Box Office Report: Studio Ghibli Nabs The Top Spot
Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.
Weekend Estimates - December 8th, 2023 to December 10th, 2023:
Weekend Actuals Update:
With actuals, GKIDS's release of Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron finished a bit higher than estimated with a first place debut of $12.973 million.
Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes came in just below its weekend estimate with a second place take of $9.296 million, while Toho International's Godzilla Minus One finished ahead of its studio estimate with a third place haul of $8.591 million.
Other weekend actuals for the frame include: Trolls Band Together ($6.088 million), Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé ($5.475 million), Wish ($5.303 million), Napoleon ($4.116 million), Animal ($2.483 million), The Shift ($2.121 million), Silent Night ($1.709 million), The Marvels ($1.352 million), Thanksgiving ($1.202 million), Saltburn ($1.086 million), Die Hard (re-issue) ($0.934 million), The Holdovers ($0.668 million), Poor Things ($0.661 million from just 9 locations), Eileen ($0.596 million), Oppenheimer ($0.363 million), Love Actually (re-issue) ($0.284 million) and The Oath ($0.233 million).
Weekend Estimates Update:
GKIDS's release of Studio Ghibli's The Boy and the Heron was off to a very nice first place start this weekend with an estimated $12.84 million. Following last weekend's debut of Godzilla Minus One, The Boy and the Heron represents the second film from Japan to perform well at the domestic box office in the past two weeks. After just one weekend of wide release, The Boy and the Heron is already among director Hayao Miyazaki's higher grossing films in North America. Over the years, Miyazaki's films haven't had a huge following theatrically in North America, but The Boy and the Heron looks to be (thankfully) reversing that trend. The critically acclaimed anime film is clearing benefiting from its especially strong critical reviews, and no doubt also benefited this weekend from both the growing popularity of anime in general in North America in recent years and the increased popularity of Miyazaki's films in North America (thanks in part to GKIDS's Studio Ghibli Fest events). Other factors that helped The Boy and the Heron this weekend included the film playing on IMAX screens (The Boy and the Heron grossed an estimated $2.40 million from domestic IMAX screens) and the film having several days of preview shows (The Boy and the Heron grossed an estimated $2.39 million from traditional Thursday preview shows and prior early access screenings). In addition to going over especially well with critics, The Boy and the Heron also looks to be going over well with audiences after receiving a healthy A- rating on CinemaScore, which should help the film's holding power throughout the rest of the holiday season.
Lionsgate's The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes placed in second with an estimated $9.40 million. The successful high-profile prequel held up well again this weekend, as The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes declined 33.7 percent from last weekend. Thanks in part to continued strong word of mouth, the 24-day domestic total for The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes stands at $135.66 million. That already gives the film a current total gross to opening weekend ratio of 3.04 to 1. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes has also already surpassed the $129.36 million final domestic gross of Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was released the weekend before Thanksgiving weekend back in 2021. Internationally, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes grossed an estimated $11.0 million this weekend. That brings the film's international total to $143.3 million and current global haul to $279.0 million.
After last weekend's promising third place start, Toho International's Godzilla Minus One had an exceptional second weekend hold to claim third place this again this weekend with an estimated $8.34 million. The well-received, critically acclaimed Godzilla film from Japan declined just 26.9 percent from last weekend's debut (which had also been inflated a bit from including two days of preview grosses – making this weekend's hold even more impressive). Without counting last weekend's preview grosses, bGodzilla Minus One declined a very slim 10.5 percent this weekend. The film's strong critical reviews and strong word of mouth are both clearly helping boost the initial holding power of Godzilla Minus One. More and more moviegoers may also be willing to give Godzilla Minus One a chance given that this holiday season doesn't look to have a sure-fire event film by more recent holiday season standards. Godzilla Minus One has grossed $25.34 million through ten days of domestic release and is highly likely to hold up well once again next weekend.
Computer animated family films occupied fourth and fifth place this weekend as Universal and DreamWorks Animation's Trolls Band Together placed in fourth with an estimated $6.20 million, while Disney's Wish followed in fifth with an estimated $5.30 million. Trolls Band Together declined a slim 20.8 percent from last weekend. Wish decreased by 31.2 percent, which is a slightly larger than usual percentage decline for an animated film at this time of year. Respective total domestic grosses stand at a solid $83.08 million for Trolls Band Together through 24 days and at a disappointing $49.41 million for the expensive Wish through 19 days. Wish performed better again internationally this weekend with an estimated $12.1 million from 37 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $56.1 million and current global total to $105.5 million. Trolls Band Together grossed an estimated $2.7 million this weekend from 73 international markets. Respective totals for the film stand at $90.7 million internationally and at $173.8 million globally.
AMC Theatres Distribution's release of Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé declined five spots and a very sharp 77.1 percent from last weekend's first place debut to land in sixth place with an estimated $5.00 million. Due to fan rush-out on opening weekend, concert films typically experience very sharp second weekend declines, but with that said this weekend's decline for Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé was sharper than usual for a concert film in its second weekend. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé losing its IMAX screens this weekend and last weekend's performance being boosted by significant Thursday preview grosses are factors that both contributed towards this weekend's decline. Through Sunday, Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé has grossed $28.05 million domestically after seven days of release (the concert film isn't screening on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays). Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé has gone over very well with audiences, so it's still possible the concert film could stabilize after this weekend, especially if the film gets more repeat business from fans of Beyoncé going forward.
Sony and Apple's Napoleon placed in seventh with an estimated $4.20 million. That was down a respectable 42.3 percent from last weekend. Napoleon passed the $50 million domestic mark this weekend and has grossed $53.09 million through 19 days domestically. Napoleon continues to perform significantly stronger internationally, as the film took in an estimated $16.1 million from 64 international markets this weekend. Through Sunday, respective totals for Napoleon stand at $117.7 million internationally and at $170.8 million globally.
Bleecker Street and Fathom Events' release of Waitress: The Musical took eighth place with an estimated $2.57 million. With the inclusion of Thursday's performance, the estimated four-day start for Waitress: The Musical stands at $3.24 million. Waitress: The Musical played in a semi-wide 1,214 locations this weekend and is scheduled to only screen through Monday. The event release is a filmed presentation of the popular Broadway stage musical starring Sara Bareilles.
In international box office news, Warner Bros.'s Wonka was off to a very encouraging start with an estimated $43.2 million from 37 international markets. In addition to opening domestically next weekend, the film will also be opening in an additional 40 international markets next weekend. According to Warner Bros., thus far Wonka is performing 77 percent stronger than 2018's Mary Poppins Returns in like-for-like markets at today's exchange rates. Estimated debuts by international market for Wonka this weekend included $11.1 million in the United Kingdom, $5.2 million in Mexico, $4.4 million in Spain, $3.6 million in Germany, $3.2 million in China, $2.8 million in Japan and $2.0 million in Brazil. This weekend's international performance for Wonka included an estimated $2.3 million from international IMAX screens.
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