As someone who has spent the better part of my life immersed in the world of cinema, I can confidently say that this past weekend was nothing short of a cinematic spectacle. The sheer magnitude of the box office numbers is truly astounding, and it serves as a stark reminder of the enduring power of the big screen experience.
One of my most cherished experiences ever was spending time at Marie’s Crisis in New York City. This place is a unique gay piano bar, where a pianist plays well-known musical numbers and everyone inside joins in the singing. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve been in a packed room filled with people from the LGBTQ+ community belting out “One Day More” or “How Far I’ll Go.” It’s a place to let your voice soar, share laughter, and feel connected to the rich history of the LGBTQ+ community as songs about the AIDS crisis play, or hear tales from the pianist about how his late brother first brought him to Marie’s Crisis in the 70s. This is a space that embraces all tones, just like it welcomes every member of the LGBTQ+ community. It’s incredible how powerful music can be and how it brings people together through shared melodies.
Over this remarkable Thanksgiving holiday weekend, cinemagoers nationwide were captivated by the impact of “Marie’s Crisis” in theaters across the country. This exceptional box office weekend was one of the largest on record, boasting a profitable few days where two gigantic blockbusters thrived concurrently. Such weekends are rare, and it’s even more uncommon to see such impressive box office earnings dominated by musicals! Leading the pack was “Moana 2“, which reclaimed Walt Disney Animation Studios’ dominance over Thanksgiving weekend following the disappointing performances of 2020’s releases like “Strange World” and “Wish“. Over just the three-day weekend, “Moana 2” earned a staggering $135.5 million, ranking as the second biggest North American opening weekend ever (surpassed only by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie“) for a film that had already built significant demand prior to Friday’s official release.
It’s hard to overstate the uniqueness of the debut for “Moana 2” during Thanksgiving week. Normally, big-budget movies that open in late November, like many sequels of “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight”, premiere a weekend before Thanksgiving. Previously, the highest three-day Thanksgiving weekend earnings were held by “Frozen” with $67.3 million. These films typically earn most of their money over time, not just during a three-day weekend. However, the earnings for “Moana 2” were so substantial that they even surpassed the previous record for a three-day Thanksgiving weekend gross (set by “Frozen II” with $85.9 million) and reached an astounding $219.5 million within five days of release. This five-day total places it as the 13th highest in cinema history, only slightly behind “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Incredibles 2”.
In terms of public response, it’s no surprise that Moana 2 performed well. After all, the original Moana has become a significant part of pop culture, as evident by being the most-streamed movie over the past eight years. From a commercial standpoint, releasing Moana 2 was similar to NBC reviving The Jay Leno Show in 2009 – both were quick solutions aimed at capitalizing on audience familiarity. In this case, Disney Animation was hoping to improve its Thanksgiving box office performance with Moana 2. Despite the challenges Walt Disney Animation Studios has faced recently, even the solid A- CinemaScore of Moana 2 was comparable to last year’s Wish’s audience rating.
To date, “Moana 2” has been performing significantly better in box office earnings compared to “The Jay Leno Show’s” daily ratings. However, its daily income distribution is heavier at the beginning than previous Disney Animation Thanksgiving releases such as “Coco” and “Encanto”. As a sequel that opened with larger initial numbers, it’s unlikely to maintain strong ticket sales in the coming weeks due to fierce competition from upcoming family movies like “Mufasa: The Lion King” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”. Nevertheless, it is projected to reach approximately $475 million domestically, which is nearly double the first “Moana’s” North American earnings.
As a movie enthusiast, let me share an interesting piece of trivia I recently came across. Prior to this weekend, only 15 films had ever managed to earn over $80 million during their second domestic weekend. However, a whopping 87 movies (including the upcoming Moana sequel) have opened with over $100 million. It’s easy to attract a crowd when you first open, but retaining them is another challenge altogether. This weekend, Wicked managed to do just that, raking in another impressive $80 million during its second frame. This is a mere 29% drop from its opening weekend domestically! This puts Wicked in an exclusive club; it’s only the second movie, after Top Gun: Maverick, to open below $130 million domestically and still achieve an $80+ million second frame. Interestingly, this also marks the first time two films simultaneously grossed over $80 million within North America during a single domestic weekend, making November 29-December 1, 2024 a box office weekend to remember!
After ten days from its release, “Wicked” has earned approximately $262.3 million, slightly surpassing both “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “The Hunger Games” at the same stage in their domestic box office run. Now ranking third among the highest-grossing live-action musicals ever (after “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin”), “Wicked” is projected to become only the second live-action musical to gross over $400 million. With its impressive daily ticket sales, viral popularity online among younger audiences, and the upcoming holiday season, there seems to be no stopping “Wicked” in North America. As the song says, “Everyone deserves a chance to fly”, and “Wicked” is certainly taking flight in North America.
