very merry Christmas for the nation's (open) theaters, as Wonder Woman 1984 opened to the best numbers of the pandemic era.
As it became obvious that the pandemic was not coming under control, and indeed, was actually getting worse, one blockbuster after another began fleeing the holidays for 2021. Dune, Coming 2 America, Free Guy, West Side Story, Death on the Nile--all were at least briefly scheduled to open in December, and all ended up moving to next year--and in the case of Coming 2 America, out of theaters entirely. In the end, only two major studio titles still stuck to December, both arriving on Christmas Day. And, in the case of one of them, it might be a film that saves moviegoing as we know it.
Wonder Woman 1984, which had originally been scheduled for June, then August, then October, and finally Christmas, burst out of the gate with a whopping-for-2020 opening of $16.7 million. This is easily the best weekend numbers since Onward opened to $39.1 million in early March, right before the bottom fell out. It was able to put these numbers up despite thousands of theaters being closed and the theaters that were open strictly limiting capacity in each auditorium. It also made that money despite also being available day and date on HBO Max, in an experiment that, at least for now, seems to have paid off. In one weekend, Wonder Woman is already the sixth-highest grossing film of the pandemic, and could easily be #2, breathing down the next of Tenet by this time next week. A lot of that will depend on the week between Christmas and New Year's retaining its usual pattern of Saturday-like grosses every day. But even if it doesn't, the upcoming release calendar looks even bleaker than January usually looks, so Wonder Woman could be #1 for weeks largely by default.
Opening way back at #2 was the other major studio title that didn't flee the month, News of the World. The western, starring Tom Hanks, reuniting with his Captain Phillips director Paul Greengrass, opened to $2.3 million. With stellar reviews and Hanks in the lead role, it's undeniably disappointing that its opening was roughly on par with Monster Hunter's last weekend. Then again, News of the World was always likely to have a smaller opening but better legs, as its audience is likely to be older than that of Wonder Woman, and it is likely to be an awards player.
Thanksgiving hit Croods: A New Age came in third, with a gross of $1.8 million. Its total stands now at $30.4 million. Last week's champ, Monster Hunter, fell to fourth, taking in $1.1 million. Its ten-day gross is now $4.2 million.
Opening rather disappointingly in 5th is Promising Young Woman. The Cary Mulligan-led thriller was unable to take advantage of its strong reviews and only took in $0.7 million. Like News of the World, its likely to be an awards contender (particularly for Mulligan), so it could stick around for a while.
The neo-noir Fatale came in 6th, earning $0.7 million for a ten-day total of $2 million. Opening in 7th is the week's final wide release, the latest remake of Pinocchio, which only grossed $0.3 million. Don't worry if you missed this one, as two more remakes are currently in pre-production.
Rounding out the Top 10 were two holiday re-releases, Elf and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and The War With Grandpa, which spent its 12th week in the Top 10. Even amid weak competition, that's an impressive feat.
As always, the post-Christmas weekend is devoid of new releases (a return of 1979's Alien is the only "new" film out this weekend), so expect the top few movies to stay fairly steady in their positioning. But what about their grosses? Wonder Woman winning New Year's is going to happen, but will it decline or come in with a similar gross to its Christmas numbers? We'll find out next week. Until then, Happy New Year!
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