Weekend Box Office Predictions: December 1st, 2023 to December 3rd, 2023

AMC Theatres Distribution will look to have another successful release this weekend with Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé entering the marketplace. The concert documentary directed by and starring Beyoncé, highlights Beyoncé's popular Renaissance World Tour. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé will be playing in 2,539 locations this weekend and will also be playing on IMAX screens (Godzilla Minus One will also be getting some IMAX screens and showtimes this weekend). Thursday preview shows for the concert documentary begin at 7PM. Back in October, AMC Theatres Distribution's first release, Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film debuted with an exceptional $92.80 million. While Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé has never been expected to have the same type of box office performance that Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film had, there still appears to be enough interest for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé to have a solid performance this weekend by concert film standards. One factor that may be limiting potential demand somewhat for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé is that the film is apparently more of a concert documentary than a film concert performance. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé also isn't opening as wide as Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film did. Like Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour concert film, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé will also benefit from higher than average ticket prices. While it sounds like Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé will be off to a strong start on Thursday, there is potential for the film's opening weekend performance to be quite front-loaded towards opening day. BoxOfficeReport is predicting that Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé will debut in first place this weekend with $19.0 million.

Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is coming off of a terrific second weekend hold in which the film declined just 34.9 percent during the three-day frame to hold onto first place with $29.04 million. Over the five-day holiday frame, the high-profile prequel grossed $44.61 million. While it opened far lower than previous The Hunger Games films, thus far The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes is in turn holding up better than previous films in the franchise did, as strong word of mouth is helping bring in fans of the series who may have originally been on the fence about seeing the film in theatres. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes should continue to hold up better than its predecessors, though the loss of its portion of IMAX screens and a significant hit to its average showtimes per location in general from last weekend, will make it tough for the film to have an even stronger hold this weekend. Look for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes to decline a very respectable 50.1 percent this weekend to place in second with $14.5 million.

This weekend also sees the release of Toho International's Godzilla Minus One. The Japanese-language Godzilla film was directed by Takashi Yamazaki. Toho's Godzilla films typically don't receive wide releases in North America, but Godzilla Minus One is bucking the trend and receiving a wide release domestically. As mentioned, Godzilla Minus One will be playing on some IMAX screens this weekend. The film has Thursday preview shows beginning at 4PM and also had early access IMAX shows on Wednesday. There looks to be some interest in Godzilla Minus One and the film's very strong critical reviews could help boost that interest as well. Godzilla Minus One could debut in third place this weekend with a very solid $9.8 million.

Last weekend Sony and Apple's Napoleon, Disney's Wish and Universal and DreamWorks Animation's Trolls Band Together finished fairly close to one another over the three-day frame with respective grosses of $20.64 million, $19.70 million and $17.81 million. The three films could remain fairly close to one another this weekend, with Trolls Band Together potentially having the slight edge between the three thanks to being in its third weekend as opposed to its second weekend and from looking to have the best word of mouth of the three films. Napoleon will also take a hit from losing its IMAX showtimes this weekend, especially since the film performed well in IMAX this past week. Trolls Band Together could decline 56.8 percent to place in fourth with $7.7 million, Napoleon could slow 63.7 percent to follow in fifth with $7.5 million and on the heels of last weekend's lackluster start Wish could decrease 62.9 percent to land in sixth with $7.3 million.

Typically the weekend after Thanksgiving weekend is a slow frame for new releases, but that certainly isn't the case this year, as in addition to Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé and Godzilla Minus One, this weekend also sees the release of Angel Studios' The Shift (in 2,450 locations), Moksha Movies and Nirvana Cinemas' Hindi-language film Animal (in 700 locations) and Lionsgate's Silent Night (in 1,870 locations). Relatively speaking, The Shift and Animal should both benefit from solid pre-sales. With that in mind and from also not going all that wide, the John Woo directed Silent Night may finish behind both The Shift and Animal this weekend. BoxOfficeReport is predicting respective opening weekends of $4.4 million for The Shift, $4.0 million for Animal and $3.4 million for Silent Night.

Read more at BoxOfficeReport.com.