Black Panther: Wakanda Forever dominated Thanksgiving weekend, while the newcomers (with one notable exception) had to settle for crumbs.
Another week, another victory for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which dominated the box office for the third consecutive weekend. The MCU sequel took in $45.6 million over the three-day weekend, and $63.8 million from Wednesday, brining its total to $367.5 million. That's enough for sixth for the year so far, and it is almost certain to pass The Batman, Minions: The Rise of Gru, and Jurassic World: Dominion by next weekend to hit #3. At this point, dethroning fellow MCUer Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness for #2 is just a matter of time, though Top Gun: Maverick is almost certainly out of reach.
Opening dismally in second is Disney's latest animated offering, Strange World. The sci-fi action comedy becomes the latest disappointment for the Mouse House, which hasn't had a true theatrical animated success since Frozen II three years ago. To be fair, Disney seemed to see the writing on the wall for this one, authorizing only a relatively small advertising campaign. World could only muster up $12.2 million over the three-day weekend, and $18.9 million since its Wednesday opening. That's less than half of what Encanto opened to last Thanksgiving, and given that that film topped out at under $100 million, there's a real chance that World won't make it to $50 million. Disney will now have to wait until next June's Pixar offering, Elemental, for their next chance at a true animated blockbuster.
Netflix generally doesn't release box office figures, and they didn't with Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the all-star sequel to 2019's smash hit all-star whodunit. However, the film did so extraordinarily well that the numbers leaked out anyway. Onion, which Netflix released on a meager 696 screens, had easily the highest per-screen in the Top 10 as it racked up $9 million over the weekend and $13.3 million since its Wednesday opening. One would hope that the stunning success would cause Netflix, which will be releasing the film to its streaming service right before Christmas, to rethink its theatrical strategy. However, those hoping to catch this film in the theater are already too late. Netflix only released it for a one-week run.
Combat aerial thriller Devotion, starring up-and-comer Jonathan Majors, hoped to capture some of the Dad business that helped drive Ford vs. Ferrari and, to a lesser extent, Midway, three Thanksgivings ago. However, a limited advertising budget probably doomed the film, which could only manage $5.9 million over the weekend and $9 million since Wednesday. Word of mouth has been solid, so with not much in direct competition for the next few weeks, this could develop some legs.
Black comedy The Menu falls from second to fifth, to $5.5 million over the three-day weekend and a ten-day total of $18.9 million. That's an OK number. With decent holiday legs, the fine dining satire could top out above $30 million.
October superhero hit Black Adam, easily the biggest title to open between MCU bookends Thor: Love and Thunder in July and Panther earlier this month, captured $3.3 million over the three-day weekend, for a total of $162.8 million. It still looks likely to top out above $170 million, maybe as high as $175 million.
Despite rapturous reviews and maybe the name director in Stephen Spielberg, his autobiographic The Fabelmans failed to make much of an impact in semi-wide release, taking in $2.3 million over the three-day weekend. The drama is now up to $3.5 million. While word-of-mouth and awards buzz (plus the draw of Spielberg's name) could help the film's legs going forward, it seems likely to follow a similar track to last year's Licorice Pizza, which, like Fabelmans, is a coming-of-age tale loosely based on a true story (though that film isn't based on Paul Thomas Anderson's adolescence). That film topped out at $17.3 million.
Also expanding, but proving to be no factor in most people's post-feast plans, the fine young cannibals romance Bones and All took in a meager $2.3 million over the three-day. Its ten-day total is $3.8 million. Despite a wave of hype and the presence of star Timothée Chalamet, it turns out most people aren't interested in following a turkey dinner with watching a human dinner. This looks destined to finish under $10 million.
Rounding out the Top 10, hit romcom Ticket to Paradise brought in $1.9 million for a total of $65.1 million. In tenth, The Chosen Season 3: Episodes 1 & 2 suffered an 82% drop, bringing in $1.6 million for a ten-day total of $13.4 million. Outside the Top 10, true story She Said picked up $1.2 million in its second weekend, for a ten-day total of $4.4 million.
After a series of high profile flops in the late 90s and throughout the aughts, Hollywood largely abandoned releasing major films on the first weekend of December. However, sometimes genre fare does well, such as in 2015, when Krampus opened to an unexpected $16.3 million on its way to $42.7 million. 7 years later, another gory Christmas black comedy arrives in the form of Violent Night, about a little girl whose most fervent wish Santa (David Harbour) decided to grant--namely rescue her and her family from the gang of John Leguizamo (in, after The Menu, his second black comedy of the holidays), who has taken her and her family hostage on Christmas Eve while they try to break into the family's vault. Yes, this has the same plot as Die Hard, and instead of John McClane, we have Santa Claus eliminating the mercenaries on his naughty list. This one has cult hit written all over it, but first, it has to attract an audience right here and now. Also flying back into theaters for two more weeks is Top Gun: Maverick, trying to rack up a few more bucks ahead of Avatar: The Way of Water, the one film left on the schedule that can challenge its position as the year's top film. Neither is likely to pose much of a challenge to Panther, but an opening above $10 million would be a nice victory for Violent Night. We'll see how these films do next week.
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