On November 29-December 1, 2024, the release of Moana 2 and Wicked alone would have made that weekend one of the second largest domestic weekends in 2024. But there’s more to come! In third place was Gladiator II, which dropped by only 44% to earn an additional $30.7 million, bringing its domestic total to $111 million. If Ridley Scott’s newest film maintains its strength over the next two weekends, it could continue showing in theaters until Christmas and potentially reach impressive domestic box office heights. Red One, much like other holiday-themed movies, saw a rebound during Thanksgiving.
1) Over the weekend, Red One saw a 2% decrease but still earned $12.89 million, bringing its total North American earnings to $76.05 million. With a final gross barely shy of $100 million, it’s all but assured. Meanwhile, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever experienced a 4% dip in its fourth weekend, earning $3.27 million and reaching a total of $32 million. Unfortunately, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Spy, Assassin didn’t recover in its second week, dropping 52% to earn only $2.4 million, resulting in a disappointing domestic gross of $9.74 million. It seems that making a movie like Bonhoeffer in 2024, geared towards the conservative Christian audience criticizing Nazis, may not have been the wisest move. This film might have been perceived as “woke” by its intended audience for daring to label Hitler as evil!
In October 2024, Venom: The Last Dance managed to remain in 1,716 theaters longer than anticipated, raking in an additional $2.2 million with a 43% decrease from its previous week. Its total domestic earnings now stand at approximately $137.86 million, with expectations that it will conclude its run between $143-144 million. On the other hand, Heretic saw a 57% drop after losing 962 theaters, earning an additional $956,797 for a domestic total of $26.82 million. Competing with Moana 2 and The Wild Robot, the latter suffered a 68% decline this weekend, still managing to gather another $670,000, bringing its domestic earnings up to an impressive $142.48 million.
Rounding out the top ten was A Real Pain, which fell a fine 39% despite losing over half its theaters. This really exemplifies the problem with Disney owning Searchlight Pictures. Arthouse titles require slow and steady runs and A Real Pain could’ve made up lots of ground over Thanksgiving weekend. Instead, Disney is determined to get its big crowd-pleaser movies on as many screens as possible, which means Searchlight titles get rushed out of theaters. Taking in $665,000 from 505 theaters (for a $1,317 per theater average), Pain’s now grossed $6.1 million. Conclave eased 49% this weekend to add another $580,000 to its fantastic domestic total now standing at $30.1 million. Anora, meanwhile, dropped 47% to gross $360,000 from 230 theaters for a $1,565 per theater average. It’s now grossed $12.72 million domestically.
Over the weekend, there was a lively buzz at the box office as a number of new releases hit the screens, one of them being “Queer“. The film earned an impressive $188,808 from seven cinemas, equating to a strong average of $26,973 per theater. In its first five days, it has grossed $295,518. Although the opening was excellent, the question remains as to how it will perform when it expands to wider release in two weeks. The answer to that is yet to be seen.
Over the course of its third weekend, “All We Imagine as Light” earned $65,600, a 4% rise from the previous week, playing in 26 cinemas with an average of $2,523 per venue. In North America, after 17 days, it has amassed a total of $237,963, placing it as the 13th highest-grossing Janus Films release domestically.
Over the past weekend, the top ten movies collected an astonishing $270 million, making it the largest single domestic weekend in November ever recorded. This figure also ranks as the 13th highest grossing weekend in any month, historically speaking. In essence, this three-day period generated almost half of the total domestic box office revenue for the entire month of November 2023. It’s clear that if you offer movies people are eager to watch, they will flock to the cinemas in great numbers. Furthermore, it’s crucial to acknowledge the significant role marginalized audiences played in this success. According to reports from Deadline, more than 60% of the opening weekend earnings for Moana 2 came from Black and Latinx audiences. As The Los Angeles Times pointed out earlier this year, these demographics have consistently saved and boosted the movie-going industry.
In contrast to films such as Joker: Folie a Deux, which focused less on female audiences, both Wicked and Moana 2 have attracted a significant number of women. Similar to the anticipated hits like Barbie in 2023 and Taylor Swift’s tour, The Eras Tour, movies that resonate with women tend to draw large crowds of female cinema-goers…what an idea! With a domestic gross of $7.6 billion so far in 2024, it has surpassed the annual earnings of 2022 by $240 million. If Wicked and Moana 2 continue their success until New Year’s, we might be looking at one of the biggest box office months for December since the holiday season of 2024 offers a diverse and exciting lineup of nine fresh wide releases opening between December 13 and Christmas.
Movie theater workers (who truly deserve recognition for managing such large crowds this weekend, kudos to each of you hardworking individuals!) can take a moment to relax and mop their brows. A spectacle like this one serves as a testament that the cinematic experience of going to the movies has never ceased to exist. Disney’s decision to move Moana 2 from a streaming release to a grand theatrical premiere underlines the fact that a theatrical cinema debut cannot be replaced for a cultural phenomenon. By offering a diverse selection of films in theaters, the box office will thrive. Moreover, it’s worth noting that the nostalgic charm of sharing musical performances together is still a powerful draw – just ask anyone who has visited Marie’s Crisis…
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2024-12-02 14:15