As a longtime fan of stop-motion animation and the magical worlds it creates, I must say that I’ve been absolutely captivated by the box office success of Coraline. Growing up, I was always drawn to the intricate artistry and storytelling prowess of stop-motion films, but they were often overshadowed by their computer-animated counterparts in terms of commercial success. That’s why seeing Coraline not just hold its own, but surpass many CG-animated films in box office earnings is nothing short of heartwarming.
In only seven days since its 2024 theater re-release, the film Coraline made box office history, earning $1.54 million on August 21 alone. This achievement by director Henry Selick was built over four North American releases, one in 2019, a brief run in 2021, another last year, and the most recent one this August. Remarkably, $75.2 million of the total domestic earnings were from its initial release in 2009. Since it returned to theaters for its 15th anniversary, Coraline has now grossed an impressive $17.7 million. What’s particularly intriguing is that this run wasn’t heavily frontloaded, as the film’s box office success didn’t solely come from fans rushing to see it on its opening day in August 2024.
Instead, Coraline managed to rake in over $2.64 million on four consecutive days, and it showed remarkable strength during the week, earning an impressive $1.54 million on each of its first three weekdays. Given these robust earnings, it’s not surprising that the 2024 theatrical re-release of Coraline has already outperformed the entire box office revenue of many notable 2024 flops. As of now, Coraline has surpassed the domestic box office totals for films like Borderlands, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot, MaXXXine, Back to Black, and Lisa Frankenstein. Notably, most of these movies were screened in more theaters than this re-release. With its run still ongoing, it’s expected that Coraline will soon overtake other 2024 newcomers as well.
As a passionate fan, I must say that Coraline is truly making waves at the box office these days! It’s not just its charm that’s captivating audiences, but also its impressive feat of surpassing the $100+ million mark domestically – a milestone usually reached by computer-animated films. In fact, only one other stop-motion animated film, Chicken Run from 2000, has managed to cross this threshold in North America. It’s quite remarkable when you consider that only seven stop-motion animated movies have ever exceeded the $50 million mark at the box office (with Coraline being one of them, and interestingly enough, three out of those seven are Laika productions).
It’s possible that Coraline could add an extra $6.2 million to its domestic earnings, potentially overtaking Chicken Run as the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film domestically. However, it should be noted that Chicken Run still holds this record globally with a staggering $227.7 million. As for now, the re-release of Coraline in 2024 has become the biggest event for Fathom, barely surpassing The Blind’s earnings of $17.2 million from September 2023, demonstrating an unending series of box office achievements for this title.
It’s likely that Coraline will regularly return to theaters during August for many years, much like The Polar Express IMAX reissues dominated the holiday season from 2005 to 2012, earning half a million dollars or more domestically each time. As Scott Mendelson, my co-host on Outside Scoop podcast, recently pointed out, the success of Coraline might pave the way for Wildwood, Laika’s next release, to secure good domestic distribution. Ultimately, these figures emphasize that audiences are drawn to compelling narratives and characters, regardless of the format – be it computer-animation or stop-motion. If a stop-motion film underperforms at the box office, it doesn’t mean the medium is inferior; just consider how Coraline’s 2024 gross has surpassed the lifetime domestic earnings of CG-animated films like Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken!
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2024-08-23 03:14